Week of March 23

Hello everyone!

Lots to do! A couple of logistical pieces

We have a virtual classroom: https://bit.ly/WGS-Shaw-20. I would like for us to meet to check in for the first time around 3pm on Wednesday, March 25. I’ll have the room open often, and if you’d like to speak to me and want to schedule an appointment, just email. For more formal conferences, I’ll send out a scheduling poll.

Don’t forget to join our hypothesis group: https://hypothes.is/groups/z3grRGrg/wgs-1001-spring-2020

A note to say that from now on out, for better for worse, the course and its content (as well as your engagement with that content) are almost entirely up to you. Having teleconference classes isn’t just challenging for what we need (discussion) but also almost impossible for some of you–and if not everyone can do it, then it isn’t fair to try to make everyone to it at all.

  1. I will be hosting online office hours at time yet to be determined. I would like for all of you to check in with me (in groups or at individual times) at least once per week.
  2. I will update your assignments and blog posts. We will still have presentations, but they will be short papers or videos (your choice) and each of you must comment on a different presentation at least 4 times (there are about 8 weeks left in the term) , citing at least one thing that you thought interesting or thought provoking (or you can answer the question posted by the presentation).
  3. For each weekly reading, I’ll ask you to use hypothesis to highlight a passage in the reading (posted on the course site). For other readings not on the course site, please take a photo or screenshot with your annotations. Tell the class what you think this passage says and why it’s important.
  4. Your final projects will take an increased portion of your time and effort, since we won’t have the luxury of meeting in person to do group class things.
  5. I will be posting an alternate schedule on the course site today, with assignments due starting Wednesday March 25.

Thanks to you all for going with the flow on this. I realize it is far from easy or smooth. I hope you are all feeling okay, and have enough things to keep you busy for now. Please try to stay home and, if you go out, maintain social distance of at least 6 feet away from anyone who you don’t live with. If you are feeling poorly, please do stay indoors and rest up–if you have a fever, you shouldn’t go out until you haven’t had a fever (your fever has ‘broken’, or gone away) for three days.

Be well and more soon!

Gwen