Please know that I design my Canvas course sites to make the online part of the learning process as hassle-free as possible. If for any reason during the course you are having a hard time figuring out how to navigate the course in Canvas or understanding the requirements and expectations, I will always be glad to assist you. You will be doing pretty much everything on Canvas that doesn't involve physical presence: i.e., submitting your work, finding your readings and assignments, reviewing lecture recordings, etc. Please be sure to use the Syllabus tab on Canvas to make sure you are keeping up to date with all of your assigned work.

Everyone. If you are queer, First Gen, trans, poor, disabled, a student of color, a formerly incarcerated student, a neurodivergent student, a working student, a student parent, a student in recovery, a student of non-traditional age, a student dealing with COVID-related health or financial issues, a student working with mental health concerns, a disabled student, a student with challenging family relationships, a person who just went through a difficult time because of a breakup or losing your housing, a student in recovery, a student who is newly confronting their own privilege, a person struggling with self-doubt....this course is for you. I am here to support you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out and let me know how I can help.

Course format

I don't use quizzes or exams in my courses. We will be doing a variety of activities each week that are designed around the concept of "formative assessments," which is a fancy term for "learning through doing." This is one of the reasons why your participation score is worth so much; coming to class is central to your learning in Sociology 1. Not to worry -- you don't have to actually talk during our large lecture sessions to earn your participation points for the day (although you do have to participate verbally with your group when we do our Friday active learning activities).

The rest of your grade will consist of weekly online activities related to the non-textbook readings, two short (but legitimately interesting) papers, weekly section participation, and completion of the weekly "InQuizitive" quizzes associated with our textbook. These InQuizitive assignments aren't quizzes in the sense you're used to. You'll be able to keep answering questions until you've achieved full credit, so they should not provoke the test-taking anxiety of a traditional exam.

Please complete the survey below to help us get to know you better and provide the best possible support for you during our class.

First, get oriented to Canvas! If you are new to UCSC, I think you will find Canvas to be very intuitive and user-friendly. You will be submitting your work and participating in online work through Canvas. If you have not used Canvas before, I strongly urge you to go through UCSC’s “How To” Canvas course for students. You can find it using this link.

I won’t publish the course until the day before it starts, which means you won’t actually see it in your Canvas dashboard if you log in before then. Once it is published, you’re welcome to log in and poke around to get a sense of what it feels like to interact with the platform. I’ll let you know when I have published it so you don’t have to keep checking.

• If you are not able to log in to Canvas or your course site on the first day of classes, please contact help@ucsc.edu or click here to open a support ticket.

• Written guides about how to use Canvas are available at this link.

• Personally, I find Google searches on Canvas topics to be quick and helpful. The use of Canvas is so widespread at this point that just googling “How do I do ___ on Canvas?” is often all you need to get your question resolved.

All you have to do on the first day of school is come to class; I will explain everything else you need to know at that time. There's no reading you need to do in advance. In fact, your homework is to enjoy your break to the fullest!

I look forward to getting to you know all over the next few months. Please feel free to contact me before opening day if you have any questions: mmcnamar@ucsc.edu.

Take care,

Megan/Dr. McNamara/Professor McNamara (I answer to any one of these!) 😊