About+the+Course

toc Think of the questions that you bring to any new course, and then view the course trailer/video introduction below to find answers and note questions that it generates. Then use the course website to answer your questions. Those still left unanswered would make excellent posts to our "Live the Questions" Twitter stream #Bookhenge (and include @bookhenge in your tweet).

Essentially, the course works as a sandbox for developing new literacies while exploring vital topic/themes in the teaching of literature for young adults. There are weekly activities, some part of larger projects, that support the inquiry, many individually completed and several completed by small groups or book clubs. Individual activities include choosing several of the latest young adult books to read and learning to create bookcasts (brain reports) while small groups form genre book clubs to share books representing nonfiction and sequential art genres. Our inquiries lead us to read and respond through blogged and VoiceThread commentaries in preparation for our live class seminars nearly each week (in the virtual immersive environment of Second Life). Everyone designs and implements some aspect of an action learning project on a question that has a particular personal resonance and relevance. Credit is earned both for creatively completing activities and contributing to the evolving knowledge of the class community (and beyond) via collaborative tools like Twitter and Diigo. Consider our class motto: "Collaborate, Create, Contribute."

=Course Framework= Here are additional artifacts to help you understand the course structure and thinking behind the decisions made.

Collaborative Critical Inquiries The backstory of how this pedagogical pattern was born.

Pedagogy Learn about the approach to learning that guided this course's development.

Standards-Based Outcomes The three outcomes for the course are based on state and national standards relevant to the teaching of literature for young adults, including new literacies and technologies standards.

Outcomes-Assignments Matrix See how the course outcomes and objectives connect with each of the assignments.

Assessment and Grading ECI 521 is designed as a series of whole class, small group, and individual projects. Critical reflection for self-assessment is practiced each week in a Portfolio Blog post.

=**Weekly Schedule**= Monday am -- Sessions begin on Mondays of each week. On this day you will receive a weekly email with news and updates on projects, assignments, and special events. Wednesdays, midnight -- book blogs are due. Thursday, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm ET -- Comments on fellow classmates' book blogs due prior to LIVE Class; LIVE Class Seminar at 7 pm Sundays, midnight pm -- critical self-reflection for the week blogged and contract fulfillment checked off on Google Docs reporting sheet