We will be doing online discussions whose topics cover many weeks. This is an opportunity for people who are not comfortable talking during Monday discussions to continue the discussion in an informal setting. It will also be a way to follow up on some of our lab topics.
Students are expected to be respectful of each other at all times. No insulting remarks will be tolerated.
You are graded not only on how often you participate, but the quality of what you say. If you say something that does not further the conversation, your grade will be much less than those who provide thought provoking ideas.
Almost all 4 year colleges now utilze discussion boards as a component of their classes. That is the main reason we are doing this- so that you are prepared for college expectations and are not thrown off by the culture of college level online discussions. These are NOT the same types of writing that are done at My Space, Facebook, or any other non-academic setting. This writing is more formal and serves a purpose.
Unacceptable posts are ones that merely voice an opinion that does not provoke any thought. Examples include just saying: LOL, :-), great idea, I agree, no way!, sounds good to me. If your comment can not further the conversation, then it is a waste of time for other participants to read. Some people's connections to the Internet are not very good so it is really frustrating to wait for a post to open only to see that it is useless and does not contribute to the conversation. You risk losing points by only providing comments that do not advance the conversation.
You must first log on to the message board with the information Ms Getz gave you. You were pre-registered into the "Biotech student" category. You should figure out how to change your password the first time you log on and make your password your own. Do not give it to Ms Getz or anyone else. Keep it private. If you do not like the email address that was listed for you, change it. You can probably change everything except for your log-on ID. You need to keep your name as your log-on ID because Ms Getz needs to know who posted what so that they can get credit for their posts.
The message board has forums that are open to the general public to register. If you land in the Unofficial NSTA archive, you've landed in the wrong spot for the class. ONLY biotech students can see the posts for our class. You should not see the NSTA posts unless you reregistered yourself because the default registration is the NSTA archive. You are welcome to read the posts in the NSTA archive, but my guess is that you'll be really bored by what is in there.
By clicking "I agree" and going to the message board, you signify that you agree with the discussion board rules and will post your ideas in the Biotechnology student forum, not the NSTA area. (You should not see the NSTA area anyway.)