Writing Assignments, grade book etc.

I have been messing around with writing assignments and the grade book in Webcourses. So do not freak out when you see a bunch of new stuff in your My Grades page.

Both writing assignments are still TBA, "to be announced."

However, I did set up a little practice writing assignment, for one bonus point. Click into the running man icon on the home page, and then the MIB icon. It will let you practice uploading a paper into TurnItIn.com. One bonus point for successfully uploading a paper -- no particular topic.

Side note: this will get you enrolled into TurnItin.com, I am pretty sure.

Just released some GradeMarks.

I just released some GradeMarks on WA1. So go dip into TurnItIn.com and look for that red apple icon. If you see it, you can start reviewing my suggestions for WA2.

If you still have the grey apple, be patient.

And EVERYBODY must be patient for the instructions page for Writing Assignment 2, which I will release later this week.

4 for Elvis

I just gave grades for the Elvis papers in TurnItIn.com, for the four students who were brave enough to advance a theory about Elvis and his whereabouts.

For those of you who did not see the to-do list yet, it is just a practice assignment, messing around with TurnItIn.com, with a dummy paper on any topic, including Elvis!

Writing Assignment 1A is ready; new sentence required!

Read our tips for revising your Writing Assignment 1 paper.

You can now go into Webcourses and

1. Review the instructions for reading our tips for revising.
2. Carefully revise your paper, according to the instructions.
3. Turn in your revision, in "Writing Assignment 1A."

NOTE: There is a new sentence required for everybody, so read step #2 about the final sentence.

First day of classes

Here is an alternate method for getting into Webcourses:
Log directly in to Webcourses, not using the UCF Portal

You can always use the MyUCF portal, but I find it propitious to use this alternate entry. Much faster, more reliable.

There is a "First Week To-Do List" in Webcourses, with a small set of study-related activities and a one Elvis-related task for 1 bonus point.

Note: due to delays in Webcourses administration, I did not get a chance to build up the Webcourse before this morning, so I will be putting in parts of the full syllabus and other activities today and Thursday.

Writing task 1B item 2 is GO for launch.

OK, students. Writing task 1B item 2 is UP and ready to work on. I made it a two-sentence assignment, so it is worth ten points on your semester grade, and for this reason, it completes the writing tasks for module 1.

Make sure to read the full instructions for this assignment.

It is due July 7, and I will use same grading criteria as on all writing assignments.

Final draft due Thursday but don't submit without revision

I expect to crank out the last grades on Younger Dryas papers today, so I have pushed everybody's due date back to Thursday evening, which is a 72-hour period I wanted to give you had I been able to get all done on Friday (due Monday night).

So time pressure is off.

Da Vinci writers, you can submit anytime now, but Younger Dryas writers must wait until they see my comments in GradeMark and incorporate them into the final draft by Thursday evening.

Writing project = progressing slowly but no worries

I am still grading some of the da Vinci and Younger Dryas first draft. Hang in there.

The good news is that you should find it fairly simple to grab 18/18 in final draft, so do not worry.

Deadline almost here, 45 minutes away

Deadline for first draft is almost on us. The submission period at TurnItIn.com ends at 11:59 PM tonight.

Twenty papers now

More papers are in at TurnitIn.com, twenty total. We are looking for all to be dropped off there by 11:59 PM tonight.

TurnitIn.com first week bonus points are IN

So far, fifty students have signed up and enrolled in my course area at TurnItIn.com, as requested in our First Week To-Do List. These students bagged a bonus point. It should now show up in your My Grades page in Webcourses.

If you have not signed up yet for TurnItIn.com, please do so now. Although you do not get a bonus point, you will need it to work on 50 of your points this semester, in writing assignments.