Muddiest points cleared...

Here are some of your questions and concerned answered.

- If you have personal barriers, please know that I will do my best to accomodate you, just keep me let me know.

- Learning modules and discussions are valid learning tools. They encourage group participation and eases each of you into speaking out in front of others. In addition, it is a creative way to learn the material more collaboratively rather than lecture style which is not my forte. Lastly, discussions have three purposes, one is that they allow each group to discuss a topic and come to a concensus.Second is that the questions encourage critical thought of the content by incorporating your own ideas and experiences with the text. Third is that each student becomes familiar with elearning.

- Speeches will begin on time as stated in the course schedule; 2/ 18- 25. We will discuss the process in class.

- We will have a review day before the first test to clarify chapters 1-5. (Thursday, Feb. 4th)

- Responses to discussion forum should alternate between each group member so that everyone posts at least once.

- As we discussed in class, I do not expect you to answer the questions in the Learning Module forum. I expect groups to collaborate and come up with an answer for the questions in the discussion forum and then take turns posting the group response there for chapters 1-5.

- Learning modules should be used as guides for developing outlines of chapters and initiating class discussions as we talked about on Thursday.

- Getting used to class blogs and elearning can take some time. Don't worry everyone will catch on. If any of you continue to have issues, let me know and I can try to help.

- We are coming to the end of learning modules, however, I will try to allow an adequate amount of class time for groups to work in the future. they are in elearning. Ask me if you are unclear on how to get to elearning or navigating around there.

- It is perfectly normal to be nervous about speaking in public. I try to ease you into this process by presenting learning modules as a group. I will try to work on other ways to help everyone feel more comfortable. Just try to remember that you are not alone if you feel nervous and picking a topic that you are confident in and comfortable with is very important.

- Learning modules will be graded based on the outlines. Outlines should cover all the concepts listed in the learning modules and group participation. They are out of 25 points.
Discussions will be graded based on fully answering the questions and individuals posting at least once. These responses are out of 20 points.

- The blog is not currently interactive and should be used as a class information board.

- We will be in a circle except for speech and test days.

- Everyone should be reading the chapters. Learning modules or oulines should merely highlight main ideas of the chapters and the questions should be used to start the class discussion unless you or your group have your own questions.

- I have not decided what your written paper will be about yet. I will let you know as the time gets closer.

- This is an introduction to communication. Unit one will focus on intrapersonal communication and how we perceive ourselves and the way that others perceive us. Unit two will be primarily concerning interpersonal relationships and how we deal with our relationships. Unit three is all about group dynamics. In addition, this class also serves as a speech class as you will have three speeches; informative, persuasive, and group.

- Groups will not be so prominent in Unit two. We will work on some things in groups, but groups are mostly used in units one and three.

- If you feel lost, it sounds like you need to A. drop me an email with very specific questions. B. come to office hours on Tuesday. C. Stop me before or after class and make an appt. for a Thursday.

- If you have to miss class, please let me know ahead of time and then remind me closer to the date and make sure you make up any missed assignments. In addition, absences are only excused if I am notified via email prior to class, otherwise there is a loss of 3 points of participation.

so, there you go..

I will be happy to answer any other questions you may have as we go along.

Brandy