Wednesday January 16

Hi all! I see that some of you have started working on your week 1 course assignments and adding posts to the discussion board. For the most part, you're doing a great job! I have also noticed that several of you still seem to be a bit confused about what you're supposed to be doing. No worries--that's what I'm here for! For some of you I have included a few gentle reminders on the discussion board to help you along, but just to make sure everyone is on the same page, here's a quick walk-through of how to access your assignments and what it means to "declare" your work:

1. First, you need to access the course webpage (you can either do this directly by going to http://www.ou.edu/biology1003/ or log in to D2L and click on the course homepage link). Then you need to click on the Weekly Schedule link at the top of the page and select Week 1 from the list of weeks. On the Week 1 page you will see links to all of the assignments that you have to complete for the week. Please read the assignment descriptions carefully! If the assignment involves posting a message on the discussion board, you can access that through D2L. Don't forget to address your classmates by their names when you respond to their posts (eg. Hi Heather!)

2. Once you have completed each of the assignments and met all of the criteria, you can then declare your work. Several of you have asked me what exactly this means. When you declare your work, you are agreeing that you have met all of the requirements of the assignment. Once you have agreed to this (by completing the "quiz" on D2L that corresponds to your assignment), the computer will award you with the points you declared (check it out by going to the Grades link in D2L).

3. Here's the thing: if you don't declare your work, you don't get credit for it. Declaring is equivalent to turning in your assignment to your instructor in a face to face course--if you don't turn it in, you don't get a grade for it. Remember: you have agreed to operate under the Honor Code in this class. That means that if you falsely declare work that you have not completed, you are guilty of academic misconduct.

If you are still confused about what you are supposed to be doing, drop me a note! Also, if you haven't responded to my email for the Email Confirmation assignment, don't forget to do so!

Heather

Photo: Lace Fern taken from Magnolia Gardens Nursery