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English 113
Announcements . . .
(Add this page to
your favorites or bookmark it in your browser so you see it each time you check
on the course.)
Final quiz 2 is available.
It will close just before midnight Sunday, March 14.
3/11/10
Welcome to English 113, Introduction to Poetry Online.
Please add this web address (url)
to your list of favorites or put it in your web bookmarks. You will
want to check this page throughout the quarter the latest course information.
This class makes
use of two different websites. One of the websites—Green River
eLearning—uses a course management software developed by Angellearning.com
(http://greenriver.angellearning.com/
).
For this class, the Angellearning website
will be used primarily for quizzes and forums/discussion boards. A few years
back, this courseware and its companion Blackboard were adequate, but often
confusing to students and instructors, and they were erratic in performance. In
short, they were not very good. This courseware has much improved in recent
years, and now many instructors use it exclusively because it has some appealing
features, including local tech support.
Before this software was available to GRCC
instructors, I developed a web-based classroom website. I tried to make it easy
to navigate, resource rich, and attractive. After receiving great feedback from
students for improvements, I believe the One Room School website is now as good
as or arguably better in some ways than the courseware programs. Because
testing, grade sheets, and forums are difficult to provide, I used different
outside sources for these activities until GRCC made BlackBoard/Angel available
to instructors.
Some of you will find the differences in the
websites a little difficult at first. This will be especially true for those of
you who have used BB/Angel for previous classes. It is said, and I find it true
in my own experience, that whatever we learn first seems easiest. I started on
Apple and Macintosh computers. When I had to switch to PCs, I thought they were
terrible. Now after many years of PC experience, I feel a little lost in front
of a Mac.
To break it down: The One Room School
website is the primary website. Almost all of the course materials are on it. Use
the menu on the left side and use the index on the bottom of the menu when you
can’t find something.
WARNING: Don’t use the email within
Angel. Please send assignments and communications to
pallen@oneroomschool.com .
Thanks for your patience. I believe if you
spend a little time exploring each of the websites that you will find them both
useful.
You can get
started anytime before the quarter begins, but the instructor will not respond to
any assignments until classes officially begin.
After you have read these
announcements, please go to the "home"
page and start work on the class.
Check Announcements: When you log on to the site (daily
or several days each week,
please), take a moment to read the announcements here.
Email:
Please use the following email address when sending
something regarding class:
pallen@oneroomschool.com
In email
messages, please put your
name, class, and assignment in
the email subject
line. For example, Viktor Santana, an English 113 student,
sends me an email about the discussion board 1 assignment.
Viktor would
put the following in his email subject line:
Subject:
Santana, Viktor, English 113, discussion board 1 question
Use a similar format for
names of files you submit as email attachments:
File name:
SantanaViktor.E113.critique1.doc
Many instructors have several online classes
every quarter, so this will help the instructor know who you are
(especially if your email address doesn't display your name--a
characteristic that should be fixed),
what class you are in, and what topic you are emailing about.
If you got here and read this,
you are off to a good start. Here are some other hints to get
you started:
Forums/Discussion
Boards:
These links sometimes
take a while to load. I expect this is a result of internet traffic. Please email me about
any problems with the
forums. Be as specific about the problem as you can. "It
doesn't work" is not a lot of help, even though that is
certainly the problem. Any additional information is appreciated.
When you post assignments, please
be patient when you hit "submit."
A
suggestion: If I am not pasting into the
forum window from my word processor (the best choice), I
always do a select all (Ctrl-A) and copy (Ctrl-C) the contents I've
just typed in, before I hit "Submit" just in
case the post really doesn't work. Then I don't have to
retype. I just paste it in and try again.
Events
page: On the left menu, under the "resources" button,
you will find a link for events that list
various poetry related happenings in our area, in Seattle, and
anywhere else in the region. If you
learn of any poetry related happenings, please send them on to me,
and I will post them.
I hope all of you will have the
opportunity to attend at least one event. I will give extra credit
to anyone who attends an event and posts a brief report/impressions
on the forum.
Videos
from the
Video
Collection:
The video collection is an
important part of the course, so please get your computer set up so
you can watch these. If you have trouble, please go to a library or
school that has a faster connection and watch several at a
time.
Video Collection Update:
The technology people at
Video collection recently improved the interface so you can now see both the
video and the poem in the same window.
The Favorite Poems Video
collection also changed to using Adobe Flash Player software (instead of
Real Player) to present the
video and text of the poems.
If the videos are playing
for you, do not bother with the following download.
If needed, you may find and install
flash software from this
web address:
http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash
Click on the link or copy
the URL into your browser and follow the directions.
Video Collection:
The keepers of the video
collection keep changing the web address. I have updated it. It is now
http://www.favoritepoem.org/videos.html
Refresh the page (F5) if it doesn't load
first time.
Please let me know if you find any other
broken links or problems.
I will track them down as soon as possible.
Pennsound
Offers
Free MP3s Of Classic Poetry
PennSound, a project of the University of Pennsylvania, is a
Web-based archive for noncommercial distribution of the largest
collection of poetry sound files on the Internet. PennSound offers a
large variety of digital recordings of poems — currently 1,500 and
fast growing — mostly as song-length singles.
“This has never been done before,” said Al Filreis,
PennSound co-director, English professor and director of Penn’s
Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing. “Most of the electronic
sound files available to the public are of entire poetry recordings,
30 or more minutes long, with no tracking of individual cuts or
poems.”
“We believe philosophically that, since there is
no significant profit to be gained by the sale of recorded poetry —
unlike music — many, many more poets will continue to grant us
permission to use their work,” adds Filreis.
The archive includes works by Allen Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, Ezra
Pound, Gertrude Stein, William Carlos Williams and many others.
If you download from PennSound, I recommend that you right click the
link and use the "Save Target As . . . " option. That way you will have a
chance to see or determine where the download file goes in your computer.
--Paul
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Onward:
Now go to the "home" button on the left menu, and begin stepping
through the pages. You will be off and running towards completing a
great quarter :)
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