• Welcome to Human Relations for Careers. Hope you are getting used to the on-line experience. It can look overwhelming at first, but then, after awhile, it becomes almost reflexive, like driving a car. The Top Class site can actually get to be a fun place to hang out, believe it or not ...
• Human Relations is an important area of study that is as applicable on-line as it is on-site. In the current world of business, much of our communication, our human relations, will be on-line, and the other part will be interpersonal communications on-site. It will be the development of professional competence in both on-line and on-site communications that will bring you success in your careers.
• As we proceed through the course, we'll pay close attention to the on-line application of Human Relations. For many students, and teachers, it could turn out to be the primary way in which we do business.
• This is a great way to communicate: Posting short essays on the Discussion List and then replying to your classmates' messages.
• I'm the first full-time on-line instructor at Bryant & Stratton and have instructed English at the Richmond Campus.
• Academically, I have bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Virginia and have been heavily involved in journalism for the past 25 years, including stints with The Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond News Leader, San Francisco Examiner and United Press International. I've covered general news, business and sports, including soccer, baseball, basketball and boxing. I've put a lot of emphasis on soccer and still maintain an indoor soccer web site at futsalonline.com.
• I also teach Aikido at a community college in Richmond and maintain a web site at aikicommunications.net.
• I think the on-line teaching concept is terrific, and I look forward to working with all of you.
• If problems occur, I can be reached at sheldont@on.bryantstratton.org or timsheldon99@yahoo.com. If something messes up, don't worry about it. Just contact me directly.
• This course may be on-line, suggesting a higher level of complexity, but it's really straightforward. It involves reading the textbooks and related material and writing short papers. In addition, we have the chance to read our fellow students' comments and reply. Tests take the form of short essays. Stay connected, and you'll do well.
• Grading: You'll have an assigned code name and will have access to the sheet at any time. The link will be provided in the next few days, once we get rolling.
• I take off points for errors in spelling, grammar and any inappropriate language, so please maintain a good level of writing on all assignments and tests.

Is

Human

Relations?

For us now, at this moment, the channel is the Internet, and for others it's speaking, listening and providing feedback on-site somewhere. Regardless of the medium, the fundamentals are the same, and we'll get into this as the course unfolds.

For me personally, I'm still active in journalism, and I do almost all of it on-line. But I also have been a member of Toastmasters International, the speaking club, working on my ability to speak on-site with a group. It's the combination of these two human relations skills that we want to develop.

The textbook authors state that whatever direction your life takes - whether you become a manager, an entrepreneur (like some of you out there), or an employee - you will always have to deal with other people.

When discussing human relations, and communications generally, I like to use the term "pivotal moments." There are pivotal moments that occur in your encounters with others that can end up with either a positive or negative result. These pivotal moments can end up in a destructive argument - even a physical fight - or a positive resolution. Our ability to control what happens in these encounters relates directly to our ability to use Human Relations in a professional way.

If we're able to handle these pivotal moments professionally, we're worth a lot of money to ourselves and to our employers.