Online reflection 3

Dear students,

Thanks for yet another round of stimulating reading! Once again, I encourage everyone to read a lot more peer entries than the ones you actually comment on. Below is the third and final online reflection assignment for English for Science & Technology I:

• Write a reflection on the book that you've chosen to read for this course (at least 100 pages of fact or fiction published in English, remember).
• The starting point for your reflection could be anything in or about the book that has had some sort of impact on your thinking, whether it’s an overriding theme or a particular passage, line, detail, aspect etc. Taking it from there, you're welcome to extend your reflection far beyond the confines of the actual book (through parallels and contrasts, for instance).
• Your reflection should not take the form of a review (in other words, I'm not asking you to assess and rate the book and/or its author[s]) but you may want to start off with a very brief summary of/introduction to what the rest of us need to know about the book to better understand and appreciate your reflection.
• If you decide to quote something from the novel you must quote it verbatim, use quotation marks (or a block quotation) and provide the page number.
• Word limit: 500 (Use >80% reflection and <20% summary/introduction as a guideline.)
• Posting deadline: Thursday 7 January
• Tip: think of this reflection as a golden opportunity to ask intriguing questions that you’re not necessarily responsible for answering. :-)

Enjoy your reading and reflecting,

Andy

Time for more peer-to-peer comments

Dear students,

Once you've completed and posted your own online reflection 2 entry, browse those of your fellow students and then, no later than Thursday 26 November, complete another round of peer-to-peer comments according to the 2+1 system prescribed for the first round. (Again, please note that new next-door neighbours may have emerged since then and that you should go by the current list.)

Keep sharing your thoughts and opinions out there and I'll keep reading them - with gusto!

Andy

Online reflection 2

Reminder: If your blog is accessible by invitation only, please don't forget to send an invitation to your next-door neighbours and me - thank you! (Also, if your settings require you to moderate/accept posts from visitors before they appear on your blog page, don't forget to actually do so!)

Dear students,

It's time for the second out of three online reflection assignments for English for Science & Technology I:

- Give Andrew McAfee's and Abha Dawesar's respective TED talks 'Are droids taking our jobs?' and 'Life in the Digital Now' 15+12 minutes of your undivided attention,
- write a reflection based on or relating to one of the talks (as a whole or in part, and in as much detail as you like), and
- post your entry on your blog page by Thursday 12 November.

Looking forward to reading your thoughts and reactions,

Andy

PS Tip: all TED talks come with optional subtitles (see bottom of the video clip box) and transcripts (see right below the box) which you're allowed to use to facilitate your work / aid your memory as long as you set the language to English. :-)

Next, read and react to peer entries!

Dear students,

Thanks for the interesting thoughts you've shared so far - keep them coming!

Your next e-mission is to browse online reflection 1 entries via the 'Reflecting students' section on the right and then comment on the thoughts of your next-door neighbours (that is, the one listed right above you and the one listed right below you from 1 October onwards) + at least one other listed student of your choice. You're free to comment on whatever aspect(s) you want (including linguistic ones if you feel competent/confident enough) in as much detail as you like. If your blog is accessible by invitation only, please don't forget to send an invitation to your next-door neighbours and me - thank you!

If your next-door neighbour(s) should fail to meet the posting deadline, it's no longer your duty (but still your right) to comment on their work. As long as you comment on at least three online reflection 1 entries in total by Thursday 15 October, you can safely choose to ignore overdue ones.

Enjoy your reading and commenting,

Andy

Online reflection 1

Dear students,

For your first online reflection you're asked to read and reflect on (that is, develop a line of thought that the rest of us can follow) / react to the article 'From relationships to revolutions: seven ways Facebook has changed the world'. There’s no upper or lower word limit for your entry, but you should post it on your own blog page (see 'How to get started' below) by Thursday 1 October if you want to be guaranteed some feedback from fellow students after that point.

'From relationships to revolutions: seven ways Facebook has changed the world' is meant to inspire/provoke you to think about the issues it touches upon before you start typing away, but you’re of course more than welcome to take your reflection far beyond the scope of the article.

I look forward to reading your entries. Enjoy your thinking and writing,

Andy

How to get started

Dear students,

This is just a quick entry to start the ball rolling. If you already have a blog account up and running, please send its address as a comment on this post (don't forget to state your name and surname unless it's evident from your user account) and I'll link to it in the 'Reflecting students' section on the right. Thus, by the time you're looking to read and comment on each other's blog entries, these will only be one click away.

If you don’t have a blog account yet, I suggest you create one at www.blogger.com (especially if you already have a Google account) or ask your fellow students if they can recommend a particular blog host. Whatever your choice, please make sure that I can link to your blog site and that your readers are allowed to post comments on your blog site entries.

That should be enough to get you started, but please let me know if you have any questions or problems. See you online and in class,

Andy

PS If you choose sign up for a Blogger account and don't want anybody except your teacher and course mates to be able to find and read your blog, i) log into your account, ii) select the blog you will use for this course, iii) click on the Design link, iv) open the Settings tab, v) on the Privacy line in the Basics section, click on Edit, and vi) switch the answer to 'No' for both 'Add your blog to our listings?' and 'Let search engines find your blog?'