Happy Surprise!

I was so pleased when I opened my blog today to see all the new posts happening on YOUR blogs! I can see this because I have added your blogs to my blog list, which shows up in the right hand column on my blog. I am really interested to go and read those new posts, and I will before class tomorrow. But I thought this might make a good check in point: how do we know when new things are going up in the "class virtual space?"

At this point, let me step back for a second and talk about the idea of the "class virtual space." You know how some classes use Blackboard as the online place where all the information lives? Well, basically, what we are doing, is making our own version of that kind of learning space that is more flexible and more interactive. The idea is that every student has their own space (your blog) and the class as a whole has a group space (the wiki). I hope that as you use these tools and get more familiar with them, you will begin to explore the possibilities opened by having them available to you.
The first thing to notice is that, if you choose, you can be notified of changes to the wiki. I strongly suggest you do this, because sometimes things change in our weekly schedule. You should be set up to receive email whenever there is a change on at least that page of the wiki (you have the option to monitor just one page, or the whole wiki). Imade some changes today--did you receive an email telling you that? If not, check your notification settings.

How did you find out about this new post on my blog? You can follow this blog and see updates on your blog dashboard. If you have this blog on your blog list, you will also see the latest post appear under the name of this blog.

In class on Wednesday, I am going to ask you "What's new, and how do you know?"