I'm glad the university has made this decision in order to reduce risk for students and faculty. See ou.edu/coronavirus for all updates.
HOW THIS AFFECTS OUR CLASS:
This class is already online so that's no change, but I know this has to be a really stressful time for everyone. I had to cancel my Spring Break plans (my dad's hospice nurse told me it was just too risky for me to come), and I am sure many of you are facing hard decisions too about Break, along with deciding where you will go after Break.
I've been thinking about what things I could do to help make sure this class is not contributing to that stress, and here are three things I think can help:
1. Mega-Grace Period. I'm going to set up a grace period for the remaining Week 9 and Week 10 assignments that will go until Monday, March 30, the end of Week 10. The regular deadlines will be in place, but there will be a mega-grace period to accommodate the fact that some people's plans are all topsy-turvy, and you might need the extra flexibility. So, you'll see the "available until" date change in Canvas for the rest of Week 9 and for Week 10 as I work through those assignments, changing the "available until" date. I'll send out the usual reminders during Weeks 9 and 10, but if you need to use this mega-grace period, that's fine!
Update: I've extended today's grace period, and I'll do that for the rest of the Week 9 and 10 assignments this weekend. I hope you can still do your Week 9 story today, but if you are scrambling because of Break plans changing, etc., you can do your story later. :-)
2. Special Flex Week. I'm going to create something called "Flex Week" which will show up in the Gradebook, and I'll put 30 points in there for everybody. So, if you end up needing to miss a week of class for any reason, that's fine too; that's what those points are for. You don't have to explain; life could get complicated as the semester goes on, and you need to be able to take care of yourselves. Again, it will take me a while to do that in Canvas, but when you see a sudden 30-point bump in your total, that's from the Flex Week that will be in the Gradebook somewhere. (I haven't figured out exactly how to do that, but I'll call it "Flex Week" so you'll know what it is.)
Update. That was easier than I thought! I am not sure where you will see it in your Gradebook view, but everybody should now have 30 "Flex Week" points in your total. If you don't see that, let me know!
3. My Break Schedule. Since my Spring Break plans got canceled, I'll be home after all, and I'll work half-days during the Break in order to keep up with any of you who want to use the Break to get ahead on this class. If you also find yourselves at home unexpectedly with some time on your hands, maybe you will decide to take advantage of that time to get some/most/all of this class completed over the Break, which will give you one less thing to worry about as the semester continues. So, I'll be reading projects and sending back comments during the Break to help out with anyone who wants to do that. In fact, that will be my pleasure. Stories are something to enjoy, especially in stressful times like these!
Finally, the KEY THING of course is to stay in touch. Don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or problems you have, and if you can think of something else I could do to make the class more manageable, let me know. (If you would rather do that anonymously, use the Suggestion Box.)
I am sending good thoughts to everybody: stay safe, take care, and please don't let this class contribute to your stress. If you have questions or concerns, send me an email or Canvas message; I'm here!
Today is Thursday of Week 9. Here is a link to Week 9. For many of you, today is a storytelling day. I know this is an uncertain and weird time right now (argh! stress!), so hopefully you can enjoy the imaginative freedom of the story space. :-)
Class Procedures and Reminders
Project Stack. If you turned in a project on Sunday, you should have comments back from me now, and I will be working on the Monday items today. As always, you can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment, and I'll be sure to finish up the stack on Friday.
The following items are for fun and exploration:
Blog Stream. It is always so cool to see the art that people include in their reading notes blog posts, and I really like this image of Anansi from Brett's notes. Anansi is the spider-trickster of West Africa and the Caribbean; see the Anansi video below too!
Storybooks. And here's an Indian Epics Storybook from last year about The Chiranjivi.
Proverbs. This is a Congolese proverb about hospitality from Africa: When the bee comes to your house, let her have beer; you may want to visit the bee’s house some day.
Mindset Cats. The mindset cat knows that reviewing is part of growth. In other words: proofread! :-)
Writing Video. Yes, fonts are part of the writing experience, especially online, so here's some font humor from Saturday Night Live: Papyrus.
Event on Campus. I'm really not sure about events taking place on campus because a lot of events have been canceled... but here's a suggestion: there are so many staff people on campus who do amazing work, like all the great folks in the Library, IT, Student Affairs, Residence, Dining, all of that, and they are facing some real stress right now too. So, if you run into an OU staff person today, someone you know, take a minute to stop and thank them for all their good work. My big thank-you here is to John Stewart and Keegan Long-Wheeler and all the people in the Office of Digital Learning who are working so hard to make sure OU can go online if needed to keep everybody safe and well: THANK YOU.
Check out the Twitter stream for information and fun stuff during the day, or click here for past announcements.
