Monday, June 30, 2008

Hi everyone! It's Monday again which means today is a busy day! Here's what's on the agenda for the next few days:

1. What's due today? Your Chapter 5 Final Thoughts are due tonight by 11. Then your Chapter 6 Starting Assumptions are due by 8 with responses and declaration by 11. Your Chapter 6 Reading Quiz is also due tonight by 11.

2. What's coming up? Your Chapter 6 Digging Deeper assignments are due tomorrow by 8 with responses by 11.

3. Emails? I know several of you have emailed me over the last 24 hours and I'm not ignoring you. I've been running around like a mad woman since my parents arrived yesterday. I PROMISE I will spend some time this afternoon getting back to all of you!

That's it for today! I'll be checking email on and off today so if you need something, drop me a note!

Heather

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Hi everyone! I hope you are having an enjoyable weekend so far! Here are a few announcements to keep you up to date on what's coming up.

1. What's due today? Your Chapter 5 Freelance Writer assignments are due today by 8 with responses by 11:00 p.m. Thanks to those of you that turned in your assignments early! I appreciate it!

2. What's coming up? Tomorrow's a typical busy Monday. Your Chapter 5 Final Thoughts are due by 11. Then your Chapter 6 Starting Assumptions are due by 8 with responses and declarations by 11 AND your Chapter 6 Reading Quiz is due by 11.

That's all I can think of for today! I'll be around on and off throughout the day so if you have questions, drop me an email!

Heather

Half way there!

Good morning folks! Today is Friday June 27, 2008 which means we are officially half way through the summer semester! Give yourselves a pat on the back for surviving this far! Here are a few important reminders.

1. Grades: Right now I'm all caught up on grading (shocking, isn't it?) which means that the grades listed in the "Points so far" column of the gradebook are accurate after you have declared today's Digging Deeper points. Many of you should be very pleased and a few of you should be pretty scared.

2. Want an idea about your final grade in the class? Some of you with low grades need to consider your "earning potential" for the rest of the class and make a decision as to whether or not you want to stay in the class or drop.

• To do this, look at the "Points so far" column in the gradebook: you can see that so far you've had the opportunity to earn 205 points. There are a total of 470 points that can be earned in the class which means you can still earn a maximum of 265 points in these last 4 weeks.
• Now take the total points that you've earned so far and add 265 to them and divide by 470: that will give you the highest possible grade you can earn in the class.
• For example, if I've earned a total of 90 points in the class, that means I can AT BEST earn a total of 90 + 265 points, or 355 points. To figure out what my maximum final grade in the class would be I divide 355 by 470 to get 0.75 or 75%. This means that if were to score 100% on every single assignment for the rest of the semester, the best grade I can get is a C.
• That, of course, doesn't include extra credit. There are still 7 or 8 more Final Thoughts assignments that you can complete and a few more odds and ends that will probably pop up before the summer is over (for approximately an additional 20 points of extra credit).

3. Want to get out of here? I am absolutely NOT looking to get rid of any of you, but I do want to make sure that you all know the option to drop the class still exists. You can drop this class with my permission up until July 7th (a week from this coming Monday). If you are thinking about dropping, let me know ASAP because I have to send the appropriate emails since I'm not in Norman to sign drop slips.

4. Now....what's due today? Your Chapter 5 Digging Deeper assignments are due tonight by 8 with responses and declaration by 11.

5. What's coming up? Tomorrow's Saturday, so there's nothing officially due....unless of you course you would like to earn 2 points extra credit for turning in your Chapter 5 Freelance Writer assignments a day early! Get them to me by Saturday (and send me an email when you've posted) and I'll add 2 points to your grade.

6. Random rant about germs....I have been reading over the discussion board posts from the last two chapters and I just wanted to say a quick thing our two about germ-killing (discussed in Chapter 12). In particular, I'm referring to anti-bacterial soaps, toys, socks, t-shirts, plastic bags, and other consumer products. Folks, these products are harmful because they promote the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Although it is hard to find non-anti-bacterial soaps nowadays, you really should buy them if possible. They work as well as anti-bacterial ones, without promoting the evolution of resistant bacteria. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are among the greatest threats to public health today, and it's immoral for companies to keep pushing antibacterial products simply because people are uninformed and paranoid. [OK, the rant is over now. I feel better. :)]

That's it for today. As always, you know where to find me! Enjoy your Friday and the rest of your weekend!

Heather

You made it!

Well, you survived your first Adopt-a-Species assignment and everyone had their links to me on time! Way to go! Here's what's on the agenda for the next few days:

1. What's due today? The responses to your classmates' Adopt-a-Species assignments are due today by noon. Please place your responses on the correct discussion boards (see yesterday's announcement for instructions on how to do this). You also have 3 other assignments due tonight: Your Chapter 12 Final Thoughts are due by 11, your Chapter 5 Starting Assumptions are due by 8 with responses by 11, and your Chapter 5 Reading Quiz is due tonight by 11.

2. What's coming up? After a busy day like today, tomorrow's Chapter 5 Digging Deeper should be no sweat! Assignments are due by 8 with responses by 11.

3. Extra credit opportunity: Want 2 extra credit points? Then have your Chapter 5 Freelance Writer assignments posted by Saturday the 28th instead of Sunday the 29th. Drop me an email when you've done so and I'll add the points to the gradebook!

That's it for today! I'm getting lots of good questions about some of the quiz questions. If you are confused about anything, please let me know!

Heather

Wednesday June 25, 2008

Well, today's the day: your first Adopt-a-Species assignments are due! I've received 3 completed assignments so far and I'm very excited to read through them already! The Adopt-a-Species are some of my favorite assignments to grade! Below are some reminders about your assignments:

1. What's due today:

• Your Adopt-a-Species blog link must be emailed to me by 8:00 p.m. and the hyperlink must be functional. Please carefully follow the instructions in D2L so you don't accidentally send me the wrong link (yes, this happens quite frequently).
• Stay close to your email tonight so if you send me the wrong link, I can shoot you a quick email letting you know.
• Don't forget to include "Week 4" somewhere in the title of your assignment. If you've already sent me your link, it's still ok to go in and change the title. You might need to consult this link on editing your blog for help.
• If you haven't noticed, there is a warning against using Word to compose your assignment. Word is notoriously bad for any web-based assignment. If you are experiencing problems using Word, try composing your assignment directly in bloglines.
• If you go to the Week 4, Chapter 12 discussion board and click on the board entitled "Adopt-a-Species response grid and student links" you will see a post called "response grid and students links." This is where I'm posting all of your A-a-S links and where you can access the links of all of your classmates.

2. Responses for Adopt-a-Species:

• Remember: I have assigned each of you specific people to respond to for this assignment. You can find this information on the response grid (see above for how to access it).
• Your responses to your classmates are not due until Thursday at noon.
• Each of you has your own discussion board forum entitled "Responses for [your name]." You will use these personal discussion boards to post your responses. For example, if I look at the response grid and see that I am supposed to respond to Amber, I will go find the discussion forum entitled "Responses for Amber" and post my response to her assignment here.

3. What else is due tomorrow? On top of your A-a-S responses being due by noon, your Chapter 12 Final Thoughts are due by 11 and so is your Chapter 5 Reading Quiz. AND....your Chapter 5 Starting Assumptions are due by 8 with responses by 11. Sorry--I know it's a busy day.

• If you are wondering where to post your Final Thoughts for your A-a-S assignment, simply post them on your own personal discussion forum (right underneath where your classmates responded to your assignment).

4. Extra credit reminder: I'm offering you folks an additional 2 points extra credit if you post your Chapter 5 Freelance Writer assignment by Saturday, June 28 instead of Sunday the 29th. If you choose to take advantage of this opportunity, drop me an email once you have completed the assignment.

5. Grading: I've finished grading your Chapter 4 Freelance Writer assignments and have posted the grades and my comments in the gradebook. Take a look and let me know if you have any questions.

That's it for today. I'll be around all day so please ask if you have questions or concerns about anything!

Heather

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Hi everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your week so far. Here's what's on the agenda for the next few days.

1. What's due today? Your Chapter 12 Digging Deeper assignments are due tonight by 8 with responses by 11. AND if you want to earn two points extra credit for your blog setup, be sure to send me a link to your blog by tonight at 11.

2. What's coming up? Your first Adopt-a-Species assignment is due by tomorrow (Wednesday) at 8:00 p.m. This means that the report must be posted on your blog AND you must send me a functioning hyperlink to your blog in an email entitled "I have posted my documentary" all by 8:00 p.m. Your responses to the Adopt-a-species assignments aren't due until Thursday at noon.

3. Need a few more points? If you can have your Chapter 5 Freelance Writer assignment completed by Saturday June 28 (instead of Sunday June 29) by 11:00 p.m. I'll add 2 extra credit points to your score. My parents are coming to visit me next week and I'd like to have some of my grading done before they arrive. The earlier you get your assignments in, the more time I can spend with my momma! Just shoot me an email letting me know that you've completed the assignment early!

I think that's it for today. Please let me know if you have any questions about the Adopt-a-Species assignment. There are a lot of instructions, so be sure to pay attention to detail!

Heather

It's Monday....again!

Hi folks! This summer is just flying by isn't it? I can't believe we're starting the last week of June!

Here's what's up for the next few days:

1. What's due today? Chapter 4 Final Thoughts are due tonight by 11 and so is your Chapter 12 Reading Quiz. Then your Chapter 12 Starting Assumptions are due by 8 with responses by 11.

2. What's coming up? Two things: Your Chapter 12 Digging Deeper is due tomorrow by 8 with responses by 11 AND your Adopt-a-Species blog setup for two extra credit points is also due by 11 tomorrow.

3. Adopt-a-species: I'm going to re-email you my A-a-S email that I sent out on Friday. It's full of helpful hints to get you through this assignment. Don't forget: you must email me your functioning hyperlink by Wednesday at 8:00 to receive credit for the assignment!!

4. What am I doing? Still getting caught up on the discussion board (story of my life). I'll go through and try to respond to posts with no responses this morning so you can all do your Final Thoughts. If I miss yours send me an email and I'll quickly respond to you!

I think that's it for now! Email me with questions or concerns!

Heather

Sunday June 21, 2008

Good morning folks! I hope you are having a great weekend! I know I am! To celebrate the start of summer we attended an outdoor concert in the park: We went to see an Elton John impersonator! I know you're jealous, aren't you? ;)

Here's what's on the agenda for the next few days:

1. What's due today? Your Chapter 4 Freelance Writer assignments are due tonight by 8 with responses and declarations due by 11.

2. What's coming up? Your Chapter 4 Final Thoughts assignments are due tomorrow by 11. Then it's on to Chapter 12 (yes, that's right--we're not following the order of the book this week). Your Chapter 12 Starting Assumptions are due tomorrow by 8 with responses by 11 and your Reading Quiz is due by 11.

3. What else? I sent out a (painfully) long email on Friday explaining the details of this week's upcoming Adopt-a-Species assignment. You should be getting a head start on those assignments just in case you run into problems setting up your blog. I've received blog links from 3 of you so far--good work! Don't forget those extra credit opportunities for setting up your blog early and for adopting a non-vertebrate organism!

4. Half way there! This is week 4 of the 8-week summer semester. That means that as of Friday we will be half way done (insert copious cheering and here)! This is the time where you need to be looking at your grades and deciding if you're on track to earn the grade you want. If you're not, be thinking about what is the best strategy for you: do you need to be better at declaring your work? following the instructions? do you need to consider dropping the course? If you are concerned or have questions, please let me know and I'll help you out as best as I can!

Enjoy your Sunday!

Heather

It's Friday!!

Woo hoo! We made it through another week. Here are some important announcements (some of which are related to this week's material) that you need to take a look at.

1. Global warming IS a problem: Period. Several of you are under the common misunderstanding that this is a problem of the future, or this is a media hoax, or this is a natural cycle. I know you hear mixed stories in the news, but the science is not mixed: We are currently experiencing global warming. It is a real, serious, legitimate, human-caused problem that we and our children (and unfortunately all life on earth) have to deal with.

2. Global warming is NOT the same as ozone depletion: The ozone layer is a layer of gas located in the stratosphere of the earth. It's important to humans because it absorbs dangerous wavelengths of UV light that harm our DNA. The hole in the ozone is mainly caused be free radicals (that are produced in many different ways, but one major source is chlorofluorocarbons found in aerosols). Although the ozone hole still exists, we've managed to make strides towards repairing it with bans on certain types of chemicals that destroy the ozone.

THIS IS NOT GLOBAL WARMING. Global warming is caused by the trapping of greenhouse gases (CO2, methane, etc.) in the atmosphere that is causing the gradual rise in temperature of the earth's surface. Greenhouse gases take a loooooooooooooong time to go away which means we're going to need to make some serious life changes (and work on some form of greenhouse gas removal system) to make this problem go away.

This all gets a little bit confusing, though, because ozone located in the wrong region of the earth's atmosphere, is also a greenhouse gas. Ozone is one of the bi-products of smog which is why you sometimes hear ozone and global warming used in the same sentence.

3. What can you do to reduce your effects? TONS!!! And the good thing is that most of the solutions will save us $$$ (I don't know about you, but I'm a bit short on cash these days). Here are just a few things you can do to help slow the warming crisis: adjust your thermostat (just a degree warmer in the summer and a degree cooler in the winter will make a big difference), walk/bike/carpool/ride the bus, buy energy-efficient appliances, use energy-saver light bulbs, recycle, eat locally grown foods (like from the farmer's market--transport of food across the country takes a lot of fossil fuels). Check out this website for more things you can do.....and then DO THEM! :)

4. One more thing....Vianne sent me an excellent news article on a town that is going to be completely carbon neutral! Check it out--it's pretty amazing! Thanks Vianne! If anyone else has other news to share, just drop me a note!

5. Ok, on to business: Your Chapter 4 Digging Deeper assignment is due tonight by 8 with responses and declarations due by 11:00 p.m. Then you're off the hook until Sunday!

Enjoy your weekend and let me know if you have questions or concerns!

Heather

Happy Thursday!

Hi all! I'm sure you are all looking forward to the weekend as much as I am, so let's get through these last few assignments for the week and go enjoy ourselves!

1. What's due today? Chapter 3 Final Thoughts are due tonight by 11:00, then it's on to Chapter 4! Your Chapter 4 Starting Assumptions are due tonight by 8 with responses by 11 AND your Chapter 4 Reading Quiz is due tonight by 11.

2. What's coming up? Your Chapter 4 Digging Deeper assignments are due Friday by 8 with responses by 11. Then take a break on Saturday!

3. Looking ahead: You should take some time in the next day or so to look over next week's Adopt-a-Species assignment (Week 4, Chapter 12). This is a new type of assignment that will take the place of 4 of your Freelance Writer assignments. Although the assignment is not difficult, it does require a bit more time on your part (and attention to detail). I'll send out an email explaining this assignment in detail today or tomorrow.

4. Grading? I'm up to my ears in stuff to do today so I'm not going to get to your Freelance Writer assignments until tomorrow. I should have the grades up by tomorrow evening so you can see my comments before your next Freelance Writer is due.

5. Get me out of here! If any of you are considering dropping the course, you have until tomorrow (Friday) at 5:00 to drop without my permission. After that, you'll need my approval to drop and after July 7th, you'll need the permission of the Dean.

That's it for now! I'm here if you need me!

Heather

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Hello everyone! It's the middle of the week again which means Friday is in sight!! I just wanted to tell you again how pleased I am with your last two sets of assignments (SA and DD)! You've really done a great job on these and I appreciate your effort!

1. What's due today? Your Chapter 3 Freelance Writer is due tonight by 8 with responses by 11. Don't forget to declare your substantive responses by 11 too.

2. What's coming up? Yes, Thursdays are one of the crazy days, aren't they? Chapter 3 Final Thoughts and your Chapter 4 reading quiz are due by 11 AND your Chapter 4 Starting Assumptions are due by 8 with responses by 11.

3. In the not-so-distant future: You might take a look ahead to next week (Chapter 12 in particular) if you get a few minutes over the next few days. Our first Adopt-a-Species assignment is coming up next week in place of the normal Freelance Writer. This new assignment involves you setting up a blog on the internet. In fact, if you set up your blog and select your species early (by Tuesday, June 24th) you can declare 2 extra credit points. AND if you select a non-vertebrate species to adopt, you can earn another 2 extra credit points (but you won't declare those points: just drop me an email and I'll add them to your grade)!

As always, I'm here glued to my computer for most of the day! :) Email me if you have questions or concerns!

Heather

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Hi everyone! I'd like to start off by saying that you all did a SPECTACULAR job on your Starting Assumption assignments last night! You all had some great ideas and every single response on the discussion board was substantive! Great work!

Here's what's on the agenda for the next few days:

1. What's due today? Your Chapter 3 Digging Deeper assignments are due tonight by 8 with responses by 11. Don't forget to follow all of the directions carefully: this assignment has a lot of little parts to it!

2. What's coming up? Tomorrow is another Freelance Writer day (aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh! I'm still grading your Chapter 2 FW's!!!!). Those are due by 8 with responses by 11. This seems to be the place where everyone is having a hard time coming up with substantive comments to make to your classmates. Put some extra time and effort into this and email me if you have questions about whether your responses are adequate or not.

3. What am I doing? Grading, grading, grading. I'll have your Chapter 2 Freelance Writer grades up by the end of the day. Just skimming over them they look much better than the last round.

4. Spell check issues: I've noticed on some of your FW assignments that there are some problems with spaces between words--they're apparently getting deleted by the built in spell checker in D2L. If this is happening to you, I advise that you use another spell check program. At the top of the page in D2L I've included a link to spellcheck.net that you can use as an alternative to the one built into D2L. It also gives you a word count at the bottom of the page!

That's it for today! You know where to find me if you need anything!

Heather

It's Monday again!

Good morning everyone! I hope you had a great weekend! I just had to share a picture of my new-puppy-to-be. We've (temporarily) named her Mila (pronounced Mee-lah) until we get her in a few weeks: we need to make sure her name matches her personality before we decide for certain! I'm sure she'll keep us very busy! :)

Anyway, here's a list of what should be keeping you busy for the next few days:

1. What's due today? Mondays and Thursdays are BUSY aren't they? Today you have three assignments due: Your Chapter 2 Final Thoughts and your Chapter 3 Reading Quiz are due tonight by 11. Your Chapter 3 Starting Assumptions are due tonight be 8 with responses and declaration by 11.

2. What's coming up? That Chapter 3 Digging Deeper assignment that I've been warning you about for many, many days. You absolutely have to start the assignment this morning (i.e. immediately) to complete it properly. Let me know if you have problems with the dropbox--I always think I have it set up correctly but I can't tell for certain until you start posting assignments in there.

3. Starting today: I am becoming a hardball with substantive responses. If I see a non-substantive response on the discussion board, you will automatically lose half credit for your assignment. That means if it's a Digging Deeper assignment, you get 5 out of 10 points. If you are a repeat offender, you will lose full credit for the assignment. After that, I'm resorting to academic misconduct reports and lowering your final grade in the course. I have sent many email reminders, there is an entire webpage on the course site dedicated to addressing this problem, AND I've sent out at least 5 different examples of what constitutes a quality response. Any response that is not substantive at this point is simply due to lack of effort on your part.

4. Did you know.... that Sarah goes by Katy? And that James prefers to be called Cory? and that there are at least 7 other students that don't go by their "D2L names?" Folks, please be courteous and call people by their preferred names. If you go by something other than what appears on D2L, help me correct those folks out there that can't remember!

Ok, I'm done nagging you for the day! I'm looking forward to reading all of your Starting Assumptions tonight!

Heather

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Hi folks. It's back to the grind again today. Here are a few announcements that should help you through the next few days:

1. What's due today? Your Week 2, Chapter 2 Freelance Writer assignment is due tonight by 8 with responses AND DECLARATION by 11:00.

• I have slightly tweaked the grading rubric for this assignment (although nothing major) to hopefully make it a bit clearer what my expectations are for the assignment.
• I also added a link to the bottom of the rubric that explains how to use proper punctuation when writing dialogue. Use it!

2. What's coming up? Monday is another busy day! Your Chapter 2 Final Thoughts assignments are due by 11, your Chapter 3 Starting Assumptions are due by 8 with responses by 11, AND your Chapter 3 Reading Quiz is due by 11.

3. What else? If you have not yet looked at the Chapter 3 Digging Deeper assignment you need to do so today! This assignment requires that you work at least 2 days ahead to complete it on time.

4. What am I doing? Trying to catch up on the discussion board! Yipes! If it's any consolation, I'm having a hard time keeping up with all of these assignments too! It's much easier for me to do during the regular school year. I'm a bit behind but plan on spending a large chunk of time this evening reading over all of your posts.

5. Reminder! I've attached (below) a copy of the email I sent out on Friday explaining my expectations for your writing assignments. This email was not meant to ream anyone out, but should serve as firm reminder about what I expect to see on the discussion board.

6. Don't forget that your OU login ID changes tomorrow!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and let me know if you have any questions!

Heather


COPY OF REMINDER EMAIL BELOW:

Hi folks. I have finished grading your Freelance Writer assignments and have posted your scores and my comments in the gradebook. Some of you did very well, some of you not so well, but for the most part you all scored around 6 points out of 8. Regardless of your score on the assignment, is it important that you read what I have to say below as it pertains to all of you and many of your future assignments.

1. Responses: You are responsible for declaring the 2 points for your responses to your peers' Freelance Writer assignments. I have not yet looked over your responses to make sure they are substantive, but I noticed that some of you forgot to declare.

2. Content of the article: The one thing that most of you lost points for was failing to make the article the main focus of your assignment. Most of the articles that you selected had TONS of information in them that could be easily added to your assignments to make them more informative (and make the article the focus of your post). I'm going to spend some time this weekend re-wording the grading rubrics to hopefully address the issue in upcoming assignments.

3. Key terms: You all got off pretty easy this week with your key terms because most of the terms are common, everyday words used by the general population. This won't be the case for the rest of the semester. It needs to be ABSOLUTELY CLEAR from the context around the vocab word that I know you know what the word means. If I have to guess or make assumptions I will take off points.

4. References: You must cite ALL references you use in completing your assignment and they must be formatted properly. To use information and not cite the source is plagiarism (as you should all know after taking the plagiarism quiz). This includes your textbook!

5. Spelling and Grammar: There were some major issues with spelling and grammatical errors in your assignments and in the discussion board in general. It is rude to make me and your peers read posts that are laden with errors. I am extremely picky about this. Every single person in this classroom is going to have to write and write well no matter what profession you go into. There are many, many resources out there to help improve your writing (books, internet sources, the OU Writing Center). I expect that if you have problems with spelling and grammar that you will take the initiative to fix these problems. It is a waste of my time and your classmates' time to have to weed through a bunch of grammatical errors.

6. Preview your post: I forgot to mention earlier in the semester that there is a "preview" button that you can use in D2L to see what your posts look like before you submit them. In the bottom left hand corner of the message composition window there is a little piece of paper with a magnifying glass in front of it. Use this to preview your post.

7. OU Net ID: Just so no one panics your OU 4 x 4 will change as of Monday. IT has been sending out reminder emails, but it doesn't hurt to be reminded once more! :)

You did it!

You survived the second week of class! Great job everyone! There have been a few growing pains here and there until we all get used to things, but for the most part everything has been going very smoothly! Here are a few reminders for today:

1. What's due today? Your Week 2, Chapter 2 Digging Deeper assignment is due tonight be 8 with responses and declaration by 11. Please remember the following:

• Make sure responses are substantive! Ask yourself, what new idea does my response bring to this discussion? If the answer is "nothing" then your response is not substantive!
• Proofread!! Holy cow, the spelling and grammar errors I'm seeing on the discussion board are REALLY bad! Please be courteous and proofread your assignments. You are declaring that your work has been spellchecked/proofread and is error free--it's a violation of the honor code to post assignments laden with spelling errors.
• Names (still)! Please use names on the discussion board and be sure you are using preferred names! Do I sound like a broken record here?

2. What's coming up? Tomorrow is Saturday (woo hoo!) so you don't have any assignments due. However, on Sunday your next Freelance Writer assignment is due by 8 with responses by 11.

3. Looking ahead! You'll need to get an early start on your Week 3, Chapter 3 Digging Deeper so be sure to check that out. You need to start the assignment at least 2 days in advance.

4. Grading: I'm still working on your Week 2, Chapter 1 Freelance Writer assignments. I actually didn't start working on them until about 8:00 last night so I'm a bit behind. I'll try to get the grades posted today so you have the comments to look at for your next Freelance Writer assignment!

Ok, I think that's it for today! Enjoy your weekend and you'll hear back from me again on Sunday!

Heather

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Good morning folks! You've almost made it through the second week of class! Here's what's up for the next few days:

1. What's due today? A lot!

• Final Thoughts (i.e. extra credit) for Week 2, Chapter 1 are due tonight by 11:00 p.m. Don't forget to declare!
• Your Week 2, Chapter 2 Starting Assumptions are due by 8 with responses and declarations by 11.
• AND your Week 2, Chapter 2 reading quiz is also due tonight by 11.

2. What's coming up? Your Week 2, Chapter 2 Digging Deeper is due tomorrow at 8 with responses by 11. Then you get to relax on Saturday--Nothing is due until Sunday!

3. What am I doing? Grading your Freelance Writer assignments. I plan to start working on them this afternoon, so grades probably won't be posted until tomorrow.

4. Heads up! Next week's Week 3, Chapter 3 Digging Deeper assignment (due Tuesday, June 17th) requires you to record your daily food intake for two days prior to the assignment. Take a look and be sure to get a head start on this assignment!

That's it for today! You know where to find me if you need anything!

Heather

Happy Wednesday!

Hi folks! It's hump day which means the week is almost over! I've got another long list of announcements today, so read carefully. I PROMISE they will start getting shorter once I'm sure everyone has the hang of things! :)

1. What's due today? Your Week 2, Chapter 1 Freelance Writer assignments are due tonight by 8 with responses by 11:00. You also have to declare your responses by 11:00 p.m., but that's it: I grade these assignments and will post your grades (and my comments) as soon as I get through all of the assignment. Be sure to pay attention to details here and to the grading rubric at the bottom of the assignment page!

2. What's coming up? Thursday is a busy day! Your Week 2, Chapter 1 Final thoughts are due tomorrow by 11:00 p.m. (more about this below). Your Week 2, Chapter 2 Starting Assumptions are also due by 8 with responses and declaration by 11. AND your Week 2, Chapter 2 reading quiz is due by 11:00. Phew!

3. Extra credit? Your Final Thoughts assignments are a weekly (well, bi-weekly in the summer, I guess...) extra credit opportunity for you to earn up to 2 points extra credit. This involves going back to the Starting Assumptions, Digging Deeper and Freelance Writer assignments and posting a your final thoughts on each assignment. This means answering any questions that your peers might have asked you, summing up what you've learned, and discussing how your classmates helped you in your learning. For more on this, check out the Final Thoughts assignment description.

4. Survey results? Are you interested in the results of the survey you and classmates took during Week 1? You can see the results (all of which are anonymous) in D2L. Click on the Survey link at the top of the page, then click the little bar graph ("Results for Week 1 Survey") to see some information about your classmates!

5. Attachments! Please be certain to post your assignments directly on the discussion board itself instead of posting an attachment. Myself and many of your classmates can't open certain file types.

6. Names! Please check out the "I like to be called...." discussion forum when addressing your peers by name! There are 9 students in this class (almost 40%) that prefer to be called something other than the name that appears in D2L. Please be courteous and use preferred names!

7. Non-substantive responses? For the most part the majority of you are doing a great job with your responses to your classmates. A few of you still haven't quite gotten the hang of things, however. Please be sure that you are adding a new, thoughtful idea to the conversation, not just saying "I agree (or disagree)" or "nice work." Here are a few examples from this week that I thought were excellent (this is not an exhaustive list--many of your responses were awesome and I can't list them all here!):

• I've seen ads for that Diet Rx online too, I'm skeptical though. Most diet pills don't really do anything, I think. Anyway, I liked that you had a large total of subjects, that is good for getting a idea if it will work for a multitude of people. I also like that you took into account the subjects activity level, eating habits previous to the experiment too. Though I wonder if the experiment would be more effective if all your subject were around the same age and fitness level? What if you developed a diet/menu based on the eating habits recorded previous to the experiment. It might give you more control and it would be easier to identify the pill as the sole weight loss factor. People might cheat on their food logs to "please" the researcher or feel motivated with the pill to eat healthier or exercise when they hadn't before? But if the pill does inspire that in the person (to do it themselves) but ingredients of the pill don't actually cause weight loss, do you still think the pill is a failure? Great details in your post, keep it up! [Vianne, Digging Deeper]
• I like the topic you chose. Memory is an important and complex part of the brain, and it would be interesting to know if it can be improved by drugs, especially in so short of a time. My only question about your experiment is, although I understand your reasoning for wanting to put the subjects in a controlled environment, wouldn't changing these people's living environment change the outcome of the experiment? In reality, when a person takes these pills they will be at home, not in a controlled space where they know their behavior is constantly being monitored. I think this environment could cause the observer affect, in which the act of observing changes that which is being observed. [Bekah, Digging Deeper]
• I have seen this product advertised before and wondered about it. When I was in China at the green tea farm our tour guide told us that she lost weight after her pregnancy by drinking green tea one hour after every meal. She insisted that it worked and was probably why the Chinese were so much slimmer than Americans (generally speaking). If she's right and green tea really does increase metabolism, what makes this particular product so much more special? Wouldn't it be interesting to compare the effects of Wu-Long to regular green tea? What kind of tea were you thinking of using for your placebo? [Angelica, Digging Deeper]

Ok, I'm looking forward to reading your Freelance Writer assignments! Let me know if you need anything!!

Heather

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Hi folks! I hope your reading quizzes went well last evening! I spent some time reading over your Starting Assumptions and they looked very good! I gave up at about 9:30 though, so I still have to go back and read the rest today. I'll let you know if it looks like there's a problem with anything!

1. What's due today? Your Week 2, Chapter 1 Digging Deeper assignments are due tonight by 8 with responses AND DECLARATION by 11:00 p.m. Don't forget those declarations: no declaration means no credit for the assignment.

2. What's coming up? Your first Freelance Writer assignment is due tomorrow by 8 with responses and declaration due at 11:00. For these assignments you will only declare 2 points for your responses to your peers; the other points I will assign after I grade your assignments based on the grading rubric at the bottom of the assignment page.

3. Extra credit? You have the chance to earn 2 points of extra credit every week in this class by completing the Final Thoughts assignments. The first Final Thoughts assignment is due by Thursday at 11:00 p.m. Please refer to the Final Thoughts instruction page for more information on this assignment. Also, please include the words "Final Thoughts" in the subject of your post.

As always, I'm here if you need me!

Heather

Monday, Monday......

Good morning folks! I hope you had a great weekend! I've got a long list of announcements today, so please read them carefully!

1. What's due today? Week 2, Chapter 1 Starting Assumptions are due tonight at 8 with responses and declaration by 11:00 p.m. Your Week 2, Chapter 1 reading and reading quiz is also due tonight by 11:00 p.m.

2. What's coming up? Week 2, Chapter 1 Digging Deeper assignments are due Tuesday at 8 with responses and declaration by 11. Check out the sample assignment if you want to see an example of how this assignment should look!

3. Responses? Now is the time that I start to get pretty picky about the responses on the discussion board. I expect the responses to your peers to be substantive. What does this mean? It means that the response pertains to the actual content of the post and contributes a new opinion, perspective, or idea to the discussion at hand. A substantive response is not one that simply pats your classmates on the back for doing a good job, or says "I agree." Try asking your classmate a thoughtful question pertaining to the material in his/her post, or add a personal experience or idea that might take the conversation in a new direction.

If you had your Starting Assumptions responses posted by last night around 9:00 p.m. I've gone through and read over them. If I felt like your response was not substantive, I sent you a "heads up" email (but don't expect that I'll do this for every assignment). If you did not have your responses up by 9 last night and are not certain that your responses are substantive, drop me an email and I'd be happy to look at them for you!

4. Week 1 Grades: I've gone through and looked at all of your Week 1 assignments and most of them were really great! There were some problems, however, with people not following directions and declaring full credit for their work. I have sent emails to all of those people addressing the specific problems and letting you know that I will take points off in the gradebook for this. Here's how I handle this situation:

• Since last week was the first week of class and everyone was stilling trying to figure out this course, I only removed a point or two (depending on the severity of the offense) from your grade in the gradebook.
• Starting now, if you declare work that does not meet the assignment criteria, you will only receive 1/2 credit for the assignment.
• If you declare incomplete work on a second occasion, you will not receive any credit for the assignment.
• After your second offense, I reserve the right to lower your final grade in the course and report you for academic misconduct. It is a violation of the honor code (and therefore academic misconduct) to declare work that does not meet the assignment criteria.

5. Names, names, names!!! Please be courteous on the discussion board and do the following:

• Address your peers by name!!
• Address your peers by their PREFERRED name!!

Ok, I think that's all I have for today! Please get in touch with me if you have any questions and especially if you think your grade was reduced in error!! There are 25 of you, LOTS of assignments to look at, and only one of me, so I do make mistakes! :)

Enjoy your Monday!

Heather

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Hi everyone! I hope you are having a splendid weekend! I know I am--it's finally warm up here in Canada and I spent the weekend gardening!

Here's what's on the agenda for the next few days:

1. What's due tonight? Nothing. So relax! :)

2. What's due tomorrow? Your Week 2, Chapter 1 Starting Assumptions are due Monday by 8 with responses and declaration by 11. Your Week 2, Chapter 1 reading and reading quiz are also due by Monday at 11:00 p.m.

3. What's coming up? Your Week 2, Chapter 1 Digging Deeper is due Tuesday at 8 with responses (and declaration) by 11:00.

4. Discussion board reminders: Don't forget those substantive responses!! You will be hearing from me if there is a problem with your responses. Also, please remember discussion board courtesy and address your peers by their preferred first names!

5. What am I doing? I'll spend most of this evening going over your Week 1 assignments to make sure they meet the assignment criteria.

That's all for today! As always, I'm here to help you with whatever you need, so please let me know if you have questions or concerns!

Heather

Friday, June 6, 2008: Orientation assignments due!!

Hi folks! I hope all of your orientation work is going smoothly and you are preparing for a relaxing weekend! Here's what's on the agenda for the next few days:

1. CAS Orientation is due today by 5:00 p.m. You will be dropped from the course if you do not complete this assignment by the deadline.

2. Week 1 Course Orientation activities and declarations are due tonight by 11:00 p.m. Please make sure that your assignments meet the criteria before you declare: it is academic misconduct to declare incomplete work. I will spend some time over the weekend reading all of your assignments to make sure they meet all of the requirements!

3. Week 2 starts Monday! Your Week 2, Chapter 1 Starting Assumptions are due Monday by 8 with responses to your peers and declarations due by 11:00 p.m. Your Week 2, Chapter 1 Reading Quiz is also do! Be sure to complete the assigned reading before attempting the quiz!

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns! You probably won't hear from me again until Sunday!

Heather

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Hi everyone! It seems like most of you are starting to figure out exactly what you're supposed to be doing in this class....and when you don't know, you're emailing me with questions! Great! Keep it up!!

Here's what's on the agenda for the next few days:

1. CAS Online Orientation is due tomorrow (Friday) by 5:00 p.m. If you do not complete it you risk being dropped from the course.

2. Week 1 Course Orientation activities are due tomorrow (Friday) by 11:00 p.m. This includes the declarations for all completed assignments. Please see yesterday's announcement if you are confused about declaring your work.

3. Honor Code: If you declare work that does not meet ALL of the assignment requirements, you are violating the course honor code which is therefore academic misconduct. This includes following guidelines like length requirements, substantive responses, etc. Please go back and double check your work before you declare: I do check to make certain that all of your assignments meet the criteria.

4. Next Week? Well, unfortunately this week was pretty laid back in an effort to get you used to working on online assignments. The real work begins next week. Starting on Monday, every assignment you complete has a strict due date and time (see the Checksheet under the Contents link in D2L). You have the exact same number of assignments due in the summer course as you would if you had taken the course during the regular semester. That means we have packed a LOT of stuff into each week! It's easy to fall behind if you are not paying attention so take this weekend to regroup, get organized, and jump head first into next week!

5. Email confirmation and course contract? I'm still waiting for email confirmations from 7 of you and course contracts from 16 of you. I'll send you each a personal email today if I haven't received one of those items. You do have until tomorrow at 11 to complete these assignments, but I just want to make sure that no one forgets! :)

Enjoy your Thursday and let me know if you have questions!

Heather

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Hi all! I've been reading over your posts on the discussion board and think you are all doing a great job! By the way, I will read EVERY SINGLE post on the board this summer, in case you were wondering.

Here are a few things to keep in mind while you are completing your Week 1 assignments:

1. Email confirmation? I have heard back from 15 of you in response to my email confirmation, but there are 24 of you currently enrolled. For those of you who have not yet responded, you have until Friday at 11:00 p.m. to respond to my email. It's very important that I know I can reach you through email!

2. Responding to posts: Don't forget to respond to posts with 0 or 1 response first--we like to spread the love in this class!

3. Names! Please begin each of your responses by addressing the person by their first name (e.g. "Hi, Jessica!")--it's part of discussion board courtesy! Be certain to check on the "I like to be called...." discussion forum to make sure you are using the correct name!

4. Substantive responses: Many of the assignments this semester require that you respond to your peers with a "substantive response." So far, most of you are doing a GREAT job with this and have obviously put a lot of time and effort into responding to your peers! There are a few responses, however, that are not substantive (i.e. they do not bring something new to the conversation) and just one or two that do not meet the length requirement for responses. For help with this, check out this site on what constitutes a good or bad response and please email me if you are still not sure! Nobody wants to lose points for something as simple as a response!

5. Declaring your work? Once you have completed each of the assignments and met all of the criteria, you can then declare your work. What exactly does this mean? When you declare your work, you are agreeing that you have met all of the requirements of the assignment. Once you have agreed to this (by completing the "quiz" on D2L that corresponds to your assignment), the computer will award you with the points you declared (check it out by going to the Grades link in D2L).

Here's the thing: if you don't declare your work, you don't get credit for it. Declaring is equivalent to turning in your assignment to your instructor in a face to face course--if you don't turn it in, you don't get a grade for it. Remember: you have agreed to operate under the Honor Code in this class. That means that if you falsely declare work that you have not completed, you are guilty of academic misconduct.

Ok, I promise that my daily announcements won't always be this long! I just want to make sure that we are all on the same page! As always, I'm here if you have questions!

Heather

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Hi everyone! I hope you all survived your first day of summer session without me! I apologize for being out of town: I returned late last night and will be around for most of the remainder of the summer!

I see that many of you have started working on your assignments! That's great! Here are a few important things to keep in mind while you work:

1. Accessing the course website: Just as a reminder, you will be completing most of your assignments for this course in D2L. However, all of the assignment instructions, the course syllabus, and course policies can be found on the Contemporary Issues in Biology course website.

2. Course Announcements: If you haven't done so already, please select a method for receiving course announcements. You can either view them by visiting D2L or my blog everyday (you will probably be logging on to D2L almost every day anyway) or you can sign up to receive course announcements via email.

3. CAS Orientation: If you have not taken an online course through OU, you must complete the College of Arts and Sciences Online Course Orientation by this Friday OR YOU WILL BE DROPPED FROM THE COURSE. The orientation for Summer 2008 online courses is at http://learn.ou.edu/. Under your list of spring classes, click on "Online Orientation SU 08." Read the information on the home page, and then click on "Content" at the top of the page.

4. Course Orientation: You should start working on your Week 1 assignments for this course which are due Friday by 11:00 pm. One of these assignments includes responding to an email that I sent out yesterday entitled Course Orientation Email Confirmation. If you did not receive this email, check your junk mail or contact me ASAP (hgalbraith@ou.edu).

5. Assignment Instructions: I have sent out 3 reminders about this already, but it's worth repeating one more time: You MUST click on the link to each individual assignment to access the entire set of assignment instructions. Many of you have posted incomplete assignments on the discussion board. You will need to edit those before you can declare credit for them.

6. Semester Schedule: You should also take a look at the semester checksheet located under the Contents link on D2L. This is a helpful tool for figuring out all when your assignments are due.

I know it seems like there's a lot of stuff to do, but once you get in the swing of things, you should have no problems! Let me know if you have any questions!

Heather