Tips from Classmates

(updated 1.18.07)

 

WebCT Forum: Student to Student Help Forum

Thread: Tips for a Good Semester

Message no. 261

Author: Melissa

Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 4:20pm

 

Aloha Everyone,

 

I thought I'd help out and write some tips to being successful in this class.

 

1) IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA, to print out the calendar of events for our assignment.  This will help you with deadlines and give you a strategy of where you should be with developing your paper.

 

2) PRINT OUT THE PAPER REQUIREMENTS.  This will give you a clear understanding what Jim is looking for in the assignment.  This also gives you a lot of hints to resources to read to help guide you with your paper.

 

3) READ ALL THE RECOMMENDED READINGS.  This is a definite must-do, this helps give you a foundation of certain statements helpful in you being successful in this class.  These readings also gives you a clearer understanding of what argumentative and research skills you need to succeed in this class.

 

4) BE ON TOP OF THE SCHEDULE.  Don't procrastinate and wait til the last minute to get the assignments done.  This will generally hurt you in the long wrong and your papers will not be as great as you would like them to be.

 

5) PARTICIPATE and READ THE DISCUSSIONS. Don't feel left out in the cold, participate and give us your point of view and discuss your feelings towards different a certain topic.  Read them as well, if you're unsure of what you should be writing about in your paper, these discussions can give you a general idea of where other people are going with their papers.  This helps you to think of ways to go with your own paper.  This is not copying or cheating but researching and getting a more broader aspect of where to start with your own paper.

 

6) IF YOU'RE UNSURE, ASK FOR HELP! If you're unsure ask a classmate or drop a question in the HELP section.  This is why Jim set up that section so other students can help you out or you can even drop Jim a line.  Don't ever hesitate, the longer you hesitate the longer it will take for you to develop a good paper.

 

7) CHECK THE CLASS PAGE and Check WebCT often!  This will help you with the latest information about questions that Jim has posted.  Log-in to WebCT so that you don't feel bombarded by postings that you haven't read at least once or twice daily.  I check WebCT about all the time that I'm online, when I log-in and before I log off.

 

Well I think this was long enough.  This should help give you an idea of what to expect and how to overcome the what-ifs with this course.  I took this course last semester and had to stop due to medical reasons.

 

**********

 

Message no. 285

Author: Elvie [team 1]

Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 10:27pm

 

Hi Melissa, if you don't mind I would like to add to your informative advice to Hannah....

 

Hannah, under our course webpage calendar, click on the 16th "State your position" and you will find the instruction Jim has posted for stating our position.  In bold it says "Briefly explain your position by stating your strongest supporting argument. We're all assuming that, in the actual paper, your arguments will be developed in greater depth and that your position or arguments may differ" 

 

YES, definitely after further research and reading you find your position different from your original posting, you should proceed in writing your rough draft with the stand you feel most comfortable with.  In that way you will not struggle to support your thesis.

 

I hope this will also help.......

 

**********

 

[QUSTION] Message no. 259

Author: Diana

Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 11:37am

 

Hi Lehualani, my name is Diana and I am not sure what I should be doing.  This is my first time doing any class on the Web.  I go into the class assignments and don't really know what to do.  When I read a message should I reply on it.  What's UP!! I am confused.

[ANSWER] Message no. 275

Author: Lehualani [team 1]

Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 9:35pm

 
Hi Diana,
 

It's important to check "our class web page" at least once or twice a day. When you are on "our class web page" there will be a left-side column of everything that you will need to know and be familiar with for this course.

 

On our class web page, you should always check out the latest announcements. There is also an Assignment Calendar, which will allow you to view the assignments and their due dates. There is also basic guidelines and other topics that should be reviewed. This should help you out a little with any other questions that you may have concerning this course and papers.

 

For one of the assignments given, we were asked to reply to a greeting. You don't have to reply to every single greeting. The minimum asked was ONE, but if you want to reply to more than what is assigned, feel free to do so. Just double check on how many responses Jim is asking of us and make sure to do AT LEAST that.

 

When attacking a classmate's position you will need to select TWO messages and attack the arguments presented by the writers.

 

Are there any specific questions or concerns that you may have for me? I'll do my best to help you out as much as I can!