My first academic writing "cruise" was a success. I really enjoyed the journey with my "crew."This is the first time that I taught a course in this manner. At the end of the creative writing course, we were able to publish a book of my students' writings, titled, Community College Students’ Literary Collage.
I am planning to document the voyage as I did for my first training cruise. My blog is still available for those of you who are interested in how I managed to steer our first adventure. To read it, click HERE.
This time around, I am teaching a Composition course, this time around, it's a digital course. I am using the metaphor of a cruise for my course. I am the "captain" of the ship and my students are the "crew." I am responsible for making sure that they learn how to work on this training ship so that they can sail on their own academic ships and become writers with something substantive to share.
As captain, my goal is to enhance my students' writing skill. I will be keeping a log of our journey each week to note our progress. Here is my first installment:
MAY 6, 2015 PRE-WEEK AND WEEK ONE
The Winter Cruise was completed on May 1; commencement ceremony was on May 2. Then, the new semester began on May 6.
Well, as Captain, I shall not be taking anyone on the ship. There are several who would want to be trained on the ship, but personal circumstances do not allow for this. So, instead of my having crewmembers actually on the ship, I shall be holding sessions digitally. So, I shall use my Spring and Summer just cruising with a trained crew. I plan to let the First Officer gain experience by commanding this Spring/Summer cruise. And I shall focus on working with my digital crewmembers.
After the commencement ceremony, I immediately began preparing for the digital crew. Some of the digital crewmembers have taken digital training for basics in English 101. So, several recognize that taking an online course is more challenging than one may think. And having commandeered several digital training sessions, I know that it is very important to have announcements and files prepared and available for online crew. Some are anxious and will contact me a few days before the session is scheduled to begin. So, I really have to be “on my toes.”
