Welcome and Tips for Success
Welcome Letter
Welcome to class! This course is designed to introduce you to the writing, reading, and thinking skills you'll need for success at the college level. Students will focus on the writing process as they learn to express and advocate ideas clearly and effectively. The process will include prewriting, drafting, and revision, and the emphasis will be on personal, reflective, and expository writing. You can also expect to develop critical reading skills and use course readings to analyze specific writing techniques and strategies that can be used to improve your writing.
Most of us learn by doing. And you will do quite a lot during this course. Think of writing as a sport and yourself as an athlete who wants to improve upon an array of skills and abilities. As with athletics, writing well takes time and practice. The more serious your are, the better your results!
Strategies for Success
This is a self-paced course. Please take a moment to consider how you will support your own learning and success through the course. Here are a few tips to help shape your thinking about the tools and materials available to you
Manage your time. You should plan to log in to the course frequently to read materials, respond to discussion posts, and complete assignments. Get started on assignments early. Note important due dates on the calendar. Plan ahead for busy weeks. Students who get behind by even one week almost always fail the course, so stay current and keep up with assignments.
Collaborate. All of the feedback that you receive in the course will come from your peers. How can you ensure that you are getting the feedback that you need?
- Submit assignments to the peer review forum early. There will generally only be a few assignments submitted early in the week and they will get much more attention that the hundreds submitted at the last possible moment.
- Give regular, constructive feedback. Start the course exceeding expectations for comments and feedback in the forums. It will help you get a much better sense of effective and ineffective writing styles, and will allow you to get to know your classmates. If you are giving good feedback, your peers will feel a sense of obligation to return the favor.
- Reach out. If you find that you get great feedback from one or two classmates, find them in the people section and connect, or do it in the peer review forums. Find out why they are taking the class and what their goals are. The online environment does not have to be impersonal. The more you build relationships the better your learning experience will be.
Study for learning rather than grades. This course begins with a self-evaluation where you define your writing goals. No one is going to evaluate or grade you in this course. Work to those goals. Spend most time in the areas of the course that align with your goals. If you need to skip work, skip those things that matter least to you no matter what their weighting is in the course.
Use the content to support you. This course is designed to improve your writing skills. Think about the materials a little differently than you would in a traditional for-credit, instructor-led course.
- Quizzes are study aids. They help you understand what is important and test your understanding. All quizzes are set-up to allow for multiple submissions from each student. If you find it useful, read the quiz at the start of the module so that you know which are the important topics. You can take the quiz at the end of the module, or test your understanding of each piece of the module as you go. Remember, the score doesn't matter. The quiz is there to help you understand what you know and what you might have missed.
- Grammar Reports are designed to help you shed bad habits. If you have many, spend significant time in this area. Complete your reports and review those of your classmates. Use this as an opportunity to address nagging issues with spelling, grammar and punctuation. If this is already an area of strength for you, the Grammar Reports are less important.
- Get your essays in front of your peers early and often. See the notes above about collaboration.
Reach out. We will monitor the Questions About the Course forum and respond within 48 hours. If you are confused, lost, or find something that is broken, post a note. We will respond, or your peers will help.