First Assignment – Introduce Yourself

INSTRUCTORS: This is an example of a low-stakes writing assignment on the OpenLab.  If you wish to use it, please update the due date below (in red) and make any other changes you desire (feel free to experiment).  Don’t forget to delete this paragraph.  Then click the green “Publish” button on the upper right to make the assignment visible to students.

Your first OpenLab assignment is to introduce yourself to your classmates.  This assignment is due Thursday, February 7th, at the start of class. Late submissions will receive partial credit.

Assignment. Write a comment in reply to this post (scroll to the bottom to find the “Leave a Reply” box).  Your comment should be at least 2 paragraphs in length.  In the first paragraph, introduce yourself in whatever way you wish (what do you want your classmates to know about you?).  In the second paragraph, choose ONE of the following two topics and write a response. Don’t forget to tell us which topic you chose.

Topics (choose ONE).

  1. Was math ever your favorite subject? If so, when was it? What about math made it your favorite? If math has never been your favorite subject, what about it do you not like?
  2. Sometimes people can recognize a time when their opinion of math dramatically changed either for the better or the worse. Tell us about it.

Extra Credit. For extra credit, write a response to one of your classmates’ comments. Do you feel the same? Did you learn anything? Do you have any advice? Be kind.

Welcome

Welcome MAT 1375 Instructors

Hi Instructors! The site you’re looking at now (MAT 1375 Precalculus Template) has been replaced – check out the new MAT 1375 Model Course site if you’re looking for an easy way to start using the OpenLab in your MAT 1375 course.

INSTRUCTORS: Interested in using the OpenLab for your MAT 1375 section?  This site was designed to help you get started by providing a template for the course MAT 1375 Precalculus.  It has been set up to include essential information and resources for students and faculty in the course.  If you’d like to use this site for your own MAT 1375 section, you should make a copy of it (“Clone this Course”).  You can modify your copy in any way you see fit (feel free to experiment)!

HOW TO MAKE A COPY OF THIS SITE FOR YOUR OWN USE:  If you’d like to use this site for your own MAT 1375 section, you will need to “Clone this course” (make a copy for your personal use) — this can be done by clicking the “Clone this Course” link on the right side of the page under “Sharing”.  NOTE: Cloning the course requires a few steps – basic instructions can be found by clicking on the red box below, and a detailed walkthrough of the process can be found on the Cloning a Course help page (start from “Step One: Profile” partway down the page). 

Click here for cloning instructions

  1. Click “Clone the course” on the right side of the page under “Sharing”
  2. Fill in the following items on the resulting page:
    • Course Name: Enter a name for your course – it should include Course Number Course Name, Semester, Year, Your Name – for example:
      MAT 1375 Precalculus, Spr20, Reitz
    • Course Information: fill in the Section, Semester and Year
    • Site Details:  Make sure “Set up a Site” is checked.  Enter a name for your  site in the box following Name Your Cloned Site (it can be similar to your course name above, but should not include spaces – for example, MAT1375PrecalculusSpr20Reitz)
    • Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the button “Create Course and Continue
  3. Privacy Settings
    • Make changes if you wish (the default settings work just fine for most folks).
    • Then click “Next Step
  4. Course Avatar
  5. Invite Members
  6. Activate menus
    • This site has a custom menu that must be activated:  To do so, go to Site Dashboard > Appearance > Menus. Click the “Save Menu” button on the right side of the page (across from Menu Name: top).
    • Click on the name of the course in the black bar at the top of the screen to return to the main course site.
  7. Update the “Syllabus” page and all other pages
    • The “Syllabus” page can be found under “About the Course” in the menu (or click here).
    • To edit a page, go to the page and then click the Edit Button (pencil icon) in the black bar at the top of the screen.
    • Replace all of the red text with your own section details (name, section number, office hours, etc.).
    • When you are done, click “Publish” (top right of editing window) to save your work and make the page public.
  8. Update and publish posts
    • For now, you should update this “Welcome” post and the “First Assignment” post (here is the help page on creating and publishing a post).
    • In the black bar at the top of the screen, click on the name of your course.  This will take you to the Dashboard.
    • In the Dashboard, click on “Posts” on the left side of the page.
    • You will see two posts, this “Welcome” post and “First Assignment – Introduce Yourself.” Click on a post to edit it . 
    • Don’t forget to click “Publish” when you are done – now the post will be visible on the home page of your site.
    • Posts that are in the category “Assignments” (category can be selected on the right side of the screen when editing) then it will also appear on the “Assignments” page of your site.
  9. Make your site your own
    • Click on the various menu items to explore your site.  Feel free to customize things in whatever way you wish!

This “welcome” post is pinned to the top of your home page, so it will be the first thing your students see when they visit your site.   Once you have cloned the course, feel free to personalize the message below (and delete this red text).

Welcome MAT 1375 students!  We’ll be using this OpenLab site throughout the semester – please take a look around and see what is available.