Here's the survey!

http://tinyurl.com/youwl9

Please go to this survey and take it honestly. It will help us improve this course! 

Tags: survey

yes, that survey

Folks,

Sorry about the survey. We're reworking it so it's easier for you. We really do want you to take this survey, so we can keep making the classes better. The deadline won't matter (as long as it's done by next week). I will get it online ASAP and send that URL out. I am waiting on other people, too, so as soon as I know, you will know ;) 

Tags: survey

As promised

As promised, all WP#3 Finals (that I have) are graded. Please review through Google Docs. The survey link is forthcoming. We worked from 8A-Noon today on all of this. 

Tags: survey, wp3, grades

Homework Update

Folks,

Just updated all of your HOMEWORK grades through Deadlind#13 (which was Wednesday evening). Between my birthday and Thanksgiving, sorry I've been MIA for almost 2 weeks. I am really looking forward to SEEING ALL OF YOU THIS THURSDAY IN CLASS.

Please review your gradesheet. If there are any discrepancies, I need to know BEFORE THE CLASS.

Thank you.     

Tags: update+homework+grades

Update

Here's an update. Hope things have been well and you're enjoying cooler weather. I finished the last WP#2 or two that trickled in, and I've moved on to WP#3. One class already has WP#3 submitted and the other class should within a week. Do NOT miss this deadline.

 The state of MLA on some of your WP#2s was ABYSSMAL. Folks, this is Advanced Freshman Research & Comp. We require MLA, and many of the high schools around here have also. The required texts and readings inlclude how to do MLA as well. So please remember to use it and use it well. If you aren't sure, ask a friend, ask me, or look it up. I will be most critical on that point when grading WP#3.

Tags: WP3+MLA

Gmail 2.0

You may have notices some differences to GMAIL this weekend. Google is slowly rolling out Gmail 2.0, which is faster and prettier. One big difference is a better contacts menu options (which I hope soon includes APIs!). Anyway, what it means to you is if it doesn't work for you, then:

1) Wait a few days to see if it works soon. They are updating things a little at a time.

2) If you want everything to work NOW, then click on the link in the upper left called "Older Version" and it'll resort to what you had a few days ago, and you can do everything you already know.

 Have a nice weekend.   

Tags: gmail+updates

A few important notes about WP#3

Folks,

Good evening. Here we are again. I think a few of us got behind due to illness season attacking us all. I've been finishing WP#2 now, and I had a few notes I wanted to make sure I shared with you.

 1. WP #3 has absolutely NO PERSONAL PRONOUNS. Some people have been liberal in their use of the "I" in your papers.

 2. Research is REQUIRED. This class is based on research (the reason you've been adding to your annotated bibliography, reading differnt points of views, using different systems to gather your information, etc....) So making sure you have research used correcly in MLA format in your paper is important.  Also, include your final Annotated Bibliography that correlates to ALL your parenthetically cited sources in WP#3.

 Email me anytime with questions.

Tags: WP#3

Missing submissions

Folks,

Please pay close attention to due dates. Also, pay attention to turnitin.com submissions. This week several people have not submitted papers to turnitin.com and have also not submitted papers on time. These results in zeroes. Please please be cognizant of all steps on deadline instructions and syllabi.

Tags: turnitin.com

HW Update

Hi everyone, I will see you tomorrow, but I wanted to give you an update. Today I graded all of your homework until Deadline #8. I am still having a few people not titling things correctly and I've threatened to stop grading them. Also, some people are definitely skipping some homework assignments, and that's your decision but it will affect your grade. Also, if you miss a turnitin.com deadline without good reason, you will unfortunately not get credit for that work. And I sure do hope you're reading the blogs. This is part of your assignments in this class.

Tags: homework, titles, turnitin.com

Reminders to save your lives :)

Folks,
A couple things.
Keep checking back on your gradesheets (for English 102). If there’s a discrepancy, I don’t want to wait until December 5th to deal with it.

Always submit final drafts to turnitin.com. For Eng102 people, I will no longer require drafts submitted there! Only final copies you want me to grade.

Never add all of your classmates to the Final Drafts in Google Docs, since they can then see YOUR grades and they could edit something before I grade it.

Always, make a separate blog post for each homework assignment, and please do each assignment as missing work adds up. 

Title every single blog entry correctly with Deadline # and Homework #.

Wikipedia is NOT your friend. Do not use it. You will not get any credit for it, AT ALL. 

I am now a stickler for due dates and will hold to them unless you’ve got a really good reason.

Good reasons = death, documented medical situation, birth, etc…
Bad reasons = “I took on too many responsibilities”, my computer is in the shop, I don’t have internet at home, “I forgot”, “I will get to it”

Status check: English 101 folks, I am grading Module 2 now. Module 1 is done. English 102 2513 folks, I am all caught up except WP2. English 102 7891 folks, I will have everything done before we meet again.

Yes, I am sending this blog post to all four sections. ☺

Tags: updates+grades+eng101+eng102+wikipedia+blog+turnitin.com+duedates

Conferences

According to the syllabus each student is required to converse with me regarding their performances in class. Some people are working ahead and have everything they need. Other people are MIA. So what I would suggest is that we make conferences optional and via email. This way we can meet asynchronously. Email me THIS WEEK your Strength, your WEAKNESS, and also a question  or two you need answered. 

Tags: conferences+grades

Please label everything

Folks,

When you are sending email or sharing documents with me and your classmates, PLEASE LABEL everything. I need you to include Section# and Assignment NAME. I've had a lot of "Untitled" documents or docs with just your name. Or emailsthat do NOT include Section #s. I get about 200 emails a day from 200+ students.  

Tags: logistics

turnitin.com formatting

When you submit your papers to turnitin.com the formatting will be stripped from your essays. This is NORMAL. Not a problem. The service only requires the text of the essays. Do not worry when it doesn't look the same. I don't assess this version; I assess the version on Google Docs.

Grading checklist

Folks, As I grade these I am concerned. There are two major things I need to remind you.

1. For each Deadline #, I need a post on your blog. If it asks you to reply to a peer's blog comment and then post about it, then please do it. If it asks for a Reading Reflection & Deadline Reflection, please do both. The way I grade the homework is looking for each and every step. Believe me, if you begin skipping things, the zeroes add up.

2. Everything that is suppose to be submitted to turnitin.com should be submitted. If final papers are Not submitted, I will NOT grade them.

Peer reviews

Folks, The directions say I would group people together for the reviews. I'm not planning on doing that this semester, but I've done it before. Make sure you are SHARING your files through Google Docs with all of us, then make sure you are reading & peer reviewing your classmates works.

Update: I am updating all English 102 grades now. Finished catching up on Eng 101 a few days ago.

Computer File Names

Have you ever notices that computer files have three or four letter suffixes after their titles? Many audio files generally have mp3, wav, or wma. Digital image files usually have jpeg, gif, or tiff. Most documents have doc, pdf, or rtf. To better negotiate and share documents in electronic formats, you should know a little about docs, pdfs, and rtfs.

doc—“doc” stands for “document” and represents a Microsoft Word file. If you do not have MS Word, you will either need another word processing program that can read MS Word files, like the open source program Open Office (http://www.filehippo.com/download_openoffice/), or an MS Word viewer (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=95E24C87-8732-48D5-8689-AB826E7B8FDF&displaylang=en). FYI, older versions of MS Word will not read newer versions of MS word doc files.

pdf—“pdf” stands for “portable document format.” Most computers come with Adobe Reader (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html) that allow you to read pdf files. You can not make pdf files without Adobe Acrobat (or one of it’s open source equivalents). You will not be required to make pdf files for this course; however, most of the resources in library databases are in pdf format. You will want to be sure to download Adobe Reader.

rtf—“rtf” stands for “rich text file.” Basically, it is the same thing as a “doc” but is readable by a variety of different word processing programs. When electronically sharing documents, you should try to default to rtf files. If you save and share as an rtf file, you usually do not have to worry about what program, or version, that the other person is using. You can easily save your documents as rtf files when you either initially save them, or click on the “save as” option (under the “file” tab). At the bottom of the save window is a “save as type” option. You can search through the options for the “rich text file” option. If you are using an online word processing program like Google Documents (http://docs.google.com/) or Zoho Writer (http://writer.zoho.com/jsp/home.jsp) you can usually export your files in a variety of formats including doc, pdf, and rtf).

To make sure that all of your classmates can read your documents, I highly suggest that you submit all documents in the rtf format. And if you don’t have MS Word, I highly suggest you either download Open Office or the MS Word viewer so that you can read other’s docs.

Tags: tech_tips

Grading Update

Some of you may have looked at your grade sheets recently and wondered where I am. It's like playing "Where's Waldo?". Well, I've been here. This is actually my first time teaching English 101 online and I found out I was doing it the day it started, so I've been very much focusing on that. As for the English 102 classes, the curriculum is very good, focused, and organized. I have complete faith that you're all doing well. :) Actually, if you follow along and do each and every step and post each and every step, you all have A pluses. But seriously, now I am totally caught on up them (they have had 4 deadlines to finish so far!) so now I am focused on you this week. You will see updates, and also look for tech tips to start, too.

Tags: update, grades

Bibliographies and blogs

Several people had questions about formatting your bibliography sources on your blog. This actually should not be a problem. The only thing that won't work (for most people) is indenting. Also, if you are using URLS in your citation please cite as < http://www.google.com >. Please note the spaces after and before the carrots.

That should do it for you, when you need to cite bibliographical information in html. (Now I do know that if you know html coding, then this isn't an issue for you.)

Tags: mla, bibliographies, souces

Grading

As I grade items I put your homework points on your grade spreadsheet. Sometimes I will batch grade all of one thing. For example, syllabi contracts. Then I will go back and grade blog posts. Just because you look at your gradesheet and you have points for one thing and not another does NOT mean you didn't get (or won't get) credit for that. Be patient with me. :)

If a homework assignment has a zero, then this is when you can worry. This means it is late and you will not receive points for it. Where can you find your deadlines? On your blog, there's a huge white Google calendar on the side. All of your deadlines are there. If you are in section 7891, you will see this also tells you when we are meeting on campus and when we are NOT. Please review this weekly to know if you need to make the drive or not.

Once the stragglers catch up, I will share our Google calendar with everyone so you can all have full access to the calendar at all times within Google itself.

Tags: grading, calendar

RSS feeds

Ever spend way too much time going from website to website looking at all of your news articles, keeping up with your friends and family's blogs, and making sure you check your instructor's websites? Watch this short video to learn how to do this is all a lot faster!

Del.icio.us

Do you want to know why we use del.icio.us for this class, and my explanations don't make sense? Please watch this short video and you'll have no more questions.

First Night

There is never a question if technology won't work, it's when won't it work. Sure we had a few setbacks tonight, but we made it through. Ok so a few notes. To your right you will see the link to your syllabus & your Google calendar. ALL DUE DATES are on this calendar. Please download the syllabus. You need to "share" your contract page, electronically signed to me by Sunday. Yes, I wanted it today but I will wait until Sunday. Once I have everyone's email I will make a group and share everything with all of you. This will be soon. I will send out an email about where we're meeting next week.

What is a hybrid course?

Hybrid courses are a combination of two or more of the types of distance learning courses (eg, web, email, ITV ) with traditional classroom instruction. Hybrid courses have a website, and although they have several face-to-face (F2F) class sessions, most assignments and communication with the instructor take place by email (online) or through interactive videoconferencing. www.netnet.org/students/student%20glossary.htm

A course of study composed of both traditional and virtual-learning elements. www.uen.org/delivery/ivc_glossary.shtml

Welcome

Welcome to the English 102 Section 7891 Face to Face Course. I will post announcements, updates, and new (read fun) tech tools throughout the semester.