Week 2: Getting Down the Basics

How to Take a Course  

You will find the schedule of upcoming courses at the Calendar.  Courses are activated on the Calendar two weeks before they start.  Once activated, you may click on the name of the course on the Calendar, which will take you to its main page.  To sign up for a course, click the registration link on the main page of the course and type in the requested information. Members may register up to two weeks before the start date of a course. Peer courses never have a class size limit; some of the facilitated courses do.  Registration closes on the day the course begins or when it has reached its maximum number of students, whichever comes first.  

WVU courses are repeated throughout the year, so if you miss one that you're interested in when you first see it offered, you'll have another opportunity later on. WVU strongly recommends that you sign up for no more than four courses at one time.

WVU focuses on writers helping writers. WVU's courses work within this philosophy. However, thanks to the efforts of one or more of our members, some of WVU's courses are also offered as facilitated.  A facilitator is available to answer questions you may have about the class, but he/she isn't in the role of an instructor.  Peer courses are indicated with even-numbered course codes. Facilitated courses are indicated with odd-numbered course codes.  

On the main page of each course, you will find link(s) to the lesson(s) and a link to a message board. This message board may be called a Classroom, a Classroom Message Board, a Discussion Forum or a Discussion Board. All terms are synonymous and interchangeable.  All interaction for the course will take place on its message board.

Once the course begins, read the first week's lesson and start working on the assignment. When you are finished, post it on the message board. In general, you have one week in which to work on each assignment. Others will provide feedback to your work, and you are expected to give feedback to the others in your class, too. To gain the most benefit, it is best to post early to provide adequate time for others to offer feedback.  

Posting Tips

Most people write their assignments in a word processing document. It's a good idea to do a spellcheck once you're finished to ensure there are no spelling errors. The most common way to post your assignment to a board is using the "Edit" menu on your screen. Once you've completed and saved your work in your word processing document, highlight the complete document, and then click "Copy" from your "Edit" menu. Go to the message board, and click "Post A New Message". Fill in your name, email address, and the title of what you plan to post. Place your cursor in the upper left-hand corner of the main message box. On your screen, click "Paste" from your "Edit" menu. This will paste your work to the message board. Then click "Post Message", and it will be transferred to the board.

AOL users aren't able to follow the normal procedures for pasting to the boards, although highlighting, cutting and copying are all done the same. There are two pasting options for AOL users. They may use the keyboard command by pressing both "Control" plus "V" on their keyboard at the same time to paste their work to the message board. The other alternative is right clicking on their mouse for the paste function.

If you determine later on that you want to delete your post from the message board, the only way to do that is by planning ahead of time. You need to provide a password in the space provided below the posting box when you post your message, which can be used to delete your message at a later time. This doesn't need to be your WVU password; it can be any password you will remember if you decide you want to remove your post later on.


Message Board Features

Post A New Message

Use this when posting your assignments. 

Post A New Response

Use this when responding to someone else's post. 

Preview Message

Although this isn't required when posting messages, it's a good idea to preview your message before actually posting it. Instead of clicking "Post Message, click "Preview Message" to see what it will look like once it's posted. If you want to make any changes, click the "back" button on your browser to return to your original entry. Once you do this, you need to make at least one change before posting. Otherwise it won't post your message, claiming it's a duplicate submission. When you are satisfied with the way it appears, click "Post Message", and it will be posted to the message board. 

Subscribe

A subscription to a message board is not the same as signing up for a course. Subscribing to a message board is an option whereby all posts from the message board will automatically be sent to your email address. To do this, click "Subscribe" on the message board. Fill in your email address and check off the space that says "Add Address to List". All posts will then be sent to you via email. At the end of the course, be sure to unsubscribe from the message board or you will get all the posts from the next class when it starts. To unsubscribe, click "Subscribe". Enter your email address in the space provided. Check off "Delete Address from List", and click "Send Address". You will no longer receive the posts in your email.

Search/Personalize Display 

You can personalize how you want the posts to show up on the message board. You have a choice of the order in which they are listed, the length of days, weeks or month in which you want to search for a particular post, as well as those posted by a particular person or title. Click "Search/Personalize Display" and set your preferences. Once you've done this, click "View Message Index", and it will show the screen exactly as you have indicated. 

Week 2 Assignments

1. Subscribe to this message board.

2. Peruse the Calendar and find a course you want to take.  Tell your classmates in a post to this message board which course you'd like to take and why it interests you.  Write this in your word processing document. Save it and then copy and paste it to this message board, using the Post A New Message feature.

3. Respond to others' introductions using the Post A New Response feature.

4. Experiment with the Search/Personalize Display to find a setting in which you are most comfortable.