Monday, March 23, 2020 5:19 p.m.
Dear Students:
Our online classes begin tomorrow morning. You may be reading this tonight,
Monday night, or tomorrow at some time.
Welcome to our online course! I hope it will not be too much of a challenge.
But I also hope that it WILL be somewhat of a challenge for all
of us – for you as well as for me.
This week, Tuesday and Thursday, we will only have Discussions. I want to “Keep
It Simple” at first.
I am learning Canvas Conferencing – BigBlueButton (BBB). I am also studying
ZOOM.
Some of you may know how to use Zoom, or even BBB. I don’t – not yet. I have
taken the I.T. class on it.
I have to practice it, so I can both use it myself, and instruct you how to use
it. That is one of my main goals for this coming week and the week following.
Reminder: Consult our HW page.
You will see that WE WILL HAVE NO CLASSES DURING THE WEEK OF MARCH 30 –
APRIL 3.
I think it is best to give us all an extra week – the week after next week –
to get completely ready
That means that we will have NO CLASSES ON TUESDAY, MARCH 31 OR THURSDAY,
APRIL 2.
For this week, we will not have Virtual Office Hours. That is because I do not
know how to do them!
I will set up Virtual Office Hours as soon as I have learned how to do this on
BBB and/or Zoom.
MSU’s IT instructors are very, very busy. Therefore, the classes for faculty
members have been short, and very basic.
I need to practice, and to get some expert help, before I can use Canvas
Conferencing, Modules, Quizzes (if I decide to use them), a Q&A Board, and so
on.
I will work hard to learn this stuff during this week and during next week, when
we will have NO classes.
Until then, you should email me with any and all questions and problems you are
having.
* * * * *
We are going to make this work, and it is going to be excellent!
Please, let us be patient with one another. I include myself – please be patient
with me! I’m learning this as quickly as I can.
Please do not forget to check our “Announcements Concerning Moving Classes
Online March 2020 - End of Spring Semester” page. It is linked on our Home Page.
Here is that link again:
https://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/online_classes_spring_2020.html
I will see you in our Discussion during tomorrow’s class!
Sincerely,
Grover Furr
English Department