Friday, December 4 - Sunday, December 6

HAPPY WEEKEND! You have reached the end of Week 14! The Week 14 Read and Respond assignment (blog commenting) is available now, and the remaining Week 14 assignments are due on Friday or on Saturday or Sunday - please make sure you get started on those assignments soon.

Storybook stack. As of Thursday evening, I had read and replied to all the Storybooks that had been turned in. If you want to turn in a Storybook to get comments and points before the weekend, make sure you turn that in by noon on Friday. If you turn something in after noon on Friday, check on Monday - that's when I will be updating the contents of the stack. Since the assignments are all revisions assignments, I hope that I will be able to reply promptly next week to Storybook assignments as they are turned in.

Storybook ballot results! Thanks to all of you who took the time to cast your ballot, and congratulations to the winners, to all the nominees, and to EVERYBODY who learned how to make your own website this semester: I hope that is a skill that will turn out to be useful to you in the future! :-)

Myth-Folklore Best Overall Storybook
Stephen - Mysterious Rock Star Deaths
Myth-Folklore Best Written Storybook
Dori - Oklahoma Ghost Stories
Myth-Folklore Most Creative Storytelling Style
PJ - Italian Fairy Tale Gossip
Myth-Folklore Best Storybook Design Overall
Kelcey - Looking Back to Wonderland
Myth-Folklore Best Storybook Topic
Wes - One Man's Misery: Dating Disasters

Indian Epics Best Overall Storybook
Jeff - Secret Journal of Thomas Hobbes
Indian Epics Best Written Storybook
Nate - Loyal Retainers: Campfire Tales
Indian Epics Most Creative Storytelling Style
Lindsay - Love is in the Hair
Indian Epics Best Storybook Design Overall
Megan Hose - Ganges Gazette: Birth Stories

World Lit Best Overall Storybook
Heather - Celtic Chronicles: Inside Ireland
World Lit Best Written Storybook
Ashley - Boundless Love: Cupid & Psyche
World Lit Most Creative Storytelling Style
Sarah - Dragons in Gypsy Tales

Final Grades. As you reach the points you need for your final grade in this class - 410 points for an A, 360 points for a B, 320 points for a C - let me know, and I'll record the letter grade for you there in the Desire2Learn Gradebook. You can mix and match whatever assignments you prefer to get the final points you need - but be careful as you make your choices, so that you don't accidentally come up short of the points you will need.

Friday, December 4: Omar Khayyam. Friday marks the anniversary of the death in the year 1122 of the great Persian poet and scholar, Omar Khayyam. He is best known today for his collection of poems called the "Rubaiyat" (quatrains), but in his day he was renowned as a mathematician and also as an astronomer. Here is one of the quatrains in the famous translation by Edward FitzGerald:

With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow,
And with my own hand labour'd it to grow:
And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd -
"I came like Water, and like Wind I go."

You can read more about Omar Khayyam's remarkable life and career in this Wikipedia article, which is also the source for this image of Omar Khayam's tomb in Neishapur, Iran.

Thursday, December 3

Today is Thursday of WEEK 14 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 13 Storybook assignment yet, you may turn that in BY NOON for partial credit. For those of you in Myth-Folklore or World Lit, Thursday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Wednesday.

Storybook Ballots: FINAL DAY. Today, Thursday, is your last chance to vote for your favorite Storybooks. Just like every semester, because all the Storybooks are so good, the votes are VERY close - so, if you haven't voted yet, please take a minute to do that: your vote could make the difference. You can see the nominees here for all three classes. The voting will go until 5PM today, Thursday, and I'll announce the results in Friday's announcements.

Storybook stack. I've still got a few Storybooks in the stack but I will definitely be able to get through those on Thursday - although it may not be until late Thursday afternoon since I will be out of the office for part of the day. Meanwhile, you can check the contents of the stack to make sure I have received your assignment.

Week 14 - Week 15 Storybooks. For the Week 14 and Week 15 Storybook assignments, you will be doing your final revisions; there are no new stories for Week 14 or Week 15. If you want, you can turn in both the Week 14 and Week 15 assignments at once. If you are turning in both assignments at the same time, please send in SEPARATE emails, so that I will be sure to realize that you are turning in two assignments at once. If you want your Storybook points in the Gradebook before the weekend, make sure you get those assignments turned in by Friday noon at the latest, so that I can read them on Friday afternoon and get the points recorded for you before the weekend.

December 3: International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The United Nations has declared December 3 to mark the observance of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities - the theme for 2009 is: "Empowerment of persons with disabilities" (you can also read about the themes for this day of observance over the past 11 years). You can learn more about the disability rights movement in this wikipedia article, which also lists additional resources.

Wednesday, December 2

Today is Wednesday of WEEK 14 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 13 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit. Wednesday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Tuesday.

Storybook stack. The Storybook stack is still pretty big, but I made a lot of progress on Tuesday! I've been working through the assignments with a focus on those people whose Storybook assignment points will allow them to finish up the class - so if you find yourself in that situation, let me know and I'll move your assignment(s) up to the top of the stack. Meanwhile,
you can check the contents of the stack to make sure I have received your assignment.

Storybook Ballots. (repeat announcement) I've tallied up the nominations that people turned in (thanks to everybody who participated in that part of the process!), and you can see the top nominations for each class here: Storybook Ballot Fall 2009. For each class, you will find the actual ballot for voting in Desire2Learn at the top of the quiz list for Week 14. This is just for fun - not for points or a grade or anything. If you have a few minutes to spare, please vote for your own personal favorites! The ballot will be available till 5PM on Thursday and I'll announce the results Friday. Also, you might enjoy taking a look at some of the nominated Storybooks in the other classes, too - there are so many wonderful creative projects that people have come up with!

Course evaluation at eval.ou.edu. (repeat announcement) You all should have received an email from the College of Arts & Sciences about the course evaluations for all the online courses available at the eval.ou.edu website. The online evaluation is available now. I hope you will take a few minutes to complete the evaluation - your feedback is incredibly helpful to me in making improvements to these courses, and it is also a big help to the College in general as they continue to develop the online course program. The online course program exists because students find it valuable to be able to take courses online, and any ideas you have for how the program can be improved will be very useful to the College as they continue (hopefully!) to offer these online courses.

December 2: Ivan Illich. Today, December 2, marks the anniversary of the death in 2002 of the visionary educator, Ivan Illich. Already back in the 1970s, Illich realized that the personal networks made possible by digital computing could completely change the face of education, so that education could be centered on the learners themselves, rather than forcing learners to conform to the regime of the school (I hope that you can see from the format of my classes that I would love to see a world of learning online but without any traditional schools at all...). I still keep hoping that Illich's vision of "educational webs which heighten the opportunity for each one to transform each moment of his living into one of learning, sharing, and caring" will someday come true. You can find out more about Ivan Illich's life and work in this wikipedia article, which is also the source of this image:

Tuesday, December 1

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 14 of the class. For those of you who are working ahead, Week 15 is also available! If you have not turned in your Week 13 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit.

Storybook Ballots. I've tallied up the nominations that people turned in (thanks to everybody who participated in that part of the process!), and you can see the top nominations for each class here: Storybook Ballot Fall 2009. For each class, you will find the actual ballot for voting in Desire2Learn at the top of the quiz list for Week 14. This is just for fun - not for points or a grade or anything. If you have a few minutes to spare, please vote for your own personal favorites! The ballot will be available till 5PM on Thursday and I'll announce the results Friday. Also, you might enjoy taking a look at some of the nominated Storybooks in the other classes, too - there are so many wonderful creative projects that people have come up with!

Course evaluation at eval.ou.edu. You all should have received an email from the College of Arts & Sciences about the course evaluations for all the online courses available at the eval.ou.edu website. The evaluation should be available now, December 1. I hope you will take a few minutes to complete the evaluation - your feedback is incredibly helpful to me in making improvements to these courses, and it is also a big help to the College in general as they continue to develop the online course program. The online course program exists because students find it valuable to be able to take courses online, and any ideas you have for how the program can be improved will be very useful to the College as they continue (hopefully!) to offer these online courses.

Storybook stack. The Storybook stack is still FULL of assignments. I've been working through the assignments with a focus on those people whose Storybook assignment points will allow them to finish up the class - so if you find yourself in that situation, let me know and I'll move your assignment(s) up to the top of the stack. This week I get kind of overwhelmed by all the assignments that are coming in, so please be patient and I'll be sure to get comments back to everybody by the end of the week - meanwhile, you can check the contents of the stack to make sure I have received your assignment.

My Tuesday schedule. This week my out-of-office tasks are on Tuesday, which means I may be a more slow today to respond to your emails - but if you send me an email during the day Tuesday, I'll definitely get back to you before the end of the day.

December: Latin Christmas Carols. As one of my Latin hobbies, I collect Christmas carols and holiday songs in Latin, and I've got a special blog - Gaudium-Mundo.blogspot.com - where you can find a different Latin Christmas carol or holiday song for each day of the month of December... beginning with Rudolphus on December 1 - with no less than FIVE, count 'em, FIVE different versions of Rudolphus in Latin! So, if you have taken Latin or are taking Latin now, you might want to check out Gaudium Mundo for a Classical Christmas! If you are interested in Rudolph in particular, here's the page about Rudolphus rubrinasus.

Monday, November 30

Today is Monday, and I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving break! Week 13 of the class is now over. Monday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. Week 14 will begin tomorrow - and those assignments are available now if you want to get started. The Week 15 assignments are also available now, too!

Storybook stack. As you can imagine, the Storybook stack is HUGE because of all the people who took advantage of the week-long break in order to work ahead on their Storybook, in addition to the Week 13 assignment that was due. On Monday morning, I'll update the contents of the stack, and I will begin working my way through the stack based on the order in which things were turned in - but it is definitely going to take me a while to work through the stack, so please be patient! You can check the contents of the stack to make sure I have received your assignment.

Week 14 Internet assignment. For the Week 14 Internet assignment, you'll be doing an online course evaluation of this class, just as you do course evaluations using the "bubble forms" in your regular classroom classes. The online evaluation will take place at the eval.ou.edu website, and the evaluation should be available soon (???), although I am not sure just exactly when it will start. You will be receiving an email directly from the College of Arts & Sciences with specific information about how to log on and complete the evaluation form as soon as it is ready.

November 30: Mark Twain. Today, November 30, marks the birthday of Mark Twain in the year 1835. As the author of Huckleberry Finn, Twain is one of the most important authors in the American literary tradition - and also one of the funniest. My favorite of Twain's books is A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which you can read online - with illustrations, too! The image below shows Twain accepting an honorary degree at Oxford University in 1907: