First Week
Revision Reflections
The revisions for the First Week focused on expanding the Welcome Email. I added contact information and what my virtual office hours would be for the course. In the original version of the Welcome Email, I was reluctant to draw too much from the welcome email to this course. After receiving feedback though, I decided that I would try the test email in any future courses I instruct online to gauge the exercise’s effectiveness.
First Week Prompt
There is an old adage in writing that says, “Write what you know.” Briefly talk about a hobby, interest or passion of yours and share this knowledge with the rest of your colleagues.
You should try to get to know several colleagues so reply to some of these posts. It is not necessary to reply to everyone, though do look for original posts that have received few, or no, replies so far.
If you find a colleague who shares your interest, feel free to move your conversation to “The Coffee House” discussion topic where the two of you can geek out about your subject in peace.
I included information in this prompt that directs students to “The Coffee House” as both a way to keep too much chitchat back and forth from extending threads in the main discussion and to draw students’ attention to this feature of the Discussions List.
First Week Prompt Response
My interest, writing, should come as no surprise, being an English instructor. The genre I find most challenging and rewarding goes by many different names: microfiction, flash fiction, or short short. These are stories that have a very small word count, usually below 300 words. This does not mean that I do not enjoy reading or writing longer works. The practice grew out of necessity for me as a fiction writer. When I lived in Seattle, I was an active member in the open mic reading scene. Each reader was given 5 minutes at the microphone. I had to learn to write stories that I could tell in this time allotment. One of my editing strategies was to write a story, put it away for a week, and then try to write it from memory. Whatever I had forgotten, was cut, since I didn’t find it memorable. I would go through this process until I felt the story was ready to perform. I found inspiration in some of the earliest forms of very short fiction and would write fables with a modern twist. There is a six-word story attributed to Ernest Hemingway that read: “For Sale, Baby Shoes, Never Worn”. I have never been able to match that brevity, though I do have a futuristic seven-word microfiction:
“What were they called again, Grandfather?”
“Hands.”
Welcome Email
Greetings!
Welcome to College Writing I at North Hennepin Community College, I am your instructor James Moore. Though school does not start until next week, I wanted to be sure that each of you is comfortable with the online environment. For those of you who are new to online courses please click here to open a link to D2L where you can login and complete a brief orientation of the system. If you are new to North Hennepin, the information for new student orientation can be found here. I look forward to working with each of you this semester and to making the online learning experience as rewarding as possible. My contact information includes my NHCC email jmoore@nhcc.edu and my direct line is 763-424-0952. The best way to reach me is through email. This semester my virtual office hours are Wednesdays between 4-6 PM CST (Central Standard Time).
I ask that every time you email include ENGL 1201 in the Subject line along with the subject of your email before you send. Adding your last name in the subject line helps even more! Please remember to sign all emails with your full name. I will have multiple courses running at the same time so all these little things really help me to serve you better!
(For example) Subject: Question about textbook Vang ENGL 1201
By the way, this is the ONLY time I will send a message to both personal email accounts (if we had that information) and NHCC email addresses. In the future, I will send all emails only to your NHCC email account. While taking the course you will need to read your NHCC email account regularly.
As a "test” please reply to this message upon receiving this email but change the subject line to include your last name and ENGL1201. Write a brief message and sign your full name and your location. I will respond and tell you if you passed. Please complete your "test" using your NHCC email... that will be part of the test as well!
I wrote the first paragraph of a welcome letter (above) that includes where I would provide links (here – which currently are not active) for students to find additional information regarding orientation for both the system and the school. Not having had the opportunity to teach an asynchronous course at the community college, I am not sure what specific additional technical information I would need to include in another paragraph (like recommended browsers and access to the e-text for example). I was reluctant to draw too much from the welcome email to this course, but I would like to know if the email subject line and test email is a common practice. If so, I would include this exercise and instruction as well.