Sample Introduction

From Robin Neidorf's book
Welcome to class
My name is Jim Van Horn, and I am your instructor for this course. after you read this note please hit "reply" (not "reply all"!) to send me a short "Hi, I got it" type of message, just so that I know you're on board and ready to roll. You can also let me know at that time if you have any questions about starting up with class.

As you know, we will be using BlackBoard for this course. You can access BlackBoard by ......

Our classroom is a private, secure space. You will need the username and password that the school provide you in order to log in to the classroom. If you do not have a username or password, if you misplaced it (don't worry -- it happens to all of us), or if your login isn't working for any reason, please contact the helpdesk right away and cc me on the message so that I know what's going on!

Once you are in the classroom, click the Syllabus link. This document will be you guide for the next 16 weeks. Read the Syllabus carefully and completely. You might want to print it out if that helps you to absorb it better. I often copy it to my Windows desktop so that it is immediately available for reference. You will be referring to your syllabus a lot during this course! All of your assignments and due dates are in the syllabus, along with other course policies.

You will find information relating to the first week's work by clicking on "Week One" on the Syllabus page or the Course home page.

Finally, visit our Discussion Board. There, you will find my personal bio. After you read about me, please post a similar bio about yourself in the chat room by Tuesday so we can all get to know each other! I am looking forward to learning more about you! Some of the things you can include in you bio are where you live, what you do, some of your interests and hobbies, some of your goals, etc.
That should do it for now ... Welcome to the class!

Here is a quick review of what you need to do right now:

1. Reply to this email


2. Log into Blackboard


3. Read the Syllabus


4. Print and/or copy the Syllabus


5. Read the Week One assignment


6. Read my Bio


7. Post your Bio

Sample Work Flow For a Week

Suggestion from Robin Neidorf's book
To help you manage and plan your time, I am providing this sample work flow for a typical workshop week. weks run from Sunday through Saturday with new materials posted to the Course Materials every weekend. This sample flow is merely ajuideline to give you an idea of how you could plan your time.

Sunday:

• Check course materials and review new content


• Print lectures


• Review assignments


• E-mail teammates with questions or comments

Monday:

• Respond to an assignment in the Discussion


• Comment on classmate postings

Tuesday:

• Work with teammates on team project


• Comment on classmate postings

Wednesday:

• Respond to another assignment in the Discussion


• Comment on classmate postings


• Work independently on Portion of team project

Thursday:

• Begin reviewing insights and ideas of the week and making notes for Weekly Journal entry


• Comment on classmate postings

Friday:

• Final response to classmates


• Finalize and post Journal entry


• Update teammates about progress on project

Saturday:

• Go enjoy some family time!

As you can see, it is very possible to be an active, engaged part of the classroom in small chunks of time throughout the week. whether you have ten minutes first thing in the morning, a bit of time overlunch, or half an hour after everyone else has gone to bed, you cna maximize you learning opportunities by logging in and engagning with classmates and materials.