Welcome! I’m so glad you’re here. This semester, you’re going to be using a lot of different tools to do a lot of different things. I’m going to give you a brief overview here, but you should read this whole course website very closely, especially the Assessment and Assignments pages.

I’m not going to rehash the rest of the course website here, but you’ll get a chance to ask questions about the plan (down further in this plan).

Your tasks for this week

We’re going to start off with two technologies this week, both of which will enable discussion and connections between you and your classmates. We’re also going to start off by thinking about Internet culture. Then you’re going to purchase your own domain and create a website.

Task 1: Join our Slack group.

Slack is an asynchronous discussion platform used by millions of professionals worldwide (especially in pandemic times). If you have played video games or chatted with friends on a Discord server, Slack will seem fairly familiar; if you haven’t, no worries. It’s a relatively straightforward piece of software.

You received in the introductory email a link to our Slack group. Please join the group and download the desktop app (the browser version just doesn’t have the same feel to it).

Now start your journey of digital content creation (and practice using Slack) by creating a meme that illustrates how you feel about this class right now. You can learn about making memes here. Post your meme in the #memes channel in our Slack group.

Task 2: Make an introductory video.

Using your phone or computer, make a 2 minute video telling us a little bit about yourself. Post it in the #intros channel on Slack.

Task 3: Think of a topic you want to focus on this semester.

This semester, you’re going to be working on exactly the same subject for the entire semester as the practicum for our technology sections. For this week, you should start by picking a war that you want to focus on. We’ll narrow even further next week.

You can choose from five wars:
– The American Revolution
– The First Barbary War
– War of 1812
– Seminole Wars
– Mexican-American War

There are a limited number of spaces for each war; sign up for a slot here (first come, first served).

Project Base 1

Our first project base is the foundation upon which everything else in this course rests, so you need to get it done right and get it done soon. Before you embark on it, watch this brief video that explains a little bit of what the Internet actually is.

Once you’ve done that, head over to the Project Base 1 page and follow the directions!

The Google Form you should submit your completed project to can be found here.