Countdown to 203!

In just a few hours the virtual doors will open and we'll be underway. I'm so excited. :)

I posted in my introduction how important it is to have an online presence. I'm serious. It's all that and a bag of chips. Muy importante. In a real class setting, I'd have no trouble leaning over to start a conversation or asking someone after class to walk with me to the co-op for a cup of coffee before my next class. I try not to be so obnoxious about not being overly shy--but that's in an analog setting. Face to face--breathing the same air--occupying relatively near each other physical space. Making friends virtually is almost an entirely different thing. Note that I said "different", I didn't say "difficult". It doesn't have to be anyway.

The cool thing about going to school in a virtual setting is you can catch up on conversations when you want to whenever you want to. You can go to class when you want to (for the most part so long as you don't have a mandatory synchronous meeting you're supposed to be sitting in on). Hey, you don't even really have to take notes b/c you're basically reading them right off the screen.

The not so cool thing about going to school in a virtual setting is--nothing beats an organic conversation between two living, breathing people. We do the best we can here though. SLIS provides fairly ample opportunities to integrate yourself into both the program and the populace of students working and learning. For now, in 203--I highly recommend you guys get active on the discussion boards. Accept those Blackboard IM invitations and set up your accounts.

203 is a 1-unit pass/no pass course. As if NOT passing were even an option! Hah! If you work at it, you'll find yourself moving through the modules fairly quickly. Students who are able to finish before the semester actually starts find themselves generally more able to concentrate on their 3 unit classes. Although the content is pretty straight forward, what we really want to get you to work on is practicing how to navigate around D2L. We really want you to use Blackboard but more then that, we want to help ease you into the process of Online School.

You only get to be a student again for such a small window in your life. Have fun with it. :)