Important Information

COVID-19 & Other Resources

SMC has you covered for help with our course and other needs you may have.  Please, explore and use the following links:

• Up-to-date SMC COVID-19 response information

• COVID-19 SMC student resources

• COVID-19 SMC general resources

• COVID-19 SMC frequently asked questions

Stay Enrolled in the CLASS

I want you to stay in the class, but there are others who want to add our class.  If we were meeting for an in-person class, the college would ask us to drop students who did not show up during the first few class sessions.  We have to do things a bit differently in an online class to replicate this.

There are assignments during Unit One that are meant to help get you oriented to the class.  Luckily, these assignments are fairly easy, although do take a bit of time to complete.  Therefore, completing these assignments on time will count as "showing up to class on the first day" and will keep you from not getting dropped as a "no show."

Look out for any assignment during Unit One with "complete to stay in English 2) in its title.  These are the assignments that have been designated as mandatory "no show" assignments you must complete to move forward in the class.

Note: Students who enroll in class but do not complete these assignments may be dropped from the class.  A waitlisted or petitioning student will take their place.

You may access these "no show" assignments from any of the following areas:

• Modules tab

• Calendar tab

• To-do list in the Home tab of our class

• To-do list in your Dashboard

Attendance Policy

Review the full attendance policy, based on logging into scheduled Zoom classes, in the "Attendance, No Shows, & Wait List Information" link found in the Syllabus tab in our Canvas class.

Modules

The Modules tab is going to be your best friend in our class.  Look at it as the place where you are checking into class every day.

For the most part, each module represents a week in our class, unless there is an informational module that houses class information and extra credit, for instance.  The week starts on Monday and concludes on Sunday.  Each weekly module will have:

• A welcome page that provides an overview of the week

• Links to lessons and other information needed for the week

• Assignments based-on that week's content and lessons

Tip: You may collapse the modules to navigate to the current week's quicker by clicking the inverted triangle at the top of the module.  You may also collapse all modules at once by selecting the "Collapse All" button at the top of the Modules tab.  When you scroll to the module you want to view, expand it by clicking on the module's title.

Announcements

I send-out announcements weekly, sometimes more.  These contain helpful tips for the class, campus activities you might be interested in, and other information that might help you reach your goals.

Not only may you find these in the Announcements tab, the three most recent ones will be featured at the top of the Home tab.

Grades

Are you curious how you are doing in the course with both your grades and attendance, what feedback you received on assignments, and what you need to get the grade you desire?  Check-out the Grades tab.

Calendar

The Calendar tab will house all of your due dates for our course, meeting times, and available student hours.

Tip: It is recommended to plan backward from a due date.  For instance, say an outline is due for our class.  A few days or a week before it is due, review the assignment's directions and ask questions for any parts that are confusing.  Then, complete the research needed to complete the outline.  Finally, of course, write the outline.  Many students start and complete this process the day an assignment is due, which takes away opportunities to ask questions, process information, and overall work under less stressful conditions.

To-Do List

The To-Do list features your most pressing upcoming, incomplete assignments and unread announcements.  These get eliminated when the assignments are completed or announcements are read.  You may also click the "x" next to the item to eliminate it.

The To-Do list can be found on both your Dashboard in the Global Navigation and Home tabs for your different courses.  The To-Do list on the Dashboard shows your pressing to-do items from all of your courses.  The To-Do list in the Home tab of our course just features items related to our class.

Note: Some students accidentally or purposefully submit an assignment early.  For instance, some students submit their papers early to have the embedded Turnitin.com feature check their paper for grammar and punctuation errors, so they may correct their papers in order to resubmit.  Other students might accidentally submit a rough draft of a paper to the final draft version of the essay.  Whatever the case, when a situation like these happen, the To-Do list will automatically remove the assignment from its list.  Therefore, it is up to you at that point to remember the due date.  I would suggest writing a note for yourself or setting a notification on your phone to remind you of the due date.

Inbox

At times, your partners in our class--including myself--might send you an individualized message to your Inbox.  Therefore, it is wise to regularly check your Inbox, so you do not miss-out on helpful information.