Reminder: HW for W 9/10

I hope you’re all having wonderful weekends! Thank you to those of you who have already made your “Introduction” posts … they are great! Don’t forget to read each other’s posts and comment on them throughout the week.

As discussed in class, the goals for this first week are to become familiar with OpenLab and the course themes, materials,and guidelines/expectations, and to begin to research the job market, communication expectations, and career materials for your particular field.

There are a number of different things due before our next class (on W 9/10), so don’t forget to consult our dymanic course Schedule, as always, for all HW (and make sure to click through to all the links, which take you to relevant readings, posts, assignments, and information). Just a friendly reminder that all posts are due the night before class begins; formal assignments are due at the start of class.

There are a number of things that need doing (some brief readings, another post, your “job search” & Cover Letter + Resume in response), and you also need to get a Dropbox account and join our shared class folder (this is where you will be submitting your Career Materials for this Wednesday, and all other assignments this semester going forward). Please don’t hesitate to e-mail me with any questions (and remember, I have office hours on Tuesdays, 11:15am-12:15pm if you want to discuss anything in person). Looking forward to seeing you again in a few days 🙂

 

Getting to know Professor Belli …

Jill Belli, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of English at New York City College of Technology, CUNY (City University of New York) and Co-Director of OpenLab, the college’s open-source digital platform for teaching, learning, and collaborating. She is a founding member of the Writing Studies Tree, an online, open-access, interactive academic genealogy for the field of writing studies, and she serves on the Steering Committee, the Teaching Committee, and as the web developer for the North American Society for Utopian Studies.

That’s me, a few winters ago, in front of a big ol’ rubber ducky (part of an art installation for a big festival) in Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia!

That’s me, a few winters ago, in front of a big ol’ rubber ducky (part of an art installation for a big festival) in Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia!

I did my doctoral work at The Graduate Center, CUNY, and my current research interests are in utopian studies, happiness studies/positive psychology, composition and rhetoric, digital humanities, American studies, and the scholarship of teaching and learning (feel free to ask me what any of these areas are!).

I played ice hockey in college (right wing), and have played the violin since I was two years old (and currently play in the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra). I practice yoga pretty regularly, love Thai food (the spicier the better!), kale, & tzatziki, and adore watching old sitcoms from the 70s and 80s (some of my favorites are Maude, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, Soap, All in the Family, The Golden Girls, The Facts of Life, & Family Ties)!

I also really enjoy travelling: this summer I spent five weeks wandering abroad, in Russia, Finland, Czech Republic, and Switzerland (some of it was for conferences/work, some for vacation/fun)!

I look forward your reading your Introductions and getting to know you, first virtually and then in person, as the semester progresses :)

How to Add Links, Images, and Videos to Posts

Links
Adding links to your posts is really simple, and it’s also a wonderful way to share other resources with our community and to engage in dialogue with other authors/sources. To add a link into your post:

  1. copy the URL of the webpage you want to link to
  2. highlight the text in your post that you want to become hyperlinked
  3. click the “insert/edit link” button (looks like a paperclip above the post screen)
  4. paste the URL into the “URL” space
  5. type in the name of the link into the “Title” space (“title”)
  6. click “Add Link”

And you’re done. It’s that simple! And you can always edit or remove the link later on, if you need to do so.

 

Images
Here’s a quick tutorial about how to do add images:

1.  When you decide you want to add an image to a post, click either on the button with the camera/music notes and the words “Add Media” that is on the top left of the editing box (you can also. Remember that your image will show up within the post wherever your cursor is when you click “Add Image.” So if you want to insert the image in the middle of your post, make sure to put it there.

2.  If you are choosing a file from your computer, you can then browse for it (the same you would if you were uploading an attachment to an e-mail) by clicking “Upload Files” (if you add to the Media Library first, you can also select your image from there).

3.  Once you find the image you want, click “Select.”

4.  You can then edit the image (e.g., to rotate it) … make sure to click “save” after editing it.

5. You should re-title the image to make it easier to manage/find later on (ex: Jill Belli, Introduction Photo). If you wish, you can also add a “description” and “caption.”

5.  At the bottom of the screen you can change the “alignment” and “size” of the image.

6.  Don’t forget to click “Insert into Post” (NOT “Save Changes”) at the bottom.  If you don’t click “Insert into Post,” the image won’t show up in your post when you publish it (it will just be added to our site’s “Media Library” … more on that later in the semester).

7.  You can always click “Preview” before you click “Publish” to see what the post will like like after the images are added. Make sure, however, once you are satisfied with your post, to click “Publish” (you can also click “Save Draft” to continue to work on the post later, but no one else will be able to view the post–and I won’t be able to give you credit for it–until you hit “Publish”).

 

Videos
Adding a video to your post from YouTube is about as simple as it gets. Simply copy the URL of the video into your post, and click “Publish” (as with links and images, don’t forget to contextualize the video a bit, and tell us whose it is and why you’re including it in your post). It will automatically appear (and can be played) right from your post. Woohoo!

 

*Remember, if you don’t like something (either the post or the image), even after it is published, you can go back and change it (just click “Edit” and work away).  That’s the nice thing about blogs … you can keep revising :)

Creating your “Introduction” Post

“Introduction” Posts (HW for Su 9/8)
In order to start exploring the site, getting comfortable with posting/adding media (blogging), practicing reflective writing, and getting to know one another, please make sure to create an initial post that introduces yourself to the class.

*This Introductory Post is due no later than the night before our Sunday night (9/7), but I encourage you make this initial post as soon as possible to become comfortable with OpenLab and to give others a chance to learn a bit about you).

Content of Posts
Tell us a bit about yourself … what are your interests, hobbies, desires? Your experiences at City Tech? Career goals? What you did over summer break? What do you plan to do this semester/winter? Share some photos of you (you can either pull a photo from the web if you have one up there, upload one from your computer, or … you can even take one with photoshop right now!) and your family, friends, neighborhood, etc. Practice adding a link and maybe even a video to your post too.

At the end of your post, please address (in at least a paragraph) the following questions (not necessarily in this order):

  • What your strengths/weaknesses as a writer in general?
  • What do you enjoy/dislike most about writing (in general)?
  • What is your background with using technology (it’s OK if you don’t have any!)?
  • What is your sense of what technical writing is? Don’t do any research for this … just state what you think it is, prior to entering the course.
  • What are your expectations for this course (what you think you will learn and what you hope you will learn)? Any questions?

Categorizing/Commenting on Posts
Don’t forget to categorize your post as “Introductions” (and uncheck “Uncategorized” if it is checked already by default). If you forget to do so before you “publish” you post, you can go back and edit/update it after the fact.

I made an Introductory post about myself (if I’m asking you to share some of your personality/background with the class, it’s only fair that I do the same!), so you can get to know me a bit better as well and also so you get a sense of what this type of post might look like/include.  Early next week (before class), browse through everyone’s posts (if you choose the “Introductions” category for the right side of the homepage, you will be taken to all of these posts) and drop comments to get some conversation going!

Blogging: Writing, Categorizing, & Commenting (on) Posts

If you’re unsure how to get started posting (blogging) on our OpenLab course site, here’s a quick overview:

Once you’re logged into OpenLab and on our course site, you can easily make a post. Simply click the plus sign (+) on the grey menubar (the admin bar) at the top of the screen, and from the dropdown menu that appears, choose “Post.”  You can also go to your “Dashboard” from the same grey menubar, and this will take you to the “back end” (the control panel) of the site.  From there, you can post (in the lefthand menu, click “Posts” and then “Add new”) and do a number of other things.

Don’t forget to “Categorize” your post before submitting it (see below for more details on that), and then to “Publish” your post (if you only click “save” or “preview” it won’t be public).  Happy blogging :)

 

*A quick note about categorizing blog posts:

Just a friendly reminder to “Categorize” your posts so that it will be easier to navigate our site later on.  To do this, after you finish typing your post up, choose the appropriate “Category” from the right side of the screen.  For example, after you type up your “Introduction” blog, you should make sure to check off “Introductions.”  Otherwise the post will simply show up as “Uncategorized” (we don’t want that because it will just dump eveyone’s posts into one general place and our course site will become very disorganized/chaotic as we produce a lot of content throughout the semester).  You may have to uncheck the “Uncategorized” category (which is the default).

Oh yeah … and you should chat one another up!  How do you do this? By commenting on your classmates’ posts:

One of the great things about the blog is its interactive, networked nature … people post, others read and make comments, and then conversations happen and ideas get exchanged!  Please read through everyone’s posts and drop comments if you feel so inspired (you can comment in reply to another comment also).  To do this, simply type in a short comment in the “leave a reply” box at the bottom of the post.

Please note that you can respond either to the original post or a specific commenter!

Getting Started on OpenLab

To sign-up for an OpenLab account, create your profile, and become familiar with the system:

  • Sign in to your City Tech email account via the City Tech website link or Live.com
  • Sign up for an OpenLab account ASAP (we’ll do it together during the first day of class)
  • If you have trouble clicking the confirmation link in the email from the OpenLab, try cutting and pasting it into the address bar of Firefox or Chrome
  • Log in to the OpenLab
  • Join our course, ENG 3373 (Fall 2014), by clicking on its Course Profile
  • Browse through the OpenLab, noticing how people use it and what kind of materials they include
  • Click on People & browse through a few pages of OpenLab members, looking at the avatars and reading about the members in their profile sections
  • Now create your own profile, uploading an avatar and including a bio/profile (remember, this info. is available to the public!).

Questions? If you need technical support, you should check out the (very detailed/helpful!) Help section of OpenLab, &, if you still have questions, contact the wonderful OpenLab Community Team.