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Back to "Directions for Online Class"
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Hello! Welcome to the Introduction! Though this isn't part of the official class, at least yet, I hope this will make you feel a bit more comfortable with the nature of our online course in general. For many of you, this is your first time taking an online course. This is exciting. This means you are trying new things. And, as you will learn about me very soon, I believe this ability to try new things is one of the most important things in the world . . . and, it is something I can't teach. So you are on the right foot in my book already! This online class is much like any other class you have ever taken (except, hopefully, it will be even more fun and you will learn more than you have ever have. . . well, those are mighty hopes, aren't they!). I mean to say that like other classes, you will "go to class" several times a week, you will follow a schedule of assignments, you will discuss issues with classmates and me, and so on. I do need to reiterate, that you still "go to class" . . . you just do it online. That is, attendance is a necessary component. You fulfill this component by logging onto our class several times a week to read and post your thoughts on our discussion tool. (If you haven't already, this may be the time to investigate the sample Vista course and check out what the discussion tool is. Click here.) I know that you have "gone to class" when you visit the pages and write your thoughts down on the discussion board. Don't worry, we will go into detail about what I require in this regard on the first day of class. This class starts Monday, June 2nd. I suggest you login on Monday, or as close to then as possible, to start "playing around" with the tools you have available to you. I will make sure that you are fully oriented to our "classroom" by directing you to tours. Each week, I will post new information you will need to keep up with. There will be due dates just as in any other class you have taken. Since we are online, these dates are not bound by a particular meeting time each day, but there are still deadlines. You will even get a syllabus and schedule of assignments just like in any other class. In this regard, this is NOT a correspondence course where you submit assignments when you wish. There are specific due dates to keep up with (and believe me, this is for your own benefit!). If, at any time, you feel you need help or want to ask a question, I am here for you. Just email me at alicia.j.bankston@lonestar.edu or, as you will see when you enter the class, you can send an email through the class. Basically, you will learn what you need to do by doing it. After all, this is how we learn. We don't pop into this world knowing everything we need to know. We imitate. We learn by doing. This concept, though common sense, is something I want to stress about writing as well. Writers write. Nothing worth reading is written only once. Writers write and rewrite . . . and rewrite again. Much like any sport, your practice keeps you in shape. You will practice writing by discussing issues through the discussion tool, by uploading both informal and essay assignments to the class and, most importantly, by rewriting. Here is a brief blurb from my favorite writer, Donald Murray, who is--oh my gosh, no way--coincidentally, the author of one of your books for this class. Here is Murray talking about writing: Do you ever write badly? Good. All writers write badly--at first. Nobel Prize winners, Pulitzer Prize winners, writers of blockbuster movies, writers with distinguished academic reputations, writers who influence and persuade, instruct and inspire, comfort and anger and amuse and inform, all write badly. Writers who write novels, speeches, news stories, screenplays, corporate memos, textbooks, plays, poems, history books, scientific reports, legal briefs, grant applications, TV scripts, songs--all write badly--at first. Then they rewrite. Revision is not the end of the writing process but the beginning. First emptiness, then terror, at last one word, then a few words, a paragraph, a page, finally a draft that can be revised. Ah! What fun we can have when we think about writing like that! With this attitude we can conquer the world, together . . . one step at a time. I look forward to working with all of you! alicia
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