week 1 forum virtual introductions and species choice submissions

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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 the species of your 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 (submitted as an attachment)

The topic of the course project will be any species native to your area. The organism should come from one of the four major kingdoms (Protist, Fungus, Plant, or Animal) and be indigenous to the area in which you reside. The organism should not be a domesticated pet but rather a species that is native to the local area where you live. You should make sure to select a different species than your classmates – so include the name of your species in the title of your post.

  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, date, class name and my name
    • Common and scientific names of the organism. If you need help writing a scientific name, check out this great resource from Chomchalow (2001): http://www.journal.au.edu/au_techno/2001/oct2001/howto.pdf
    • Area of residence (city, state, country, etc.)
    • Why you chose this organism

Resources

Chomchalow, N. (2001). How to write scientific names of organisms. AU Journal of Technology. 5(2).

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 and upload your presentation

You must submit your presentation as a PowerPoint AND title your file as FirstnameLastname_BIOL180_Pres1.ppt (or pptx). Otherwise, you will not receive credit for your presentation.

  1. Click the topic title and then “Start a New Conversation”.
  2. Type your course project topic as the “Title,” and then type your entry into the space provided (the “Message” box).
  3. Click on the “Add Attachment” button at the bottom of the page.
  4. The new screen will prompt you to click the “Browse” button so you can locate the PowerPoint document of your presentation on your computer.
  5. Find the file and double-click on it.
  6. Click “Continue”.
  7. Double check to ensure that your presentation was successfully uploaded as an attachment.
  8. When you are done, perform a spelling/grammar check and then scroll down and hit the “Post Message” button.

NOTE: If you have trouble uploading your PPT file directly to the classroom as directed above (e.g., your file size may be too large), you can save your presentation to One Drive in Office 365 and upload the link here instead. Click HERE for instructions on uploading files and sharing links on One Drive.

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.

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., BIOL180).
  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 2) 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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