Day One HW: 

Being an online student, or just having an online portion to an in-person class can be intimidating, confusing, and just plain difficult! But not for long!

Here’s what you’ll do:

PLAY with the website. You can’t break it. Honestly. I’ve tried. Click around on all the tabs. See what’s there! This is an essential part of the class, as your homework is to do the reading linked on OpenLab and participate in our weekly discussions on them. This is IN ADDITION to our classwork and discussions on campus, so make yourself familiar with the room. 

READ: these three short “Tips” pieces

WRITE: a new post in our discussion area in the Introduction section. In addition to introducing yourself to me and your classmates, feel free to:

  • Start with one word that describes how you’re feeling about this course as we get started. No need to explain, but you can if you want to. 
  • Talk about your worries, concerns, reactions to the readings and/or to being an online student… whatever you want to. No censoring… except keep it kind of clean, please ;-). And
  • Add a picture that means something to you, and explain why you chose it — why does it mean something to you?

Check back in and see what other people are saying, and reply  to a couple of people. It’s nice to know we’re not alone!

Day Two HW:

READ: “How to Read Like a Writer” by Mike Bunn. 

In this article, Bunn says that his students suggests that the advice they would give to future students is that they  “write yourself notes and summaries both during and after reading.” So I’d like you to do that. Please take out a piece of paper and a pen (or pencil) and have it beside you as you read.  

Using our course Perusall site (or the PDF commenting function on Google Docs) make at least 5 annotations– comments in the margins. These can be observations or questions, or simply summaries of the paragraphs. This annotation exercise is all about noticing what you notice!  

WRITE:  On the website, write a post of at least 300 words responding to all parts of my prompt that begins the discussion of this reading. (scroll down and click on “older posts” to get to the first page of the unit one discussion area.)