Text Version: Scenario #1
You receive the following email from Michelle Bowman, coordinator of
the Writing Fellows program:
Dear
Esteemed Writing Fellow:
You
have been rostered into Amanda Barnett's WRTG291 (7983) course for the
week of April 30 - May 6 to help students prepare their final research
essay. Attached are the current assignment instructions that Professor
Barnett is using. Professor Barnett has been told that you have been
scheduled to facilitate the workshop and is looking forward to hearing
from you.
If you would, please contact Professor Barnett and let
her know that you are looking forward to conducting the workshop on the
dates specified. Also, please try to upload the workshop
materials in
the "Unavailable to Students" area of TychoNG at least 3-4 days before
the workshop so that the teacher may review them and offer feedback.
Best wishes for a great workshop. Please let me know if I can help in
any way.
Fond regards,
Michelle Bowman
Writing Fellows Coordinator
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Upon receipt of this email and assignment, you will first want to
establish communication with the teacher, introducing yourself and
projecting a sense of excitement about the opportunity to work in the
classroom. In this communication, you should also let the teacher know
that you will be sending out a welcome email to students. Techniques
for and examples of doing this were covered in an earlier
thread--"Communicating with Professors"
One other important purpose of this pre-workshop communication is to
determine where the teacher prefers that you post your workshop
materials. We recommend that you suggest to the teacher that you create
an EWC Workshop Conference in the conference area, and ask the teacher
to let you know if he or she prefers otherwise.
Ensure You Are
Rostered In
Your next step is to check your class roster in WebTycho to see if the
assigned class has shown up yet. So let's do that. In this case we are
looking for Amanda Barnett's WRTG291 class.
Yes, there it is. I have been rostered in. You now want to confirm your
status as a TA in the class. Open the class link and click on BIOS.
Your should see your name listed. Click on Bio. If you have not yet
done so, please fill out your bio and include a photo of yourself. You
can do this by clicking on "Edit this Biography" at the top of the page.
Check Course
Schedule
Next, check the Course Schedule in the Syllabus area to ensure that
class assignments coincide with the dates of your scheduled workshop.
It's also helpful to know the assignments leading up and following the
one you will be working on. This provides you with the same context the
students are working with.
Under Project Descriptions, you should see the assignment instructions
for the project that you will be helping with. Compare these assignment
descriptions with any assignment instructions you have been given. You
might also find additional assignment commentary in the Course Content
area.
Import Conference
Next, open up the Conferences area. This is where you will post your
materials unless you have been instructed otherwise by the professor.
The first thing you will need to do is to import the conference. Recall
that we are dealing with Scenario #1--doing a workshop in a class for
which materials already exist. Here is how to do that.
- Click
on the Conferences link
- Open
the "Manage Conferences Console" by left clicking on its icon.
- Click
on the Import Conference link.
- In
the class list that appears, WRIT999 should appear on your roster.
Select WRIT999 and click Next. Give Tycho a minute to load in the
selections from WRIT999.
- Scroll
down to the conference you wish to import. In our case, it is WRTG291-
Barnett's Final Research Paper.
- Select
the Conference. Since it is not a conference you created, you will NOT
be able to import its threads, only its title. Click Submit.
Wait for the conference to be imported. It will show up as the last
entry on the Manage Conferences Console. And there it is.
- Now
you must Edit and populate the Conference that you just imported.
- Select
it, then click Edit Conference.
- In
the dialog box that appears, be sure to use the following settings:
- Students
can Read and Respond
- Available
to students--Select "On this Date" and use the calendar function to set
the conference to become available on the day that the workshop is
scheduled to begin.
- Give
the Conference a Name--try to be as descriptive as possible so that
students understand at a glance what the conference is for: For
Example: EWC Workshop for Final Research Paper.
- When
finished click Update. The
conference will update and you should be seeing a red flag that
indicates the conference is not visible to students.
- Click
Update Conference List and Close Window.
Back
on the main Conferences interface, you now see that the conference is
in the "Unavailable to students" area ready for the professor to
review. The conference will automatically become available on the date
you set for it.
Your next step is to import the individual conference threads. To do
this, you first want to set up a split screen view with the target
classroom on one side, and the WRIT999 on the other side where the
individual threads are.
In the target classroom, with your EWC workshop open, click on "New
Topic" and give it the same name (or alter to suit your needs) as the
original thread. Some advisers simply copy and paste the title.
Then, if you wish to copy design view, activate your cursor in
the window, and type CTRL A to select all, the CTRL C to copy
all. Go to your target classroom, activate your cursor, then type CTRL
V to paste all. Click on submit and you should see the conference
thread reproduced. Since the thread is now posted under your name, you
can also make whatever changes to it that you wish.
A second option is for you to transfer the threads using html code.
This is essentially the same procedure, but you are working with code
only, not any object.
Open the html thread. Activate cursor, and select all, the copy all.
Go to your target conference in Professor Barnett's classroom. Click on
New Topic. At the bottom, be sure to select the CODE tab. Now erase
whatever is there, and paste in your html code. Add a subject, Click
submit and you should see the same results.
Follow these procedures until you have transferred the thread in 999
into your target classroom. Keep in mind that you name is on them, so
you can alter the threads in any way you feel is justified.
Scenario #2
A
workshop for this professor has never been taught before and you will
need to create a conference in 999, and add threads to it to create a
unique workshop for your students.
Text Version:
Scenario #2
Now let's review the procedures for Scenario #2: you have been assigned
a workshop for a class assignment that we in the Writing Fellows
program have never taught before. This means that you will
consult the correspondence between David, Michelle and the classroom
teacher, as well as study the assignment directions yourself, to put
together a sequence of threads that teach the skills student need for
the assignment.
Creating a New
Conference
For Scenario #2, you follow all of the same steps as above, except for
the importing options. Instead of importing a ready-made conference
from WRIT 999, you will have to create a conference for that teacher
and workshop in 999, then populate it with the threads you want.
- Create
a conference in 999 using the same procedures described above.
- Open
the "Manage Conferences Console" by left clicking on its icon.
- Click
on Create Conference
- Fill
in the blanks.
- If
you would, please follow the established convention for naming your
conference.
- four
letter abbreviation for the department
- three
number course designation
- instructor's
last name
- short
description of the assignment
- give
Read and Write privileges
- set
availability as that day's date
After
hitting submit, you will see your new conference at the very bottom of
a long list. This means that you will need to left click and drag on it
up to its alphabetical position. After you have the new conference
positioned alphabetically, click on Update Conference and Close Window.
Now you will work with tabs in Tycho NG to populate your new workshop
conference.
Left click on the new conference in the left-side pane. You see in the
right side pane that the name of the conference appears in the tab at
the top,
but the conference is empty. No problem.
Now you simply go and find the threads you need.
Your Multimedia
Welcome Message
There are some threads which should appear in very
workshop. The first one is a Customized Welcome Message. Click
on it and notice that a new tab has opened in the right side pane and
the threads of the conference appear.-- the welcome messages.
Each adviser should have some type of multimedia welcome message to
post. As you notice here with Kevin's, it is paired with a
virtual tour of the EWC. If you do not have a customized
welcome message, please see thread below and we will work together to
build one for you.
There are two ways to copy an existing thread into your new conference.
Try this both to see which one you like best.
First, you can work in design view. Kevin would double left click on
his message to see it in full page form. then he would simply copy and
paste what he sees. Click in the window. CTRL+ A to select all, CTRL +
C to copy all,
Close the window. Click on the tab for the conference you are creating.
Click New Topic. Activate cursor. and CTRL + V to paste it in. Type in
a title and click submit. Be sure to check to make sure that everything
works.
A second way is to copy and paste the html. I have found this to
produce fewer problems when it comes to picking up and reproducing
multimedia elements.
In this method, you open the html version of the same thread. Select
all CTRL A then Copy all CTRL C.
Now click on the tab of your target conference. Click on New Topic.
Then go down to the bottom and click on Code tab. Delete what is there,
and paste in the code you just copied. Fill in the subject field and
Click Submit.
Assignment Analysis
Thread
A second thread you will need is Assignment Analysis. This
is the key thread for most workshops. Notice the
blanks that must be filled in for this crucial thread. We consider
helping students analyze assignment requirements and outline
a response to that assignment to be our first and most critical task in
a writing workshop. We will cover how to modify this thread
and others in a subsequent video.
"Generic" Section
Finally, notice that Assignment Analysis is located in the section
called "Generic"-- this is the area where you will find lesson threads
on a large variety of writing topics that your can pull from
and adapt. If you don't see what you need, contact me, David Taylor,
immediately.
For other threads-- Generally, students will need help coming up with
strategies for on an introduction and a solid thesis. Body paragraphs
vary a great deal depending on the assignment, so it is usually a good
idea to have a body paragraph thread so that the student can show
he/she understands the assignment well enough to discuss one aspect of
it in a logical paragraph. Citations styles can also vary, so make sure
you choose the one that the teacher requires.
Back in the Target
Professor's Classroom
Once your threads are in place and your new conference is complete,
simply go to the professor's classroom and follow the same
import procedure as you did for scenario 1.
After your conference is in the instructor's classroom, please notify
the instructor. This serves two purposes: (1) to reassure the teacher
that you are ready to go and (2) to give the teacher a chance
to review the materials.
Welcome Message to
Students
Finally, the day before the workshop is to begin or the morning of,
please send a welcome message to students. You do this by utilizing the
Class Roster in the teacher's classroom.
Log into WebTycho in the usual way. Look for the class that Michelle
has rostered you into and enter that class.
Look at the bottom of the left side menu and Click on Class Members. On
the Class Members page scroll to the bottom and select the appropriate
box. It's best to send your communications to everyone in the class,
including the professor and other assistants.. Then click "Send an
E-mail to Selected Class members."
Next Video
In the next video, we will talk about how to adapt any of our materials
to best fit the assignment, students, and your teaching.
See you there.
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