You will get more out of the material and our Friday discussions will be more fruitful if you interact thoughtfully with the readings and films. Students are required to post one- or two-page responses (to the material read, the films viewed or lecture material presented) on the courseinfo website by Thursday night at 11:00 pm. This will allow the instructor and other students time to read through them quickly before Friday's class discussion.
These are not meant to be formal essays, but informal reflections based on the material we've covered with specific references to relevant passages from text or film or lecture. If you approach these papers with a healthy attitude -- think of them as a tool rather than a burden -- you will undoubtedly find that you will get more out of the class than you would have otherwise. The quality and thoughtfulness of your reaction papers will factor into your class participation grade (20% of your total grade).
These postings, like any other written assignment, must be completed on time unless there is a documented emergency or medical excuse signed by a doctor. Remember that you must complete all written work to receive a passing grade for the class.
TO POST YOUR RESPONSE:
Type out your response in whatever word processing
program you use ordinarily. When you are done, please save the document as
an rtf or a pdf document; that way, everyone should be able to read all of
the papers. If you don't know how to do this, ask me about it. Go to the courseinfo
site and select
the link for Communication at the left of the frame. From there, click on Group
pages. There will be a group name called "Response Papers";
click on it. After a list of group members names and email addresses, there
will be a section called "group tools" with a link called "file
exchange." Click on it. At the top of the page will be a list of files
in the dropbox available for you to view (postings by other students) followed
by an option to upload your own file to the group dropbox. Use the browse
button to get a list of files on your computer; select the current response,
give it a title, and click "submit."
Your response will now appear in the group drop box at the top of the page. Congratulations!