[I am posting these instructions to invite suggestions for changes and improvements.]
Quick tips: Minimal email exchanges with instructors. Use this link to report broken links or other glitches, not email. Use posts or comments to raise queries about ideas and course content (see Preamble below). Include 645 at start of subject line if you have to email.
To access only your posts, click on your name in the right hand menus. The private page for your assignment checklist and instructor comments is at coursennamenumber.wordpress.com/checklistcomments-xx, where xx is your first name. To access only the posts in a particular Category, click on drop down link in the right hand menus. Unless wordpress takes away the classic editing option, always use that mode (viewable under the 3 dots to the top right)–it makes the guidelines below much easier to follow.
Guidelines for use of wordpress site
Preamble: The course has online participants, but is quite different from asynchronous online learning. The wordpress comes with no expectations that you participate in out-of-class-time reading and discussion—other than submitting peer commentary on drafts and occasionally submitting reports requested in a class activity. This said, posting everything to a wordpress site that doesn’t disappear from view at the semester’s end allows students to learn from other students and build on that if they have time and interest.
This wordpress site differs from blogs and other social media where you would be chatty or informal. Instead, be concise and helpful. Imagine the reader, say, as someone wanting to make sense of a printout or compilation of posts at a future date.
A. Content:
1. Help people decide whether to read more or not:
a. Make the subject of the post informative (i.e., saying what’s the topic or theme or argument of the post, NOT “Sylvia’s Tuesday reflections” or “Sam’s 3rd installment”).
b. Begin the post with a summary of or introduction to what’s to follow, then insert the “More” tag (from the right hand end of the menu strip).
c. Specify the appropriate categories (using the drop down menu) and provide some tags (aka keywords).
2. Help readers who want to follow up on your post:
a. Provide references, including website URLs, in full in a bibliography at the end of a post, not in the body of the text. (If it has a URL, make this a live link using the chain icon on the toolbar).
b. For in-text citations, give only the author and date (and page number where relevant). Do not give URLs in the body of the text–that breaks up the flow for readers.
c. One exception to a. & b. is that some informality and in-text URLs are ok in comments that you write on posts.
d. To refer to a post of yours, use the permanent “shortlink” found under “sharing.” (This URL does not change when you update the post to a new date.)
e. To refer to a comment, use the URL that appears in your browser window when you click on the date under the person’s name who made the comment.
B. Posting:
1. To insert images or pdf’s into a post you have started (or are revising), click the “+” or Insert Content button on the left of the menu strip, then Add media option, do the usual browsing to get your file to upload, click on Insert into the post (at bottom right), then Publish (or Update) the post. (If you do not see the Insert Content, it may be because wordpress has a different layout from when these instructions were written, at least for the device you are working from. Consult with a techie to get help.)
2. File submission: (Re)name any file before it is posted: 645YourinitialsAssignmentnameordescriptionDate.pdf. For example, if Peter Taylor was submitting revised installment 3 on 13 Feb 2012, the file would be 645PTinstallment3rev13Feb12.pdf. Every file submitted must have your name, date of current version, assignment name at the start of the document and be saved as a pdf.
2a. Instead of a pdf, it is OK to paste the full text into the post itself (but see 1b under A re: the “more” tag).
3. To insert an .mp3 file, upload it to a googledrive or dropbox location and include in your post the shareable link from those locations.
4. You can make a post private, which means only you and the instructors can see it. Any instructor’s comments privately to you will take the form of a private page viewable by you.
5. When you make a major revision to an existing post, change the publication date (under the “Document” menu) so that the changes are not overlooked in the stream of old posts. Revised written assignments should be inserted in the post above the draft. (See also 2d under A above.)
C. Reading:
1. If the text is too small for you to read comfortably, use the ctrl + or cmnd + to increase the display size.
2. WordPress sites allow you to visit and view posts as often or as seldom as you choose given the other demands on your time and attention. You can scroll down, view the titles and the introductions/summaries (assuming that everyone has inserted the more tag [see above]) to decide which ones you want to read more of.
3. To search for all posts in a given category, click on that category in the list at the side. To search for all posts with a tag, click on the word in the tag cloud at the bottom right.
4. You should get an email whenever someone comments on your post and also if, when you comment, you check the relevant box at the bottom left of the comment. You will also get an email if someone likes your post provided you turn on this option under “Settings.” The instructors will use the like option whenever comments have been made by them.
5. To print an uncluttered copy, select all the text in the post, then print (or save to pdf) using the option “print selection” (if your browser has that option).
Puzzle—Create Change—Reflect 