Forums: Start a New Conversation
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Forums: Start a New Conversation Initial Posting
Before you begin your weekly Forum conversation, study all the course content – all that’s on Laulima, the associated links and the text. Always click on and read the full description of the instructions so that you understand all that is being asked.
Read each question in detail. The expectation is that you will respond to all parts of the question with specific information that tells me that you have read and understand the course content. In most Starting Conversation you must cite a specific learning resource from the week that helped you to understand the course content and answer the questions. Put your citation immediately after the content that it reflects. If you are using the exact words from a source, put them in quotations. The best way to do this is to reference the materials, for example, “In the article, Hernando Washington, the author demonstrated…” Many weeks you will be citing the URL of a resource that you researched and found independently in response to the question.
To respond, click ‘Start a New Conversation; as you do, you are initiating a threaded discussion. When you click on the specific question in Forums the screen you get will look like this:
Other students may have already initiated their conversation as well. After you open your conversation click on the ‘Compose Forum Message’ screen appears. This is where you will write your original response to the question. Always title your message with something unique that will tell others what they can expect to read about. For example one of your threaded discussions will be about a culture not your own, so you might title your initial post with the name of the culture you researched, such as “Jewish culture”. Your initial thread or conversation should be at 300 words, at least a paragraph for each question. I suggest you number your responses to correspond with the Forums questions. . Remember you need to link your response to not only the question but also the content of the course, sociology and the social world (Again, this means that you need to cite the specific learning resource). You will also need to use critical thinking skills to respond to these questions. You will lose points if your posting does not respond to all of the question, reflect the course content or is too short. You need to demonstrate writing skills appropriate at a college level.
You can post to forums in a couple of ways: 1. Write in directly into the text box that appears, or 2. Cut and paste a response that you have written elsewhere. This method has certain problems that you will need to address if you choose this approach.
Do not upload your posting as an attachment as this adds difficult steps in the response and grading process. You will lose points if you do this.
I recommend that you write directly into this box. It may take some practice for you to feel comfortable and confident that your spontaneous efforts meet the expectations at a college level (see the rubric in your syllabus as a reminder). After you post your response, go back and read it to be sure it’s well written, responds to all of the questions and clearly expresses your integration of the information. You can edit it if you need to change something by clicking Other Actions button along the top of your posting. You will see an edit option, click on it to make changes.
If you are not comfortable writing directly, you can cut and paste. To do this, click on “W clipboard’ icon . This will open a second text box where you should paste your work. Always review your writing after you post it. Unfortunately, you may find that Laulima has included a number of HTML, or computer language, tags along with your writing. HTML tags can look like this:
Instructor: Cynthia Cary, LCSW Phone—984-3218
Contact via ‘Messages’ in Laulima
Even stranger things can happen. You can get a message that begins: Alert: The HTML tag ‘ is not allowed in formatted text. Alert: ….
To clean up any HTML tags, click on the Source box that is also in the heading. The screen that appears will give you an opportunity to cut out all this HTML junk, and in this case there could be quite a lot. Cut all of it out until you find your writing.
All of this can be more than annoying. So, remember to begin by clicking the clipboard with the “W clipboard” icon you will be likely to avoid this as much of this as possible.
After others have responded to your initial post you’ll need to respond to what others have written, answer their questions or comment on their ideas. Always respond to anything I write to you or questions I ask.
Next move on and read Forums: Responding to Conversations.