Course Expectations & Blog Instructions

Expectations for the blog:

1st Session – September 15, 2011: (by blog or optional face-to-face)
(1) Participants need to have the first assigned reading completed BEFORE the first session. Participants who choose to attend the optional face-to-face meeting will post their responses to the first set of questions during the meeting. Those who do not choose to attend the face-to-face are expected to post their responses to the first set of questions by 11:59 p.m. this date.
(2) Participants must also post at least 2 comments that specifically address fellow participant’s responses by 11:59 p.m.

2nd Session – October 6, 2011 by 11:59 p.m.: (blog only)
(1) Participants must post their responses to the Session 2 questions.
(2) In addition, participants are expected to comment on at least 2 other participant’s posts that specifically address fellow participant’s responses.

3rd Session - October 27, 2011 by 11:59 p.m.: (blog only)
(1) All participants must post their responses to the Session 3 questions.
(2) Also, participants are expected to comment on at least 2 other participant’s posts that specifically address fellow participant’s responses.

4th Session – November 17, 2011 by 11:59 p.m.: (blog and face-to-face)
(1) Today is the last day of this book study and by 4:00 p.m. all participants must post their responses to the Session 4 questions.
(2) There are no responses to other participants this session due to our meeting face-to-face discussion.
(3) If numerous people are trying to post at the last minute it could create a slow down process and you may not make the deadline for the class. Plan accordingly.


Instructions for the Blog:

1) Click on "comments" below the post (question) to which you want to respond. Type your comment in the box. If you write a lot, you can use the light gray bar to scroll up and down within the comment box.
2) When you finish typing your comment, click on the little black arrow beside "Select profile…"Choose "Name/URL" which is near the bottom of your choices.
3) In the box under "Name:" type in what you want to be known as in our book study and use the same name for each post. You can use your first name and last initial or last name and first initial (nicknames are fine provided we know who you are in the beginning so you will receive credit for your posts) – something that lets us know who you are. (For example, I'd probably call myself BarbaraC or BCofer.)
4) Leave the URL box blank and click on "Continue”. You’ll notice that whatever you typed in replaced "Select profile…"
5) now click on "Post Comment". Another box will pop up for word verification. This step prevents spam from being posted by other computers on blogs. Just type the word, or combination of letters, that you are given in the box.
6) Then click "Finish". If you didn't quite get the word/letter right, it will give you a different word. It might take a minute or two, but then your comment will be posted with the date and time. You'll know your comment is posted because you'll get a notice saying it was, and the comment will appear on the page, just below the other's post.
7) Hint: The blog page does not have spell check. In addition, there have been times when the blog page “hiccupped”, losing the response you typed in the comment box. To reduce frustration, protect your thoughts, and allow for spell check, we advise that you compose your response in Microsoft Word (or other word processing software) and then copy and paste it into the comment box for step 1 under these instructions.