Remote Learning-Day 1

Greetings Issues Scholars,
Welcome Back (sort of)!! This has been a weird few weeks to say the least. I'm sure many of you are tired of hearing about Covid-19 while others might be looking forward to getting back to Issues to discuss it. Over the next few days, we'll try to balance both points of view. Going forward, this won't be the all Covid all the time class but we won't ignore what is in many ways the defining issue of our time. We will also, however, continue to learn about and discuss other important issues, trying to cover those things that will continue to impact our society even after this current crisis is over. How we do that will be changing and evolving as we go. We'll continue to use our blogs but also Flipgrid (see below), Zoom, and others. This is a new experience for everyone and I'm honored and excited to share it with you.

For class on 3/31:

1. To start today, please fill out this short survey: E-Learning Survey
2. Next, I thought it would be fun and beneficial to get a sense of those things that have been keeping us occupied (and provide a forum to give people suggestions during this period of social distancing). Thus, please add to this chart as you see fit and star or highlight suggestions that you agree with. Consider it a living document that can be added to at any time. Isolation Activities
3. Finally, we'll return to something that I tried to do when we started to "learn from home": Flipgrid. This will be our first opportunity to start a discussion about our current experience:

• First, go to this link: https://flipgrid.com/kramersissues
• You’ll see the new topic for today, titled "Covid-19: What should we remember?
• Record and post a short video (more than 30 seconds, less than 90) with your responses to either of the prompts that are posted under the topic.
• Check back later and watch a bunch of videos from your classmates - you can respond either with a short video or just audio. Please respond to at least 3.

Other Notes:

• You were excused from doing the blog post for 3/16. If you did it, you received extra credit. For now, I'd like you to continue to do weekly blog posts, as this would be a great place to keep track of your experiences during this outbreak. Work to post responses to interesting or important articles that you read or news stories that you've seen in regard to Covid-19. Be sure to include links to the article.
• Your outside reading book is still a required part of this course. If you do not finish it and complete all of the components of the assignment (more info to come on the "book talk"), you will receive an incomplete for the class until it's finished.
• Similarly, if you haven't yet finished your civic engagement assignment, this too is still a required part of the course. Requirements and options obviously will change based on our current social distancing practices. More info to come.