Back to Assignment Menu

Introductions- Are you Ready?  

Please read the entire page before beginning.

Welcome to your first Web/Discussion assignment in this course the Sociology of Aging. The most important thing for you to remember is that, if at any time you have any problem at all, either post "HELP" in the Discussion Board, send an e-mail to any of us or call my voice mail (Sue's) at 916-484-8160.  You can also reach me if you are in a panic at my home office (Sue) at 530-477-5291. If its busy try yahoo instant message, chances are you'll find me there. I'm not using the instant message in D2L.

• Do NOT hesitate to call when you need help. 
• Do NOT wait a day or two and then get in touch saying, "I hate to bother you but...." 

The goal is to be here for you. If we are going to be away from our computers, we will let you know. If a computer crashes, we will find another computer and let you know (as you should too if yours crashes). Otherwise, the site is checked  almost every day (except week-ends and holidays)  and messages are responded to. You can expect a response within 24 hours except on week-ends and holidays. If you do not understand something, contact the instructor immediately. Be assured every post is read. This is a very  hands-on (professor) class and we like to know what's happening with students.

Remember that you are required to enter the classroom twice a week. (If you will be on vacation, business travel, or for other reasons will not be able to enter the classroom twice during the week, please let your classmates know ahead of time ( we will miss your presence :-)). 

Note: some students find it helpful to type their responses to the Discussion Board assignments in a word document first. Then you can cut and paste them into the appropriate forum. Save the original on your computer's hard drive-- things happen.   

For the Computer Beginner (cutting and pasting)

Do you Know the trick to copying and pasting? If you do, don't read this

1.  create your post in Word or some other program that allows you to type text
2.  use the "select all" feature under the edit menu
3.  use "control-c" key (or right click and choose copy) combination to copy what you have selected to the clipboard
4.  hit the minimize button at the top right part of the screen
5.  open your browser (Explorer, Netscape, Firefox etc.) and go to the course discussion board
6.  open either a reply or a new post a new thread. Put the cursor where you want the text to be
7. hit "control-v" (or right click and choose paste) and it should paste what you copied into the new message you've opened. 

( Good Practice from Joan Esterline Lafuze, IU East http://www.sbcf.iu.edu/goodpract/lafuze.html

ASSIGNMENTS
During the semester our discussions will center around information you are asked to gather from the internet. You will be asked to visit different web sites and post your findings at the "Discussion" link.

 This week, after you have completed the on-line orientation and this week's lecture materials you need to do the following:

1.  Go to the discussion board and introduce yourself to the class by answering each of the following: Be sure to give us enough information so we can get a feel for who you really are. We are going to be spending 16 weeks together.  As always, if you want full credit do not miss any of the questions below.

• Who are you and what brings you to this course?
  Do you have interests or aspirations related to gerontology or aging?

•  What are your career plans?

• Is this your first on-line course? 

•  What do you do for entertainment or for livelihood?

• How do you relax when you are not hard at work on this course?  

• Given the fact that 50% of college students drop with-in the 
  first few weeks, what will be your biggest challenges to completing 
  this course? How will you avoid being one of those who drop?

• What were the results of your assessment survey?  Did you find it? If not ask one of your colleagues where it is located.  It will be important to skim all the pages I author in this class.

• Then be sure to post at least one question or explain one requirement regarding this course. It can be where to find something, how something works, etc. You will lose points if this is omitted

• Don't forget to respond to at least two of your classmates postings,  to receive full credit for this week.  You will notice a large portion of your grade is assigned to weekly postings.  If you missed it be sure to find the criteria for how postings are  graded.
  
  Note: all three assignments, your own post and two responses must be done on at least two different days.

• Then, take the Orientation quiz, And you are done with this week's assignments. You might want to   start with next week's readings and assignments since this was a fairly easy week. Check the Assignment Link for week one's assignment.
  

•  You can always look at future week's assignments since they are all posted. However,  you will need to post and do the quiz in the same week your colleagues do. Occasionally, extra credit is awarded for the first one to post (not every, week it is random).  So if you work ahead you might be the first one ready to post.
   

See you at the discussion board.

Sue

Back to Assignment Menu