Important Dates

• Wed, Oct 21: Project 3 Peer Review in class
• Mon, Oct 26: Project 3: Interrogate a Story Source due by 11:59 PM
• Mon, Nov 2: Project 3 grace period ends at 11:59 PM

PSAs

• Course Request is underway. See the English course descriptions for more info.
• Career Connections 2015: Fri, Oct 23, registration ends (Registration Form)
• Study Abroad Info Session for London Calling! 2016 Summer: Wed, Oct 28, 5pm, Shanks 370-80.
• Meet Up Read Out: Thu, Oct 29, 7pm, Newman’s Multipurpose Room.

Canvas Documentation (in case you get stuck)

• How do I know if I have a Discussion peer review to complete?
• How do I submit a peer review to a Discussion?
• Where can I find my peers’ feedback for peer reviewed Discussions?

Peer Review Activity

Respond to the two drafts you have been assigned for Peer Feedback, following these instructions:

• Follow the Canvas Documentation to find the drafts you have been assigned. Note that you must have turned in your draft on time to be assigned peer review partners.
• Write a response to each of the two drafts (Canvas Documentation) that includes the following information:
  1. Check the title of the web essay, and tell your partner if it is unique and appropriate.
  2. Try out the web essay’s navigation, and let the author know if it is clear and useful (and/or how to improve it).
  3. Check the web essay for the required content, and let the author know if anything is missing. You should find the following information:
     • rhetorical situation
     • design choices
     • modes of communication
     • affordances
     • constraints
  4. Add comments on the content of the web essay. Comment on at least three things your classmate does well and at least three things that your classmate could improve on.
  5. If you notice any spelling errors, punctuation errors, or typos, you can mention them in your comments, but please focus more on the content than editing and proofreading.
• If you finish giving people feedback, you can begin revising your web essay, based on the feedback you have received.

Homework

For today, please do the following:

• Revise your site based on the peer feedback you received, using the Canvas Documentation to find your peers’ feedback.
• If you didn’t complete feedback for the classmates assigned to you, please do so immediately. Your classmates are waiting to hear from you.

For Friday’s session (10/23), do the following before class:

• Continue work on your project and have whatever you need to work on your project in class.
• Be prepared to show me your work in class. We’ll do mini-conferences.

For Monday’s session (10/26), do the following before class:

• Be ready to turn in your project in class (unless you are taking advantage of the grace period).
• Monday will be the last day we will discuss the web essay in class.

Important Dates

• Tue, Oct 20: Post link to your web essay for peer review by 11:59 PM
• Wed, Oct 21: Project 3 Peer Review in class
• Mon, Oct 26: Project 3: Interrogate a Story Source due by 11:59 PM

PSAs

• Course Request: Begins tomorrow (Tue, Oct 20).
• Study Abroad Info Sessions:
  • Myanmar Wintermester: Mon, Oct 19, 5:30pm, Shanks 316 (only for 2nd-year and later students)
  • London Calling! 2016 Summer: Wed, Oct 28, 5pm, Shanks 370-80.
• Meet Up Read Out: Thu, Oct 29, 7pm, Newman’s Multipurpose Room.
• Career Connections 2015: Fri, Oct 23, registration ends (Registration Form)

Navigation for Your Web Essays

Your assignment is a multi-page web essay. Your challenge is to make sure that readers can find all the pages of your essay. You need to chunk out your essay into pages that make structural sense and that avoid the tl;dr effect by making sure you have the right amount of text for each page.

We will talk about the examples from last week’s post and the Project 3 Navigation Options. The short version of my advice is as follows:

• Every page should tell readers what it’s about by using titles, introductory summaries, headings, and so forth.
• The essay’s navigation should be obvious. Readers should not have to look for it.
• More than one navigation option helps readers who think differently.
• Think about the affordances and constraints of the system(s) you choose: what does it allow? what does it prevent?
• Fit your navigation to your essay. Don’t just copy the examples. Make them fit. Make them yours.

Preparing for Peer Review

Post the link to your Project 3 rough drafts for Peer Feedback by 11:59 PM on Tuesday, October 20. Submit whatever you have, and remember that your link won’t change even if you continue working.

Follow these instructions to post your draft:

• Go to Discussions in Canvas.
• Choose the "Peer Review for Project 3" discussion.
• Post a reply to the Discussion (Canvas Documentation) that includes the following information in the body of the message:
  • Provide the link to your draft, which can be on your WordPress site or a share link to a Google Doc.
    • Make sure you set the share permissions properly. If your readers can’t get to your document, they can’t give you feedback.
  • Ask your readers to look at anything you are trying to improve.
  • Let them know the kind of advice you need.
  • Explain anything that you are still working on (so they won’t waste time commenting on something you know is incomplete).

In-Class Writing

Go to Quizzes in Canvas, and choose the "Web Essay Navigation" to tell me the navigation plans you are considering for your web essay. I will respond to them on Wednesday, in class, while you work on peer review.

Homework

By 11:59 PM on Tuesday (10/20), do the following:

• Post the link to the first page of your web essay to the Peer Review for Project 3 Discussion in Canvas, following the instructions above.
• If you do not post a link, you cannot be assigned peer review partners and will receive a zero for the activity.
• If you didn’t complete your "Web Essay Navigation" quiz in Canvas, please use the grace period to finish by 11:59 PM Tuesday (10/20).

For Wednesday’s session (10/21), do the following before class:

• If you posted your link on time, you will complete peer review for two classmates (who may be in either the 10:10 or the 11:15 class).
• If you failed to post your link on time, use the time in class to work on your project.

For Friday’s session (10/23), do the following before class:

• Continue work on your project and have whatever you need to work on your project in class.
• Be prepared to show me your work in class.

For Monday’s session (10/26), do the following before class:

• Be ready to turn in your project in class (unless you are taking advantage of the grace period).
• Monday will be the last day we will discuss the web essay in class.

Project 1 Rubric

I have added a rubric to the assignment in Canvas. As I begin using the rubric to grade your work, I may need to change the way it’s set up. It’s hard to tell whether it’s a workable tool in Canvas without using it.

So far I have figured out that I have to put numbers into the rubric for it to work, even though I’m not using the rubric in the traditional way. Pay no attention to the numbers. The rubric is not going to add up to your grade. Instead I’m going to look at whether you have met the requirements established for each grade level.

Bottom line: The standards won’t change. The information on the Assignment page is correct and that’s the guidelines I will use as I look at your work.

Submitting Your Project

Submitting your work in Canvas is similar to Scholar. Follow the submission instructions to make sure you upload your work, add the reflection comments, and submit your work.

Submitting Your Image for Your Presentation

You will need to upload your image before you can embed it in the Discussion for Friday’s presentations. Be sure that your image appears in your reply, and not a link to your image.

Follow the instructions for Submitting the Image to make sure everything goes smoothly.

Peer Review Activity

Today’s peer review is just a short activity where you look over each other’s papers. You will provide each other verbal feedback. Please complete these steps:

• Pair up with someone else in class. You may have to work in threes if there are an odd number of people in class.
• Share your projects with one another, using whatever method is easiest. You can probably simply read one another’s screens.
• Provide feedback on the following:
  • Check the title of the file and document. Let your partner know if it is unique, clear, and effective.
  • If you notice any spelling errors, punctuation errors, or typos, point them out, but please focus more on the content rather than editing.
  • Look at the image and the explanatory statement. Comment on at least three things your classmate does well and at least three things that your classmate could improve on.
• Be sure you end your conversation with a bit of encouragement.
• Make any corrections or changes that you want to improve your work before submitting it.

Homework

For today, please do the following:

• If you didn’t post your image to share in the "Self-Introduction and Image Presentation" Discussion in Canvas in class, please use the grace period to finish by 11:59 PM on Thursday, 9/3. Follow the instructions for Submitting the Image.

For Friday’s session (9/4), do the following before class:

• Be prepared to introduce yourself to the class and explain/comment on your Project 1 image. You will have two minutes maximum. This is a low-stress presentation. You’re just telling everyone who you are and a bit about what you care about as a student or writer.

For Monday (9/7), have a pleasant day off. Go Hokies!

For Wednesday’s session (9/9), do the following before class:

• If you haven’t submitted Project 1, please use the grace period to finish by 11:59 PM. Follow the submission instructions
• Go to one of the Lynda.com tutorials linked below and watch a minimum of three videos of your choice (not all three courses):
  • Design Aesthetics for Web Design with Sue Jenkins
  • Writing for the Web with Chris Nodder
  • Before & After: Things Every Designer Should Know with John McWade
• Look for general advice on what makes a webpage/site work, and be ready to discuss what you found in class. Focus on general principles rather than any specific details on how to code something.