Welcome to ENGL 2112 - World Literature II - Fight the Power. I'm Dr. Joe Pellegrino, your instructor for the course. This email will be a bit lengthy, but it will contain all the information and links you'll need to get started in the course.

Here are the topics I'll cover:
1. The course structure
2. Attendance verification
3. The course syllabus and schedule
4. Textbooks and course material
5. What is and is not in Folio
6. More detailed information about what is here

1. Course Structure
The course has 24 modules that present information on the texts we're reading, the authors we're covering, and the historical and literary periods in which they wrote. Each module contains links to web pages and sites, a podcast about the text or period, and a quiz.

Modules
Course modules are located within Folio/D2L. You should begin your work on each module there. These will then bounce you out to external sites for background information and podcasts about the historical, cultural, and biographical information behind each text, and literary and thematic interpretations of each text.

Each numbered module contains links to the background and interpretive material, a podcast on the text we're addressing, a quiz, and one or more discussion questions. You won't be answering these questions for each module; you'll eventually choose three of these questions, one question for each of the big periods we're covering.

Discussion Forums
Throughout the course, you'll be responding to three discussion questions in the discussion forums, and then offering secondary responses to four initial posts done by other students. The forums themselves are arranged so that you have to post your own response first in order to see what others have said.

Podcasts
A page with links to all the podcasts is located at this URL: http://jpellegrino.com/teaching/ENGL2112/FightthePower/000-Podcasts.html.

Exams
We'll have two multiple-choice exams, one halfway through the course and one at the end of the course. These will be 33 questions each, with roughly 1/3 of the questions in these three areas: identification of a text, historical and cultural contexts for a text, and thematic concerns within a text.

Exams are available from midnight to midnight on the dates noted in the schedule. You may take the exam at any time on the day that is it available. Once you open the first exam, you'll have one hour to complete and submit it. You'll have two hours to complete the second exam.

Due dates
Since this course is completely online and asynchronous, your time is your own. You have much greater flexibility in managing the time you put into this course. Rather than assigning a specific date for your completion of each module, I will list the modules due for each week, and you are free to complete them at the times of your choosing during that week. For our purposes here, each week ends on Friday at midnight.

So, for instance, in Week 1, you're responsible for completing the course introduction and Module 1, "Introduction to the Enlightenment." You'll have until 11:59 pm on Friday, January 13, to get through those (which means that you've taken the quizzes for those modules). In Week 2, you're responsible for Modules 2 and 3, on Voltaire's <em>Candide</em>. You can read that text and complete those modules at any time during that week, but they're due at 11:59 pm on Friday, January 20.

2. Attendance verification
The U is verifying your attendance through a simple one-question quiz that they will place in the course site on D2L by Monday. You'll have to complete this quiz by Tuesday in order to verify your attendance. Don't blow this off; the U will drop you from the class if your attendance isn't verified.

3. Course syllabus and schedule
The syllabus and schedule are available online only, at this URL: http://jpellegrino.com/teaching/ENGL2112/FightthePower/Spring23-ENGL2112Syllabus.html. Please bookmark it, because I won't be using the calendar in Folio (see #5 below for my reasoning).

4. Textbooks and course material
Rather than having you buy an anthology for this class (the cheapest suitable one is about $90), I'm providing pdf files of all the readings for the class in Folio. Please use these versions of the texts rather than anything else you can find online. The ones I've created have glosses and notes that will be important for your understanding (and your success with the papers, discussion posts, and exams).

5. What is and is not in Folio
I've been teaching online with the D2L/Folio platform since we adopted it at GS. I was on the committee that evaluated several Learning Management Systems and decided on D2L/Folio. But I was the only member of that committee who voted against this platform. It's buggy, overly complicated, uses outdated technology, and is difficult to navigate. And that's just from your end. You should see how ridiculous it is on my end. I have had to contact either our IT support or the D2L support team at least once every semester to address issues like corrupt sectors on their servers, courses suddenly reverting back to earlier versions, and calendar dates changing unexplainedly.

In order to allow this course to run as smoothly as possible, I'll be using Folio as little as possible. Modules will begin in Folio, then bounce out of it for any real information (web sites, podcasts, etc.). I'll use Folio as a repositiory for files (the course texts), and a place for you to take your exams and submit your work.

What all of this means for you is just two things: 1) If you need to email me, use my GS account (jpellegrino@georgiasouthern.edu), and not the email in Folio (it's one of those features with serious flaws); and 2) You won't be receiving any calendar notifications From Folio about when your work is due. The schedule for the course is in the syllabus, and it notes all the due dates.

Please take a look at the material on the course site, as well as the syllabus and schedule. If, after going through these, you have any questions, please let me know.

Dr. P