ending comments concerning the course

[Joshua Lawrence]

I just wanted to take a little time to tell everyone that I have enjoyed this course and I appreciate everyone's comments and discussion contributions. I had never taken an online course prior to this one and although it is the last class I will be taking before receiving my bachelor's degree, the experience will be remembered well. The readings were very entertaining and rewarding and I am thankful to have enjoyed everyone's digital company. I have rarely had the opportunity to take an English class with so many people that contrubute intelligent and thought-provoking ideas and are passionate about the written word. Once again congratulations to Jonathan. And to all of you teachers out there, thank you for your efforts in education: there will always be a need for it and the world is indebted for your aspirations. Hope you all enjoy what is left of the summer. Thank you all and Godspeed!

[Judith Piccione]

Good luck to you also. Congratulations on graduating! Enjoy the rest of your summer!

I agree. I feel like the students in this class were really on their game. Everyone seemed like they tried to contribute to their fullest, and really paid attention to what was going on in the book, current events, etc. This is my 11th online class, but I have to say that there was WAY more participation in this class than in any other that I've taken until this point. I think that Dr. Reid did a great job giving us that extra little "oomph" when we were getting a bit rusty.

[AlexReid]

I'm glad you both had a positive experience. Summer online courses are tough b/c they are so intense. I've felt myself dragging the past couple days. Part of it is the way life can intrude on class. We celebrated my daughter's birthday this weekend and had family visiting. In a normal class that would be no big deal. Even in a face to face summer course, we'd have met on Thursday night and there would be no expectation until tonight. But in an online class, there's pressure to be always on... at least as a professor I feel that pressure. Obviously you can't always be on.

But anyway, I do think there's been a great amount of participation from a large number of folks, so I'm happy with the overall performance of the course.

[Megan Morrissey-Kelley]

I agree and, though i'm certainly far from a cyberpunk authority, i was put the test last night--during a glass of wine at a family/friend get together--i ended up in a discussion about this course and my final paper with my dad (english prof who happens to also teach SF), a friend who is a prof. and soil scientist with tons of environmental and somehow cyberpunk lit knowledge, and another friend who is apaprently a cyberpunk junkie and is lending me a handpicked selection of novels. Anyhow, i completely held my own and was able to participate fully and even argue a little. i didn't even know what cyberunk lit truly was until i started this course. i learned a lot and feel like i'm just now able to start truly digesting some of the themes discussed.

[Nicole Brady]

That's awesome. I enjoyed talking about cyberpunk (person-to-person) with others who were knowledgeable as well.

[Judith Piccione]

I've found that a lot of people I know are totally into this type of literature. It happens that most of these people happen to be of the male persuasion though...I wonder if that says anything about this genre??

[Rebecca Burtram]

It is funny how this class has seeped into the rest of my life. I found myself talking about issues from the books during my middle school faculty meetings on Friday. So much of what we read and discussed seemed to fit into the ideas and themes we are talking about teaching our students. I even spent some time talking to the English teachers about using Little Brother, but I am thinking it would have to be sections of the book instead of the whole thing because of the fact that the material is a little too adult for 7th and 8th graders. I am sure some parents would be calling due to the casual drug, alcohol, and sex scenes.....
There has definitely been a pressure to be online constantly. I was very busy and away from home all weekend. I wasn't able to be online, and I feel as though I missed a ton of class....but it was the weekend!
Just as others have mentioned, I thought the discussions here were well thought out and interesting. I learned so much in 5 weeks. This is my first online class, and I think the fact that Judith has already had 11 of them is a little picture of what we have been discussing about technology and the future. This is my first class in 5 years... and things have really changed!

[Judith Piccione]

I did my Masters online...completely. That was my 10 classes, and then this one made 11. This is why I'm taking Graduate English courses right now. Because my Masters is just in education...NYS thinks I'm not "highly qualified" enough, so they sent me a nice, threatening letter telling me that if I don't take 12 S.H. of Graduate level English, they'll cancel my certification at the end of the 5 year initial period. Nice, huh?

I agree...with this class, being away for one day makes you feel like you've missed so much. In reality, I don't think it'd be that bad if it was a 16-week regular semester course.

Hey, while we're on the subject of cramming a lot of information into a very small amount of time...has anyone ever taken a winter session course? I'm considering taking one if an online one becomes available to get my third class out of the way so I can have spring off to have some "Judy" time. I wondered, for those of you, if any, that have taken a winter session course...how are they? Anyone ever taken an English winter session course? I have a friend that took one and she said it wasn't all that bad...honestly, if I have to take a few days off or half days, I'mm sure school will understand in order to get papers written, etc. Let me know if anyone has any information to share...

[AlexReid]

FYI, you should have already received e-mail instructions on completing the course evaluations online. Let me know if you haven't.