Spring 2018: ready to start if you are! :-)

Welcome to the SPRING SEMESTER, everybody! Classes begin officially on Tuesday, January 16 — and if you want a head start on the semester, the classes are up and running now.

Getting Started. To begin, click this Orientation link where you will find the list of assignments for Week 1. You need to these Orientation activities by the due dates shown, starting with the first due date on Tuesday, January 16. If you run into any problems or have questions, let me know.

Email. You can contact me via email anytime (laura-gibbs@ou.edu). If you write me during the day, I will get back to you that day — probably pretty quickly! Teaching these online classes is my full-time job, so that means I'm easy to reach by email any weekday. I don't check email as often in the evenings/weekends, but I'll get back to you soon if you have an urgent question; otherwise, I'll get back to you first thing in the morning. You can also contact me via the Canvas messaging system, although email is probably faster.

Please call me Laura! I will be on a first-name basis with all of you, and I hope you will feel comfortable just calling me Laura. One of the things I like best is how in an online class, we can all be learning together and sharing the online space to do that. There's no front of the classroom in an online class! :-)

Daily Announcements. Starting on the official first day of classes (January 16), I'll be updating the announcements every day. If you want to subscribe by email, use the "subscribe" box in the sidebar of this blog. Type in the email address you prefer and follow the instructions to confirm your subscription. Then, when the daily announcements begin, you'll receive them by email each morning.

Twitter. Although there won't be new announcements until the semester officially begins, there will be new Twitter items which you can see in the sidebar of the blog or at Twitter: @OnlineMythIndia. Twitter is a great place to connect with writers, storytellers, and musicians, along with museums and libraries; I find new things to share at Twitter every day, and I hope you will enjoy learning from Twitter as part of this class.

To finish up these early announcements, here is a video I never get tired of — a Mister Rogers remix called Garden of Your Mind. I grew up watching Mister Rogers, and his show was a very important part of my childhood. As you get started with this class, you will see that Mister Rogers' curiosity-driven approach to learning and sharing is a big part of how this class works.



And, last but not least, here is a random image to inspire you about reading, writing, and creativity... the three main ingredients of this class; see the link below each random image to find out more: