This class is fully online, right?

Yes, this class is fully online. We will never meet in person or at CCNY.

Instead of meeting in-person we will learn together using a combination of synchronous and asynchronous projects. Synchronous learning means that we all log on at the same time and meet over zoom to hold discussions or work on group projects. Asynchronous means that I give you assignments to complete on your own time and I respond to them in writing, but we don’t meet on zoom to discuss them.

If this class is going to be entirely online, what technology will I need to take this class?

1. You will need a laptop, tablet, or phone with access to the internet.
2. You will need an email account which you check regularly.
3. You will need to create google docs and share them with me.
4. You will need to watch short videos on youtube
5. You will need time from 4:15-4:45 on T / Th to meet on zoom to discuss the day’s work. During this time you will participate in an online discussion from home, so you will need relative quiet and relative freedom from distractions. (I’m willing to be flexible if there are problems that keep you from doing this.)
6. You will need a working microphone to participate in zoom discussions on T / Th
7. You will need to download free zoom software on your laptop, tablet, or phone, and you will need to be comfortable muting and unmuting yourself, entering comments in the chat function, and knowing how to turn your video feed off.

Will I need a camera?

No. I think it is nice to be able to see each others’ faces when engaging in synchronous discussions, but I will not force anyone to show themselves.

What will a class meeting look like?

I have broken class up into two parts: 1) an asynchronous part you complete before coming to class; 2) a synchronous discussion that we participate in from 4:15-4:45 on class days.

The asynchronous part completed before class consists of:

• A 5-10 minute youtube video I will share with you, in which I will lecture about the day’s topic. Usually this will be a lecture on a writing technique that will make your writing stronger.
• After watching the video you will compete a google quiz that I will send you. The quiz will be less than 4-5 questions. The quiz will be about the material in the youtube video I share with you. You will have to take the quiz until you get all the questions right.
• After watching the video and taking the quiz, you will have a short writing assignment based on the lesson. The writing assignment will typically be less than 250 words and will ask you to put the day’s lesson into practice. These writing assignments will done either individually or in a small group. I won’t grade these assignments, so you don’t need to email them to me, but you will have to save them for the synchronous discussion where I will randomly call on people to share their writing, and we will discuss how to improve it as a group. (I’ll work to make this less scary than it sounds.)
• That’s all for the asynchronous part. I expect this work to take 30-40 minutes. You’ll need to do all of these parts before coming to class.

The synchronous section of the class will consist of the:

• We’ll all log into zoom at the same time.
• I’ll put in you in “breakout rooms” which are small discussion groups.
• You’ll discuss the day’s video, the quiz, and your writing to make sure you understand it.
• We’ll end the breakout rooms and discuss remaining questions as a group.
• I’ll call on a few people to share their writing and we’ll discuss what we can learn from it.
• Depending on the day, I might ask you to produce another short piece of writing.
• I’ll explain how the lesson will help with future writing assignments.
• I expect this will take about 30 minutes.

So the asynchronous writing will be ungraded?

Yes. It’s just a way to practice the day’s writing lesson. It’s OK if the writing is very rough. This is practice.

I might call on you in the sync part to discuss your writing. This will count as part of your participation grade, so you’ll need to have something prepared.

Will there be reading assigned?

I almost never assign reading.

What happens if this model doesn’t work?

I’ve studied online teaching over the summer and took two classes on how to do it. I believe this will work. But if it doesn’t I’m happy to change and adapt to your needs.