[Domyclass Help]

Instructions: As an online student, you construct knowledge not just by completing readings and assignments. An important part of the process is communicating with fellow learners and learning from what they have to say. As such, this is the forum where we can learn a little bit about who we are and what we do. Your first assignment in this course is to write a short biography about yourself. This is a time to say our virtual hellos and to get to know each other.

This week’s introduction forum will focus on the following objectives:

Part 1:

1. Build peer-to-peer relationships by introducing ourselves and sharing our backgrounds with one another.
2. Articulate your learning goals and expectations for this class.

Part 2:

1. Choose the topic for your course project.
2. Familiarize yourself with PowerPoint with Audio Narration, which you will be using for your final presentation.
3. Upload a “mini-presentation” introducing of your research topic choice and explaining why you chose this topic for the course project.

NOTE: Your forum entry must contain both parts to be considered complete. 

Part 1: INTRODUCE YOURSELF (typed directly in the forum box)

You may want to include some of the following information in your posting, but please make sure your post is at least 250 words:

• Name you prefer to be called
• Your picture (optional – see instructions below on how to upload your photo.)
• Your major and year in school
• Your branch of service and rank (if military)
• Your job title and a brief description of your job
• Where you live
• Why you are taking this class and what you hope to learn
• Your interests and hobbies
• Your future goals
• Anything else you would like us to know about yourself
• Just for fun, where would you like to go on a vacation if time and money were not a consideration, and why you would choose this vacation spot?

Part 2: UPLOAD A BRIEF PRESENTATION INTRODUCING YOUR COURSE PROJECT TOPIC

The topic of the course project can be any meteorological phenomena or weather event.  Do not choose a broad topic such as hurricanes, instead narrow your focus to one particular hurricane (i.e. Hurricane Hugo).  Choose something that interests you and explain why you chose this particular topic.   (i.e., what piqued your interest and why, if it is, relevant to you).

1. Familiarize yourself with the Course Project Guide.
2. Create a narrated PowerPoint presentation (or other multimedia program as approved by your instructor) (2-3 slides) and upload it as a file attachment to your forum post.  For instructions on how to create audio narration in PowerPoint, see the following link: Record a Slide Show With Narration.
3. Your mini-presentation should include the following:
   • Your name
   • The name of the research topic
   • Why this topic is relevant or important
   • Why you chose this topic

One of the drawbacks to online learning is that you miss out on the interactions from your classmates. Therefore, please take this opportunity to interact with at least two of your classmates by responding to their entries. Feel free to ask questions about each other and your course projects as you will be spending the next eight weeks together sharing the experiences of this course.  On that note, classroom community is a huge part of the learning experience so in addition to your initial posts and reply posts, be sure to follow your classmates’ posts for the remainder of the week, addressing any follow-up posts to your posts, and reply to any questions or requests for clarification. Similarly, be sure to read the follow-up posts to your own original posts and reply to any questions or requests for clarification from your classmates.  The forums are a great way to build a classroom community, learn from one another, and connect with your peers, so be sure to check the forums regularly in order to keep the dialogue moving!

Original posts should be a minimum of 250 words and reply posts 100-200 words.  All posts should be readable and use scientific terminology properly.

Initial Post Due: Sunday, by 11:55 p.m., ET
Responses Due: Sunday, by 11:55 p.m., ET

The forum will be evaluated using these grading criteria.

Note: Should you choose to write your posts in MS Word first, opting to cut and paste into the Rich Text Editor (RTE) Box from Word, please review the attached document on RTE otherwise your post may end up containing an overwhelming and unnecessary amount of “HTML” coding. If you type directly into the RTE box, you will not run the chance of having this coding/clutter in your posts. Please retain this information for future Forums. Thank you!

To post your original entry

1. Click the topic title and then “Start a New Conversation”.
2. Type your name as the “Title” unless otherwise specified, and then type your entry into the space provided (the “Message” box).
3. When you are done, perform a spelling/grammar check and then scroll down and hit the “Post Message” button.

To respond to your classmates’ posts

1. Click on the post you’d like to reply to.
2. Click the “Reply” button to the right.
3. Type your message in the “Message” box, perform a spelling/grammar check, scroll down and hit the “Post Message” button.

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To post your picture to the forum, you must first upload your photo to the “Resources” area so you can then attach it to your forum post: Please follow the directions below:

To upload your picture to your Resources:

1. Click on “My Workspace”.
2. Click on “Resources” in the menu bar to the left.
3. In the center of the screen, you will see a folder labeled “My Workspace” with a with a drop-down menu to the right labeled “Add”.
4. Place your cursor over the “Add” and click on “Upload Files”.
5. Click the “Browse” button and find the picture you want to upload from your computer.
6. Click the “Upload Files Now” button and you will have successfully uploaded your picture to your resources.

To upload your picture to the Forum area:

1. Click on the classroom you want to post your picture (i.e., SCIN137).
2. Click on the post you want to add the picture (i.e., Introduction Forum).
3. Click on the “mountain” icon in the rich text format box (on line 3) which will bring up a separate box.
4. Click the “browse server” button which will bring up another box. Click on “My Workspace” in the left menu, and you should see your picture files appear.
5. Click on the picture you want to upload and resize it accordingly.
6. Click “post message” and voila, you have successfully posted a picture directly to your discussion forum post!

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