Introductions (25 minutes)

Let’s all take about a minute to have a response ready for the following that we will go around and share:

• Say your name.
• What kept you going this summer? (for me, I got really into the show Twin Peaks and also keeping some semblance of a work out routine at night).
• Optional: a really good song or musician that you’ve been in to lately (I need new music).

I’ll pick someone to start and then that person will have to choose someone else to next.

 

Go Over Syllabus & Grading Contract (20 minutes)

On Blackboard, the syllabus is under “Syllabus.”

On Blackboard, the first draft of the Grading Contract is under “Labor Instructions” and then in the folder “Tuesday, August 30.”

Open both documents and let’s go through both, at least in part.

 

Platforms for Course (10 minutes)

Discord

You can look at this lesson plan and the Discord screen simultaneously by playing with minimization to fit both on your screen.

A question, some initial ground rules, and a quick tutorial before we start.

To start, who has used Discord yet? Let’s do a quick poll right in Discord. Make sure you are in our text channel for today (# aug-26-2021) under “Lessons” on left side of Discord page to see the poll. Instructions will be there.

This text channel is associated with today’s lesson plan. Just join the date of the class so you can also have the option to participate via typing and also to do some activities that will require using the text channel (like the poll we just did).

You probably also notice the other categories besides Lessons.

There is also, at the top, “Resources.” I will put announcements there (will usually also email announcements–other than the one announcements I currently have on Blackboard, I won’t be posting announcements there). I only can write in the announcements text channel, but you can read everything there. Aside from announcements, there is a text channel for any questions. This is a great place to ask any questions, especially ones you think others in the class would benefit from. For any questions that are more private that you wouldn’t others to see, feel free to email it to me instead. Finally, there is a voice channel for my office hours with you. Please feel free to join here for my scheduled office hours (see the syllabus) or when we have a schedule one-on-one meeting.

The final category is “Writing Groups.” We will get into this more in a week or so, but each of you will be assigned to a writing group to work with one another on various writing projects. You will use your designated text and voice channel for that work. I will create these soon (didn’t want to clutter things now since we are not using them yet).

Discord is pretty intuitive. It has similar features to most messaging platforms (e.g., can use emojis, can @ other users). The voice channel might take some time to get familiar with (especially bouncing back and forth between text channel and video/voice), but it shouldn’t take too much time. For getting started, Discord has a great tutorial page; you could start with their “Discord Basics” page, for instance: Beginner’s Guide to Discord – Discord

A final note (for now) on Discord:

I would recommend changing your privacy settings. Here are three things to disable:

Go to settings and disable:

• “Use data to improve Discord”
• “Use data to customize my Discord”
• “Allow Discord to track screen reader usage”

Since Discord has a free version, they make money off of selling your data to various companies. Discord, like other freemium platforms, is not always clear about what they do with your data. So, a good idea is to just disable things that mention collecting data like these three settings.

Other Platforms

The other platforms are pretty straight forward. This website. Blackboard to submit major assignments and to download documents. The two Google documents. And, of course, email, too.

 

Labor Assignments (10 minutes)

How to do these assignments is spelled out in the Labor Instructions for Saturday, August 28. Your Labor Log updates, Labor Post(s), and your Labor Journal entry is due by end of day each Saturday.

You should have received an two emails via Google from me. Make sure you sign in with a Google Account so you can fill out your Labor Log and Labor Journal. Let’s go through an example now.

 

Aug 30 Assignments (10 minutes)

Let’s also briefly go through August 30 assignments.

 

Prof. Blankenship and Study (15 minutes)

Prof. Blankenship will take things from here. We will have to log into Zoom first.

Prof. Blankenship will direct you to go here to the informed consent form.

If you have any issues, Prof. Blankenship’s email is [email protected]

Okay, I’ll need a volunteer to come grab me from outside if any help is needed with connection to Zoom or anything else. Once you are done with form, you can leave. I’ll ask volunteer to stay until everyone is done.