Progress report to students re online classes Thursday, March 19, 2020
Grover Furr English Department Montclair State University
Dear students:
This email is about preparation for online
classes.
It is a follow-up to the email that I sent to all
of you 3 days ago, on Monday, March 16.
|
(If you did NOT get my Monday email, check your Inbox on your
Montclair.edu email account. I sent it to all registered students.
If you checked, and still did NOT receive that email, please contact the
MSU Help Desk at 973-655-7971. You should have received it. THEN email
your group, to ask them to forward it to you. THEN email me, to let me
know that you are having email problems). |
I have been spending this week learning the
skills necessary to move our class completely to online teaching for the rest of
the semester.
It is best to make this process as simple and as
easy as possible.
In our case, everything is already online EXCEPT
the classes themselves.
All we need to do is to add the inter-activity of
a class meeting. That is the technology that I have been studying this week, and
will continue to study.
Canvas has the capacity for discussions in small
groups and as a whole class.
Another facility that MSU subscribes to –
Slack – also has this facility.
I am still learning all about Canvas. YOU,
students, should also learn about it.
Here is the Canvas page for students.
Here is the link to
“Canvas for Students”:
PLEASE study this. If you think
you already know it, then just review it.
Meanwhile, I am taking another “Canvas for
Faculty” class today. I took one yesterday, and will take yet another one
tomorrow.
Later today, or perhaps tomorrow morning, I will
send you ANOTHER email, with instructions about Slack.
Slack is a very simple, and therefore attractive,
program for inter-activity – for online discussion during class periods.
Finally (for now): Will we have classes
next week at the usual time? YES, WE WILL!
Sincerely,
Grover Furr
English Department