ClSt 200 - Info

Welcome to the
Mythology web site!

Site overview

This course has two main websites.

The CONTENT part (where you are now) IS NOT password protected and encourages you to just surf around and learn things. You'll notice that it's organized into a few clusters of units, one unit for each week of the course.

The Elluminate part IS password protected and is where you will go to do online assignments pegged to each week's unit.

Using the Content part of the web site

The content site (where you are now) is where you'll spend most of your online time OUTSIDE of class. It is divided into several large content areas, marked out by tabs, each of which contains one or more units. Each web unit will prepare you for the unit's lectures and readings AND teach you what you need to complete the unit's online worksheet (see below). On some of the tabbed sections, you'll also see general help pages, knowledge of which will be useful for you but is not directly evaluated in the worksheets. Expect to spend 2-3 hours digesting and studying the online unit before you do the worksheet.

This web site will be slightly different from other web sites.

In my experience the web in classes is typically used as a review mechanism -- of lecture notes, reading outlines, study guides, etc. In this course, we're going to turn that idea on its head. The main point of these units is to provide you with the necessary preliminary information you need to make lectures and reading assignments comprehensible. It is also the only place where you'll get some of the information you need to perform well in the class.

So... work on the web site for this course is NOT optional.

Another aspect of this web site deserves some comment. Much of the web is happy to turn you into a twitching zombie at the end of a data spigot. (A short attention span makes you more suggestable, and when you're more suggestable you're more useful to all kinds of people.) I've been that zombie myself before, sad to say. But... to visit this web site with that expectation is a recipe for disaster. It will require a measure of attention and patience from you that most web content doesn't. IF you give it some time, I am confident you'll find all kinds of good things in here.

Connect to the content:
Homer
Hesiod
Homeric Hymns
Greek Tragedy
Remythologizing

Assignments on Elluminate

As is the case in many courses, your performance will be evaluated by your peformance on exams (see details on the grading formulas). But this course will also include a substantial online component, in the form of online worksheets and weekly writing assignments.

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Every week, you'll be asked to do a writing assignment. All writing assignments are to be done in your writing tribe's folder, which you can find behind the "Discussions" button (below Unit 12 button) on the Elluminate site. (We'll arrange for your writing tribes after the first full week of class.) Once during the course, you'll be "Star of the Show" for your writing group. This means you'll post an essay that is 500 - 1000 words. Star of the Show essays MUST be posted BY 11PM, MONDAY NIGHT. LATE ESSAYS WILL NOT RECEIVE CREDIT! Assignments will vary and will be announced during the Question of the Week section, which will be a part of the previous Thursday's lecture. This essay will be 15% of your grade in the class -- so do pay some close attention to it!

On the weeks that you are not Star of the Show, you will be required to post a response to your Writing Group's star that week. Responses are expeccted to be about 250 words. They MUST be posted by 11pm WEDNESDAY NIGHT. (It is possible that there might be two Stars of the Show in a single week in your writing group -- if are a respondent during one of these weeks, you are expected to respond to only one of them.)

On both these assignments, you will be graded by your *depth of engagement* with the material for the course, with the question asked, and with the arguments of your interlocutors. If this is terra incognita to you, see the "Making a great web post" section of this web site.

WORKSHEETS

Deadlines for worksheets are absolute and non-negotiable -- they are usually at midnight on Sundays and Wednesdays -- see course schedule for specifics.

As an introductory exercise for every unit, you will have a worksheet to fill out on Elluminate. The worksheet will test how well you have digested the material from the online unit associated with each unit of the course.

There are 12 units in the course, the first unit has no online assignment. Completing (see below) 8 out of the possible 11 worksheets earns you the full 10 percentage points. Less than 10 will earn you 1.25 percentage points for each worksheet you do for this section of the course. For example if some bizzare reason you only complete 6 out of 11 worksheets, you'll earn 7.5 out of the possible 10 percentage points for this part of the class.

"Completing" an online worksheet means generating correct answers for ALL the questions you are asked. They usually have 10 points and getting 10 out of 10 means you HAVE COMPLETED the worksheet. Getting 9 or less out of 10 means you HAVE NOT COMPLETED the worksheet. You may repeat the worksheet as many times as you need in order to complete it. Only the score of your most recent attempt is recorded. (If you receive a perfect score and then retake the exam and get a LOWER score the lower score will overwrite your complete score and you'll have to retake the worksheet.

UNLESS YOU GET ALL ANSWERS CORRECT ON A WORKSHEET, YOU WILL RECEIVE NO CREDIT FOR THE WORKSHEET. PARTIAL CREDIT WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

Connect to the Elluminate now.

Copyright 2000-2002 Peter T. Struck.
No portion of this site may be copied or reproduced, electronically or otherwise, without the expressed, written consent of the author.