THANKS, EVERYONE, FOR THESE GREAT QUESTIONS AND FOR PUTTING IN THE TIME TO GET ACQUAINTED WITH OPENLAB. MY RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS POSTED ABOUT OUR SYLLABUS ARE IN ALL CAPS, or in some cases in bold.
1. Do the group assignments change each week?
YES
2.What is the official number of group assignments given each week, or does that vary too? YES
3. am i the only one that noticed that below the supplies section of the syllabus it states:
“One notebook for In-Class Assignments and Notes.”
THANKS FOR POINTING OUT THIS ERROR IN OUR SYLLABUS. OUR CLASS WILL BE MEETING ENTIRELY ONLINE. THIS IS WHAT IS CALLED AN “ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE COURSE,” WHICH MEANS THAT OUR CLASS DOES NOT MEET AT SPECIFIC TIMES ONLINE OR IN-PERSON. WE WILL, HOWEVER, BE DOING LOTS OF GROUP WORK SO SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO MEET UP ONLINE OR IN PERSON AS A GROUP, I ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO THAT.
4) When are weekly assignments due by or rather are we going to have Dates attached to things to help us get a time frame of when we should be focusing on them?
THE ASSIGNMENTS FOR EACH WEEK WILL NEED TO BE COMPLETED BY THE END OF THAT WEEK. THE WORK FOR OUR COURSE IS CUMULATIVE AND IT IS VERY HARD TO CATCH UP ONCE YOU FALL BEHIND. AS A RESULT, WEEKLY COURSE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE POSTED MONDAY BY 5PM AND WILL NEED TO BE SUBMITTED THE FOLLOWING MONDAY BY 5PM. IF MONDAY IS A HOLIDAY, ASSIGNMENTS ARE WILL BE POSTED THE FOLLOWING TUESDAY. ANY ASSIGNMENTS RECEIVED AFTER THE DUE DATE WILL BE CONSIDERED LATE. HERE IS A LIST OF DUE DATES FOR THE FIRST FOUR WEEKS OF OUR COURSE:
WEEK 1 ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE BY 5PM TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 (MONDAY, SEPT. 3 IS A HOLIDAY AND THE COLLEGE IS CLOSED)
WEEK 2 ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE BY 5PM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10
WEEK 3 ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE BY 5PM TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 (MONDAY, SEPT. 17 IS A HOLIDAY AND THE COLLEGE IS CLOSED)
WEEK 4 ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE BY 5PM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24
I WILL ADD A SECTION TO OUR COURSE SYLLABUS REGARDING DUE DATES. LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AND WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE REMOVED FROM OUR COURSE SITE ONE WEEK AFTER THEY ARE POSTED.
5) Are there going to be days where an online class is going to need to meet? SEE ABOVE
6) Will we know when we need certain reading material? YES
7) How do you sign in? COULD YOU PLEASE CLARIFY THIS QUESTION
8) Can you do your assignments all at once or do you need to do it over three separate times? IT IS UP TO YOU TO DECIDE HOW YOU APPROACH OUR WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS AND MANAGE YOUR TIME. PLEASE SEE OUR COURSE SYLLABUS REGARDING COURSE WORKLOAD FOR FURTHER GUIDANCE ON THIS QUESTION. I DO ASK THAT IN ADDITION TO COMPLETING THE WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS THAT YOU CHECK IN WITH OUR COURSE SITE AT LEAST THREE TIMES A WEEK.
9) Are we going to read texts together? WE WILL BE READING THE TEXTS AT THE SAME TIMES AND DISCUSSING THEM ONLINE
10. Do we go online of our own accord or do we all go on at once.. SEE ABOVE
11. in terms of reading are we going to discuss it? YES
12. do any of the weekly assignments have a deadline? SEE ABOVE
13. How long does the learning journal have to be? (Prof. Rodgers’ answer is in bold below)
The learning journal assignment will specify how long the LJ needs to be. Basically, it is made up of timed structured free writing exercises, so it will be a half page or a page per entry.
14. how long does the reading and writing assignment have to be? (Prof. Rodgers’ answer is in bold below)
For reading and writing assignments I will specify the length. Though usually one page, if we are drafting an essay as the assignment, they will be longer.
15. Are we supposed to upload ALL of our work on the OpenLab site, even the group discussions? Also, should we copy and paste all of our prior work that was uploaded on the old site?
Your question is an excellent one. For group work, the answer is that everything is posted on the OpenLab. The answer for your own work (Learning Journal and RWA) is a bit more complicated. Some work will be posted on Bb and some on the OpenLab. Overall, we, as a class, will need to discuss how to post and exchange work. For now, the most important thing is that you keep me informed of where your work is.
16. Where online can we find the book ” Informed Writer”? HERE IS THE LINK: http://writing.colostate.edu/textbooks/informedwriter/ YOU WILL FIND LINKS TO ALL OF THE ASSIGNED READINGS IN OUR COURSE READINGS FOLDER (THEY MAY NOT ALL BE THERE YET, BUT THEY WILL BE 😉 )
17. Will we have to hand in the required notebook used for assignments? HMMMM. GOOD QUESTION. LET ME THINK ABOUT THIS. I’LL GET BACK TO YOU.
18. Where will you be sending comments and notes about our progress? Also, can we use our school email to hand in assignments? WE WILL BE EXCHANGING FILES EITHER VIA OPENLAB, BLACKBOARD, OR GOOGLE DOCS. THIS IS A SUBJECT THAT WE WILL NEED TO DISCUSS AS A CLASS. AS OF NOW, THE ASSIGNMENT/FILE SUBMISSION TOOLS ON OPENLAB ARE NOT AS ROBUST AS THOSE ON BLACKBOARD. SO, FOR INSTANCE, WE WILL NEED TO CONTINUE USING BLACKBOARD FOR SOME THINGS LIKE THE LEARNING JOURNALS AND EXAMS.
19.Are the exams going to be like the ones you would receive in normal school(Like short answer questions and such?) BOTH THE MIDTERM AND FINAL EXAM WILL ASK THAT YOU WRITE A SHORT ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY IN RESPONSE TO A TEXT.
20.Would it be possible to add more texts that have stories that showcase good writing? WE WILL BE INVESTIGATING THE QUESTION OF “WHAT IS GOOD WRITING?” ALL SEMESTER. THERE IS NO END TO EXAMPLES OF EXCELLENT WRITING AVAILABLE IN BOOKS, IN MAGAZINES, AND ONLINE. I ENCOURAGE ALL OF YOU TO SUPPLEMENT THE READINGS WE DO IN THIS CLASS WITH READING ON YOUR OWN. IF YOU NEED SUGGESTIONS, DON’T HESITATE TO ASK. I HAVE MY FAVORITE AUTHORS AND YOU WILL HAVE YOURS. WE CAN USUALLY ALL LEARN FROM WRITING THAT WE LIKE AND THAT WE MAY NOT LIKE.
21.Will new assignments be posted around the same times old ones are due(By that i mean will the new assignments be posted at 4 PM aswell? YES
21. Are we going to read any full books? I ENCOURAGE ALL OF YOU TO CHOOSE A BOOK TO READ OVER THE COURSE OF THE SEMESTER.
22. How big should we expect the groups for any group projects? THREE OR FOUR PEOPLE.
23. Will we be working directly from the textbooks? YOU WILL MOSTLY BE WORKING WITH THE TEXTBOOKS IN CONJUNCTION WITH ASSIGNMENTS THAT I’VE DESIGNED.
What did you mean by using MLA formatting Guidelines for our assignments?
24. How we going to pick our team mates for the groups ? And we need to buy all the books you put in the syllabus or you are going to let us know when each one of them is needed and how many pages a day we need to read ?