Welcome to English 990!

Welcome to English 990 Section 017! 

One of the key elements of our course will be a technology-based meeting each week, which will take the place of a Friday on-campus meeting. On these days, you will be required to do critical reading, as well as to create polished writing. It's easy to assume that these will be free days, as we won't meet in our classroom. HOWEVER, the blog posts that you create here will be included in each of your unit portfolios for a substantial amount of points. Assignments will be due, posted, by class time the day after the online day. It's important that you do these assignments in a timely manner, as assignments posted to your blog late will not be accepted. This is the only exception to the 10% off per day late policy outlined in your syllabus. As this is a first block, and somewhat accelerated, section, expect these assignments to take about 2 hours.

You may ask, 'Why are we using a blog in an English class?' 
When students graduate from university and begin their careers, the bulk of their writing will not be done with pencil and paper, but rather on a word processor. Therefore, writing classes ought to be set [both in the classroom, as well as] in realistic environment utilizing the writing aids of a computer. Since most universities have computer labs with Internet access, writing teachers can easily create classes utilizing blogs that allow students the chance to write and submit assignments in class. Combined with essential discussion and lecture from the teacher, the utilization of both class and student blogs can effectively maximize student access to class materials and exposure to teacher feedback. (http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Johnson-Blogs/)
For your first assignment, you'll need to set up your own blog, follow this link to the online tutorial.
http://weblogs.about.com/od/creatingablog/ss/BloggerTutorial.htm
**Your blog must be created on blogger.com**
Once your blog has been set up, email me at krobinson_150@yahoo.com with the address you've chosen. It should be whatevernameyouchose.blogspot.com
For example, the address for the course is http://english990section017.blogspot.com

HOMEWORK

Once you've gotten your blog set up and the link emailed to me, you should begin on your first blog assignment, to be posted by class time on Monday, August 30. Go to the following link to listen to an audio account of how one teacher is using blog technology to teach female students in Bangladesh.
http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/blog/2008/03/15/kathryn-ward-on-the-benefits-of-blogging-for-bangladeshi-women/
After listening to this interview, write a response of no fewer than 250 words answering the following question. What do you feel are the benefits of incorporating online instruction in the English class? You may use examples from the audio you've listened to. This should be posted to your blog by selecting New Post at the top right of your screen. Write your response in the space provided, including a title. When finished, select the orange Publish Post option below the text box to submit.