Author: kalbany

Due by (end-of-day Day One) 

Being an online student can be intimidating, confusing, and just plain difficult!

So for these first few days, you get to vent about it! No kidding. Share your concerns with each other. Maybe give each other some advice or just a good old bit of support. Believe me — online instructors have many of the same worries you do, even if we’ve been teaching online for a while. I also promise not to hijack the conversations, either!

Here’s what you’ll do (the schedule is at the bottom):

• 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 our classroom for the semester, so make yourself familiar with the room.
• READ: these two “Tips” pieces
  • “Tips for Online Learning Success”  https://www.nhcc.edu/student-resources/online-learning-d2l/tips-for-online-learning-success
  • “Online Discussions: Tips for Students” https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/teaching-resources/teaching-tips/developing-assignments/blended-learning/online-discussions-tip-students

• WRITE: a new post.  There are some instructions about how to do that in the post at the top of this page.

1. • 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!

Please take some time to explore this OpenLab course site. Use the top menu bar to explore the course information, activities, and help. Scroll through the sidebar to find additional information about the materials shared here. As the course progresses, you will be adding your own work to the student work section.

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Questions

If you have any questions, reach out via email or in Office Hours. If you need help on the OpenLab, you can consult OpenLab Help or contact the OpenLab Community Team.