Dear 285 students,

While my initial plan for online instruction involved you reading relevant slides on your own, I’ve received feedback that some students are worried about the looser structure (and resulting ease of procrastination). As such, I’m going to give one lecture per day (11:00am) in Blackboard Collaborate, and record it. Students from any section can “attend” that lecture – you can ask questions in real time just like we did in F2F class. I strongly encourage everyone to do this, especially if you are worried about self-motivating (and avoiding laziness) during this online period. If you can’t attend, you can view the recorded lecture later that day (still in time to complete your homework, of course).

Projects have also changed (see below).

Otherwise things will still be on the same schedule as usual: you will have homework to complete each class day, and we will have the homework discussions via Forum.

 

In summary:

By 11:59pm each class day (see calendar here), all students are expected to:

• Have either virtually attended, or watched the recording of, the lecture for the day. This lecture will begin each class day at 11:00am and will be posted soon afterward: Blackboard > Web Conferencing > Correct Session > Join Session.
• Have posted multiple times in the discussion board for homework questions (once for you own response, once in reaction to each of your group members’ responses). Blackboard > Course Materials > Homework Discussions > Correct Section > Correct Day . Your own homework answers should be posted by 3pm to allow sufficient response time for your other group members.
• Have engaged with the project that was uploaded in their section folder (Blackboard > Course Materials > Projects > Sec ## Projects > 285 Projects > Correct Thread) with comments or questions. This requirement is set for 8pm (not midnight) so that you don’t have the same deadline for different discussion assignments.

 

In detail:

The following contingency plan will be implemented in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

News/Communication:

As usual, all students are expected to check the class website for updates: https://blogs.umb.edu/amandapotasznik/. Furthermore, students are expected to monitor their Blackboard accounts and school email for messages.

Midterm: COMPLETED

The midterm exam was moved to online format, and took place on its original date (March 12). Instructions were found at https://blogs.umb.edu/amandapotasznik/2020/03/11/the-midterm-is-on-for-thursday-march-12/. Note: this grade is now complete and entered into Blackboard.

Lectures:

Lectures will be given live and recorded in our Blackboard Collaborate room every class day at 11am (see class days here). Students are encouraged to attend that virtual session, or to access it soon after. Students may still access slides provided at https://blogs.umb.edu/amandapotasznik/class-slides/. Students may ask live questions if they attend the virtual lecture, or may email the professor with any questions about the lecture content. See screenshots below for access:

1. Click on Web Conferencing
   
2. Click on the correct lecture
3. Click on Join Session

You will need to enable your webcam and microphone if you wish to actually speak/be seen, otherwise I will be as active as possible on the chat.

Homework:

Students will complete discussion assignments as follows:

• Discussion groups will be posted on the class website: https://blogs.umb.edu/amandapotasznik/
• One student in each group (the first to make their way to the site) will create a thread discussion forum for that day on Blackboard. The thread should be labeled as follows: Section #, Day #, Group #. The class days are detailed on the class calendar.
• Each student will share their own answers, and comment on each of their group members’ answers. The minimum number of posts per student will be equal to the total number of active group members (including the student). I.e., if you are in a group with 6 people, you will post a minimum of six times: once when you present your own answers, and once in response to each of your remaining group members’ posts.
• See screenshots below for access:

1. Check your groups for discussion on the website:
   
2. Go to the correct Blackboard Forum for the Discussion Day
   ,
3. Select your correct Section and Day numbers., 
4. If you’re the first one in your group there, create a thread for your group as instructed above.
   
   
   If you’re not the first one, find your group # and comment in that thread.
   
5. Enter your own answers, and comment on everyone else’s as instructed above.

Participation grades for the last few days of the semester are summarized on the homepage of this site. Grades will be calculated in accordance with completion of those instructions.

Projects:

Students will record their presentation, with slides and voice, (audio recording  instructions here for ppt and here for Google Slides) and post it to the appropriate Blackboard folder by 8am on the day of their original presentation. All other students in that section (previously those who were in the audience for each presentation) will be required to comment on the project by 8:00pm that night. As always, projects must adhere to the instructions set forth at https://blogs.umb.edu/amandapotasznik/project-details-and-advice/. More details can be found here.