Discussion List Instructions

To use the discussion list, go to webct and sign on using your netid and password and then click on Soc 196a. The class will be divided into subgroups for discussions. Be sure to post in the appropriate folder, which will be named "Group01," "Group02," "Group03," or "Group04." (There are other folders for discussing exams, random media topics, and the radio show On the Media; these are voluntary, and will be ungraded.) Please use "reply" instead of "Compose Message" when posting, unless you have a very good reason to start a new thread!

The class discussion list is a place to discuss the readings and ideas from the course. (In a few cases, you will be asked to respond to other students' papers and online work.) The idea is that you will have a conversation about the course materials with each other, as your interests dictate. Use the discussion list to help sharpen your understandings by interacting with the other students. So do not be afraid to post questions, reactions, disagreements, thoughts. Make it fun and enlightening.

Your postings will be graded, and it is useful place for you to really think about the material. You are required to post at least once a week -- by Sunday night at midnight before the readings are due. (For the first week of class, postings are due Thursday at midnight.) The postings generally should focus on the readings. Postings can be a comment, a question, or a response to someone else's posting. Read the latest postings, and then post your own message or two. It is a good idea to use the syllabus questions to formulate your postings. Try to quote directly from a reading in of your postings. Avoid simply stating likes and dislikes about things without any connection to the readings; your thoughts are interesting to us when they are supported with evidence, good arguments, and logic. (Without that -- not so much.) When you do post, it's almost always better to hit the reply button (or "quote") than to start a new thread by hitting "compose message." Start a new thread only when that's what you want to do, i.e., when you want to start a discussion on an entirely new subject, like another reading that no one has talked about yet.

If you join the class after the first week, it is your responsibility to make up your postings to the list. If you have technical problems with the list, contact me or computer tech support immediately; I'll be happy to help you. Technical problems are not an excuse for missed or late postings. (Please, please, please do not come to me in the fifth week of classes and say you haven't posted because you couldn't get online. Technical problems can almost always be fixed in a day or two if you just try.)

Principles for Grading Postings
Postings are graded according to how well you do the following:
  1. that you do all the postings;
  2. that you do them on time; and
  3. that you comment on the topic of the week, offer some original insight, refer to the week's reading, particularly with a relevant quote, respond to someone else's idea, and ask a question to spur further discussion.