January 16 email

So, we got a great email from Kerry! I hope that the content of the email is recorded SOMEWHERE at the site too (update: I did find the announcements forums when I got lost trying to find one of the assignment discussions). I actually stopped doing emails like this a long time ago so that I could use a blog instead. Why...? LINKABILITY and RE-USE. So, instead of writing emails to students each day or each week, I post the announcements in a blog, every day, and students can CHOOSE if they want to subscribe to that by email. One content tool (blog) - lots of distribution channels. :-)

So, Kerry's email covers some really important topics, and I will record some quick thoughts and notes here (because, honestly, I despair of having a discussion about stuff like this inside the Janux platform... I get the awful feeling I can post things in there and I would never even be able to find them again!).

Thoughts about the email:

I know Kerry's for-credit students are so glad about the flexibility on the assignment deadlines for the first two weeks. Online courses are so great that way!

I wonder if Kerry can LINK to items in Janux...? Because, honestly, we need links in this email. If someone has NOT read the Syllabus yet or read the Week at a Glance, they should do that now, and having a link there would really help. Is anything in Janux linkable? I have not figured that out.

I need to go do an introduction in the forum... but I find that kind of discouraging given the unwieldy way HTML editor and the way things are so hard to find again. I wish we had SUBSTANTIAL profile pages, as opposed to the very minimalist profiles available right now.

I need to leave a note to say hi to Brent, whom I do now know. Kerry, of course, I know, ha ha. He has been my digital hero since I first came here to OU in 1999 (in fact, I can still remember talking to someone on my first day on campus who interrupted me mid-sentence and said, "You have to meet Kerry Magruder!").

I am glad Kerry told us to go to the Lessons tab. I did that simply because I could not figure out the Dashboard, but now I see that was the right thing to do!

Of course, I totally love Kerry's way of explaining that the course is not a survey of content to memorize and master but instead adventures to have together with others as we explore together. That is soooooo much easier to do online than in a traditional classroom! And just from the reading I did in the books the other night, I have hundreds of questions (literally: hundreds!) that I want to explore.

So.... KUDOS TO KERRY on this email! I have participated in several MOOCs and never received anything even close to this as a communication from the instructor.  I still feel trepidation about the software, but I am excited to see what I will get to learn tonight!