A 5-Part Self-Guided Series To Get Everyone Started on the OpenLab
Part 1 of 5 of: Get to Know the OpenLab
As in past summers, we are releasing a 5-part self-guided series that provides short tasks to help everyone in the City Tech community get to know the OpenLab. Many of us will be teaching/ working remotely for the fourth straight semester. While remote teaching has become more familiar, many of us are feeling some wear from the isolation and the realities of remote work, not to mention the general anxiety of living through a global pandemic. The OpenLab team has been impressed and moved by the creativity, adaptability, and compassion that faculty, staff, and students have shown on and off the OpenLab; we also recognize that in some ways, as the pandemic wears on, enlivening an online classroom (or club, or event) is becoming increasingly difficult. The primary goal of this series is to introduce everyone to the OpenLab, but it is also to highlight strategies for combating inertia and cultivating an online community.
Each week, we will guide everyone through different tasks to start or reinvigorate their work on the OpenLab. Tasks are oriented around different questions, beginning with the most basic question – How do I join the OpenLab? The tasks below will help you create an account and set up your OpenLab profile.
- Task 1: Before joining the OpenLab, learn more about the platform. Read the OpenLab’s brief About page to learn more about the ethos and values driving the OpenLab. Take the OpenLab Tour for a deeper discussion of OpenLab courses, clubs, projects and portfolios.
- Task 2: Sign up for an OpenLab Account. To sign up, you’ll also need access to your City Tech email account. See the OpenLab’s help documentation on Accessing your City Tech email if you run into problems.
- Task 3: Set up your OpenLab profile. You’ll notice as you do this that only some fields are required. You can always come back and complete missing information later when you have time to learn how to manage your account and profile. That said, we recommend filling out as much as you’re comfortable with in this early stage: your OpenLab profile communicates who you are to the OpenLab community. If your OpenLab profile is public, it can also be indexed in internet search engines.
- What kind of relevant information would you like to include here? If you are a student, you may want to specify your major/minor, contact information, pronouns, extracurricular interests, any awards or honors you have received, and even a brief overview of your projects and goals.
- If you are faculty or staff, you will want to make your contact information available to your students and colleagues, and you may also choose to detail some of your academic interests, as well your experiences and roles within the college.
- Finally, profiles provide the opportunity for OpenLab members to include a photo associated with their OpenLab display name: please note that this photo can be of anything that you feel represents you adequately, and does not have to be an actual photo of yourself.
- Task 4: Practice logging in to your account. Sign out of your account and close your browser. Then open a new browser window, navigate back to the OpenLab, and log in to your account
We’ll be in touch next week to help you answer: How do others use the OpenLab?
