Friday, August 22

Class officially begins on Monday, August 25. Just like classroom-based classes, this online class officially begins on Monday - and you have assignments that are due on Monday. So please try to get started on the class over the weekend if at all possible. It will be a lot easier if you can get Monday's assignments for this class completed before the craziness of Monday actually arrives!

Getting started. To get started, go to the class website, and click on "Week 1 Orientation" for a checklist of activities, including the activities that are due on Monday.

Contact me with any questions. Please let me know if you have any questions as you get started with the class! The best way to reach me is my OU email address, laura-gibbs@ou.edu. Although I don't check my email as often over the weekend as I do during the week, I will get back to you over the weekend as soon as I can, especially if you have a question that you need answered in order to complete one of the assignments.

Ning invitations.
We will be using Ning.com for blogging and class discussion. You should have already received a Ning.com invitation for this class, but if for some reason the invitation did not reach you, let me know, and I'll be glad to reissue the invitation.

Your Ning name and email. After you have logged on and created your Ning account, you may want to change the email address as you are using to log on to the system or change your display name. Here are the Instructions for Adjusting Your Ning Settings. If you have any questions about using the Ning, please let me know!

Ning Profile image. Please feel free to play around with the image you are using in your Ning Profile. You can use a photo of yourself, of course - but you can also use any kind of picture you want: a picture of your pet, a cartoon character, your favorite food, an abstract design - it's entirely up to you! Also, you can change the colors and layout of your Ning page if you want. Here are some Instructions for Changing Your Profile Layout and Theme - it's not required, but you might enjoy changing the Profile layout and design around to make it your own!

(Cartoon by Rich Tennant)