Sarah Elizabeth Leinen, M.Ed., M.Eng.
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"OER" stands for Open Educational Resources. These describe resources that are free to access digitally, whether online or through a file. They are also free to access not only by a particular class but by anyone around the world.
This OER has been created specifically for our English 1 class. It is a mixture of existing and new resources.
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Each week, our class will be assigned "lessons" to complete in our OER. Each lesson will be structured the same way:
They will start with an Overview to provide you with a glimpse of the lesson.
Then, you will be provided with the lesson's Learning Objectives, which describe the goals that will be achieved by the end of the lesson.
Finally, you will see a list of the lesson's sections to review. These sections represent the parts of the lesson that house the lesson's content you are being asked to learn.
As you progress through the lessons, you will notice some repetition of concepts. This has been done on purpose in order to provide you with more information and help about important concepts in our course. In the education world, we call this "scaffolding," meaning you are presented with basic information about an idea and are then brought-up the "rungs of the information ladder/scaffold" to where you need to be to achieve the Objectives listed in your course syllabus.
You may access lessons through the Accessing OER Lessons header below. Once you click on the lesson you are trying to view, you will land on the lesson's Introduction page. Use the menu on the left to access the different sections in the lesson.
If you are using a computer, the menu will be located on the left side of the screen.
If you are using a mobile device, the menu will be located on the top-left by clicking the three lines if viewing on a mobile device.
The menu will highlight the section you are currently on. Click on the title of the section you want to proceed to.
Tip: Spread out the work for learning the content in our lessons. Brains learn best when they have time to process information; this is why cramming isn't a permanent solution for actually learning something. When we cram, we find ourselves having to review the same material later since we never actually learned it, which makes us spend more total time with the content. Therefore, save yourself some time and spread out the work. Starting early also provides you with time to ask questions and/or research answers to parts that are confusing. Here is a suggested weekly schedule to help you efficiently learn the material with little stress:
Monday: Skim through the lesson's content to get an idea of what you are about to learn. Then, create a schedule to split up the lesson's sections over the next few days. Start reviewing the lesson and take notes on important parts. Research answers to parts that are confusing and/or reach out to your instructor and/or class/campus tutors for help.
Tuesday: Finish reviewing the lesson and take notes on important parts. Research answers to parts that are confusing and/or reach out to your instructor and/or class/campus tutors for help.
Wednesday: Review your notes and take the lesson's Comprehension Quiz. It is suggested to utilize both attempts with Comprehension Quizzes.
Each lesson will be accompanied by a Comprehension Quiz. These will be housed in our class's Canvas site. These quizzes will mainly be in an objective test format (multiple-choice, multiple-select, true/false, matching, etc.).
You will have 2-attempts to successfully complete each quiz unless otherwise stated. Your highest score will be the one that is recorded.
There will be no time limit for these quizzes, just the assigned due date.
Tip: Complete each quiz early. That way, when you finish your first attempt, you will have time to review the lesson again for what you did not understand and be able to utilize the second attempt at the quiz.
More quiz tips are listed within each Comprehension Quiz.
Our OER is broken up into five parts, which will be utilized as we progress through the semester. Each part contains different lessons we will be learning throughout our course.
To view the lessons in each part of our OER, click the arrow on the right of the part to expand it. Click the arrow again if you want to collapse the part.
The OER lessons are the links with a number to the left of them. Click on a lesson to access it. Each section covered in a lesson is indicated with a bullet point. Those are not linked, only lessons are.
When expanding each part, you will notice an outline of what you will learn is listed under each lesson. Use this to help preview a lesson before starting it. It will also be helpful to easily locate information to review if needed.
Overview of the Class
Important Information
A Typical Week
Staying Connected & Other Info
Corsair Connect
Student Email
Canvas
Digital Literacy
More Resources
Warm-Up
Engagement
Management
Rubrics & Feedback
Academic Honesty
Student Success Tips
Contact Information
Help in Our Course
Technology Requirements, Access, & Assistance
Student Services & Resources
Campus Involvement & Community Info
Frequently Asked Questions About Our Class
Intro to Reading & Writing in College
General Writing Strategies
General Reading Strategies
Active Reading & Annotating Texts
Active Reading with Digital Texts
KWL Method
SQ3R Method
3 Levels of Questioning Method
Summaries & Reflections
Text Structures
The Learning Cycle
Memory & Bloom's Taxonomy
Reading Strategies Worksheet Activity
Critical Thinking
Levels of Comprehension
Evaluating an Argument
The Basics
Prompt Formats
Dissecting a Prompt
Interpreting the Prompt In-Depth
Activity
Reasons to Format
Formatting Instructions
Resources & Wrap-Up
Prewriting
Organizing Your Writing
Drafting Your Writing
Editing and Revising
Overcoming Writer's Block
Overview & Review of the Academic Paper
Purpose, Audience, Tone, & Content
Relationships
Rhetorical Modes: Writing Patterns
Narrowing a Topic to Write About
Essay Tips
Writing Introductory Paragraphs
Developing a Strong, Clear Thesis Statement
Creating Body Paragraphs
Organizing Body Paragraphs
Writing Conclusion Paragraphs
The Basics
Integrating Research into Your Paper
Citing Research in Your Paper
The Research Process
Narrowing a Topic & Writing Research Questions
Primary & Secondary Sources
Finding & Evaluating Sources
Databases as a Source
Website as a Source
Giving an Interview as a Source
Helpful Campus Resources
Key Terms
Complete Sentences
Types of Sentences
Key Terms
Types of Punctuation Marks
Uses of Punctuation Marks
Capitalization
Spelling
Commonly Confused Words
Overview
Topic Sentence
Supporting Details
Concluding Sentence
Make it Flow
Purpose & Audience
Rhetorical Appeals
Counterarguments
Synthesizing Sources in a Body Paragraph