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[mj_romo]

I was offered, and accepted, a 10-week online Intro to Lit class at a state college.  Unlike the two other online classes that I've taught, I have pretty much been given carte-blanche to develop this one.  The course outline/curriculum is clearly designed for the traditional setting, and I gathered from the dept. chair that this course is something of an experiment. 

I am not exactly sure where to start.  I have to use the Norton Anthology for English Lit, and I have to require 2 papers, a 4-6 page and a 10-12 page.

Has anyone taught something like this and can anyone offer any suggestions for course development?   

[concordancia]

Are you allowed to assign more writing?

Is this an introduction to various genres?

Have your registered to look at the Norton's course guide?

Will you be using lectures, discussions or some hybrid?

[_touchedbyanoodle_]

I'm teaching intro to lit online this semester, for the first time as well. I decided that I wanted to emphasize the discussions, so I dedicated 40% of the grade to weekly discussions (one week long each; posting on any three different days required; textual references required in at least one post for the week), which I grade individually and with very high standards for what constitutes a post that actually pushes the conversation forward. (I gave a lengthy list of guidelines for how to reply well.) Each weekly discussion covers the equivalent to three short stories, and I participate in them daily, M-F (for about 10-15 minutes each day).

In addition to that, I have included a quiz in each of the units, which are organized by genres. The quizzes will be gimme points for those students who have done the readings. Those who haven't won't be able to look up the answers quickly enough in the time that I give them.

Likewise, within each genre unit, I am having them write a two-pager in which they respond to one of two prompts that I give to them. These prompts are designed to help them grasp the literary concepts that were covered in whatever reading I assigned from the text that covers reading/writing about literature.

The midterm, which we will spend a week preparing them for, will be a timed essay in which they respond to a prompt that I haven't written yet. I suppose it will be designed to elicit some sort of a summary/response.

The final, which will earn two weeks of class, will not be timed, and for which I will create an online workshop, will consist of a literary analysis in which they must choose and stick to one of the critical approaches that is covered in the book. I'll let them choose their reading(s) from the works we covered during the semester.

That's what I'm doing. I have no idea yet what improvements I'll need to make, but maybe this will give you ideas. My class is going well so far. I do highly recommend that you use readings that are available online for the first week or two, or you will have many student without the book, and it will be a headache. My first three-week unit covers creative nonfiction--which is not covered in my text--and I went with readings that were all available online. This has saved me soooooo much grief, especially since my online students are more likely to rely on books that show up in the mail. I suspect that you have a late-start class, you'll run into the problem of the bookstore being out of the book as well.

[zuzu_]

I've taught a lot of Intro to Lit online

mj, you've made a lot of smart decisions already. The only thing I would change about your course is to nix the timed midterm essay. What's the point of worrying about all the BS and potential for snafus? I see the benefit of timed reading quizzes, but a timed midterm essay seems needlessly complex.

Other suggestions: YouTube is your friend. Look for author biographies, living authors being interterviewed on Charlie Rose (actually check Charlie Rose's website for a HUGE library), recordings of poets reading their poems, etc. Put these links along with discussion prompts. NPR.org is also your friend. Look for interviews, journalistic pieces, readings, etc. Stories on Stage also has an extensive library of short fiction read by actors.

[_touchedbyanoodle_]

Zuzu, you've got me mixed up with MJ. I have to do the timed essay, otherwise I'd skip it.

On the topic of resources, check to see what databases your library has access to. I have access to tons of educational movies that I can easily embed into my online platform. It's suh-weet.

[zuzu_]

Zuzu, you've got me mixed up with MJ. I have to do the timed essay, otherwise I'd skip it.

I'm an idiot. Sorry.

Teeban--your course sounds well designed.

[mj_romo]

I got clarification of the class.  Yesterday, a packet arrived for me in the mail, complete with the name/number for someone else teaching the class.  I called that person immediately and got the scoop.

It's essentially like a T.A. situation - the students do a reading and attend a lecture by a professor once a week, then participate in online discussion and complete assignments given by me.  I now gather that this class is designed to free-up classrooms for more important classes and to allow professors more time to research.

In theory, the professor giving the lecture that Tuesday is supposed to email the instructors lecture notes by the Friday before, but my fellow instructor says that's not likely to happen.

Now,  I need to go over the list of assigned readings and figure out discussion questions and the two written assignments. 

Regret has already set in.

[zuzu_]

I got clarification of the class.  Yesterday, a packet arrived for me in the mail, complete with the name/number for someone else teaching the class.  I called that person immediately and got the scoop.

It's essentially like a T.A. situation - the students do a reading and attend a lecture by a professor once a week, then participate in online discussion and complete assignments given by me.  I now gather that this class is designed to free-up classrooms for more important classes and to allow professors more time to research.

In theory, the professor giving the lecture that Tuesday is supposed to email the instructors lecture notes by the Friday before, but my fellow instructor says that's not likely to happen.

Now,  I need to go over the list of assigned readings and figure out discussion questions and the two written assignments. 

Regret has already set in.

mj, that doesn't sound too awful--particularly if you are getting decent pay for the time spent. I think that coming up with discussion prompts and facilitating discussion is the most rewarding part about teaching online. And it's much less of a pain in a$$ than developing a whole course from scratch.I hope the readings/topics are such that you can develop some enthusiasm--that will likely determine where this experience will fall on the fun/torture spectrum.

And even in light of this clarification, I want to reitirate my suggestion to search YouTube, NPR, Stories on Stage, and Charlie Rose for audio, video, and interviews that can help supplement and stimulate interesting dicussion on the texts.

[_touchedbyanoodle_]

That's the best gig ever, MJ! Seriously, online discussions of literature are EEEEEASY. I bet the textbook has several discussion questions that you can use as starting points, and your students will benefit if you use discussion questions that will give them ideas for the papers they write.

I have some materials built up on improving the quality of online discussions, so feel free to PM if you're interested.