Friday, April 29 - Sunday, May 1

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. I would also strongly - STRONGLY - encourage you to finish your Week 15 assignments this weekend, since it is the LAST WEEKEND you will have to do work for this class.

IMPORTANT SCHEDULE NOTE. For those of you who will still be doing classwork during Week 15 (dead week), please be aware that it is on a different schedule: All final Week 15 assignments are due by Friday, May 6, at NOON. In addition, unlike previous weeks, you do not have the option to turn in your Week 14 Storybook assignment late. Instead, your Week 14 Storybook assignment MUST be turned in on time - that is, during the Week 14 grace period Monday morning, May 2, at the very latest. No late Week 14 Storybook assignments will be accepted. You have to get the Week 14 assignment turned in on time so that I can get comments back to you in time to complete your Week 15 assignment by Friday at noon!

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 your courses available now at the eval.ou.edu website. 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. Plus, you might win a free iPad just for participating!

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.

Storybook stack. As of Friday morning, there were a few Storybooks still in the stack; you can see here the contents of the stack. 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!

FRIDAY Events on Campus. The Writing Center "Write Club Movie Night" will be showing Inception at 6PM in 280 Wagner Hall - candy and popcorn provided! Click here for time/location details. Find out more about this event and other events happening on Friday at the Campus Calendar online.

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
Alexis - The World's Most Eligible Bachelor
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Best Storybook Topic
Robbie - The Adventures of Sailor Crusade
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Best Written Storybook
Brandi - Urban Myths and Scary Tales
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Most Creative Storytelling
Jacklyn - Bedtime in Oz
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Best Design Overall
Bhargav - Tales of Ferocious Pirates


INDIAN EPICS

Best Overall Storybook
Elizabeth R. - Women Reincarnate
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Best Written Storybook
Liz T. - The Magical Book of Love
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Best Design Overall
Ishani - Timeless Love Stories


WORLD LITERATURE

Best Overall Storybook
Jamie - Devil May Care
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Best Written Storybook
Stephanie - Better Gnomes & Gardens presents... Shrek!
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Best Design Overall
Jessica - Lost in Wonderland

(image source)

Thursday, April 28

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.

VOTING: Polls close at 5PM today. 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, yes, a single vote does make a difference in this local micro-election. 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. There are still a few Storybooks in the stack which I hope to get to today. You can check the contents of the stack to make sure I have received your assignment. If you want to get comments back before the weekend, make sure to get your Storybooks turned in by Friday at noon.

Course evaluation at eval.ou.edu. For information about the course evaluation now available online, see Tuesday's announcements.

Week 15 Schedule. For those of you who will still be doing classwork during Week 15 (dead week), please read the note in Tuesday's announcements.

Grading and points. (repeat announcement) For detailed information about finishing up the class, see the Grading Information page. In short, you need 410 to get an A, 360 points to get a B, and 320 points to get a C. When you get the number of points you need, you are done! It is fine with me if you decide to stop doing work for the class whenever you have the grade you want to receive (many of you are taking this class for Gen. Ed. requirements, which means you just need a C to get graduation credit). My only request is that you please let me know when you are done so I can record the final grade for you in the Gradebook.

THURSDAY Events on Campus. Prof. Kenneth Hodges will be giving a lecture Not Dead Yet: Robin Hood and Late Medieval Chivalry at 7PM in the OCCE Forum Building. Click here for time/location. Find out more about this event and other events happening on Thursday at the Campus Calendar online.

April 28: Terry Pratchett. Today is the birthday of Terry Pratchett, one of my own favorite authors. Happy Birthday, Terry Pratchett! Pratchett is best known for his Discworld fantasy series of novels, which now number 37. They are wonderful books - people debate about which is the best one to read to start with, but my feeling is that you can plunge in at random and enjoy yourself no matter where you begin; the first one that I read was Thief of Time - it's a marvelous book! Pratchett was recently diagnosed with an early-onset form of Alzheimer's disease, and he has said that he would like the right to die before he becomes completely debilitated; you can read his thoughts about that here. He has also said that he still has a few books left in him that want to come out - let's hope so! His writing is a treasure.

Wednesday, April 27

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. There are still some Storybook assignments in the stack and I am making my way through them in the order that they were turned in. If you turned something in on Sunday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in on Monday or on Tuesday, it is probably still in the stack. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here.

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 Spring 2011. The ballot contains LINKS to all the Storybooks which you can use to refresh your memory - and also to visit the Storybooks in the other classes, if you are curious. For each class, you will find the actual ballot for voting in Desire2Learn in 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 until 5PM on Thursday of this week and I'll announce the results Friday.

Course evaluation at eval.ou.edu. For information about the course evaluation now available online, please read the note in Tuesday's announcements.

Week 15 Schedule. For those of you who will still be doing classwork during Week 15 (dead week), please read the note in Tuesday's announcements.

WEDNESDAY Events on Campus. OU Civic Orchestra will be giving a free performance at 8PM in Sharp Concert Hall in Catlett Music Center. Click here for more time/location information and there is also an article about the concert program in the OU Daily. Find out more about this event and other events happening on Wednesday at the Campus Calendar online.

April 27: Birth of "The Mouse." On April 27 in 1972, Bill English, a researcher at Xerox PARC in Palo Alto, California, created the first prototype of the computer "mouse" that later became widely used in the 1980s and 1990s (I myself first saw a computer mouse in operation in the summer of 1984... and yes, I know that is before most of you were even born, ha ha). Earlier versions of the mouse had operated with a system of wheels (example), but the mouse that English built had a ball inside, as you can see in the image below. You can read more about the history of the mouse in this Wikipedia article, which is also the source for the image below:

Tuesday, April 26

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 14 of the class. That means you are finishing up Buck's Mahabharata in Indian Epics, while it's Charles Dickens in World Literature, and American folklore in the Myth-Folklore 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 Spring 2011. The ballot contains LINKS to all the Storybooks which you can use to refresh your memory - and also to visit the Storybooks in the other classes, if you are curious. For each class, you will find the actual ballot for voting in Desire2Learn in 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 until 5PM on Thursday of this week and I'll announce the results Friday.

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 your courses available now at the eval.ou.edu website. 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. Plus, you might win a free iPad just for participating!

Storybook stack. If you turned something in on Saturday, you should have comments back from me by now; if you turned something in on Sunday or Monday, it is probably still in the stack. You can check the contents of the stack to make sure I have received your assignment.

IMPORTANT Week 15 Schedule Note. For those of you who will still be doing classwork during Week 15 (dead week), please be aware that it is on a different schedule: the final deadline for Week 15 assignments is Friday, May 6, at noon (the week is over on Friday; there is no weekend time and there is no Monday morning grace period). In addition, your Week 14 Storybook assignment must be turned in by Monday, May 2, at noon (that is, during the Week 14 grace period). No late Week 14 Storybook assignments will be accepted (so, if you are turning in a Week 14 Storybook assignment, you must do that by noon on Monday, May 2, at the very latest). This way, I can promise to return your Week 14 Storybook assignment to you so that you will have time to complete your Week 15 assignment by Friday at noon.

TUESDAY Events on Campus. The Sundance Film Festival selection, Miss Representation (film website), will be screened Tuesday at 3PM in the Gaylord College Auditorium (Room 1140). Admission is free. Find out more about this event and other events happening on Tuesday at the Campus Calendar online. I've embedded below a promo trailer for the movie from YouTube.

(image source)

Monday, April 25

Today is Monday, and 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 at the end of Week 13. 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 usual on Monday, the Storybook stack is very large! First thing on Monday morning, I will 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. If you are turning in multiple Storybook assignments, please do that with SEPARATE emails.

Week 13 Internet assignment. After people finish turning in their Storybook nominations for the Week 13 Internet assignment today at noon, I'll prepare a ballot with the most-nominated Storybooks for you to vote on. I will do my best to get that ready on Tuesday, with voting to take place this week, and winners to be announced on Friday. Thanks to everybody who turned in their nominations!

Week 14 Internet assignment. For the Week 14 Internet assignment, you'll be doing an online course evaluation of this class. The online evaluation will take place at the eval.ou.edu website, and the evaluation will be available starting on Tuesday, April 26. 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. THANKS in advance for your input. Every semester I make changes to these classes, trying out new things, improving things, etc., and your input is extremely valuable in deciding what changes to make. Plus, you might win an iPad!!!

Monday Events on Campus. Worried about exams? There will be a Student Success Series seminar on Test-Taking Strategies from 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM (note corrected time) in Wagner Hall 245. Find out more about this event and other events happening on Monday at the Campus Calendar online.

April 25: Battle of Gallipoli. Today marks the anniversary of the start of the Battle of Gallipoli, one of the most harrowing battles of World War One. It lasted from April 25 of 1915 until January 6 1916, with almost half a million casualties in total (220,000 British and French casualites, 253,000 Turkish casualties). The battle was fought on the peninsula of Gallipoli (Turkish Gelibolu), and the name comes from the Greek Καλλίπολη, "Kallipole," meaning "beautiful city," although there was nothing beautiful about this battle. There is a fine film by the Australian film director, Peter Weir, Gallipoli, that is definitely worth seeing (see movie poster below). April 25 is a day of remembrance, ANZAC Day, in Australia and New Zealand, commemorating those who fought at Gallipoli.