[Ruth Wilson Gilmore, who we first encountered while talking about prison abolition.]
This page summarizes all the changes since March 11, when our course moved online. It is designed to put all the new information in one place, hopefully making it easier to find and understand. If you have any questions or concerns, please email Prof. Alexy.
LECTURES
All lectures will be available online, as videos that you can watch whenever works for your schedule. We will try our best to get the lecture recordings up as soon as possible and you will get a notification through Canvas when the recordings are available. You can find the recordings on the syllabus page and also on the lecture recording page. We will continue to share PDF's of the lecture slides as well, which can be found on the lecture Canvas page / Files / Lecture Slides.
"INDEX CARD" QUESTIONS IN LECTURE
We will still ask you to respond to the "index card" questions that we've been asking all semester. To share your response, you will go to Canvas / Lecture Participation and click "Submit Assignment." This will let you type your answer into a box. When you watch the week's second lecture, go back to the same place and click "Re-submit Assignment." It will let you add a second answer without erasing or changing your first answer. This is how you will get credit for participating in lecture.
You can watch the lectures whenever you want but your GSI will put a deadline on the index card questions. This is because we want you to watch the lectures before you join discussion section. We have designed discussion sections expecting that everyone will have watched both of the week's lectures before participating. We will work hard to get both the lectures available online by Monday morning, so you should have many days to watch them and submit your two index card responses.
DISCUSSION SECTIONS
Discussion sections will move online using BlueJeans. BlueJeans is like skype or facetime, but it is supposed to create better connections. The University of Michigan pays so that we can all use it. To get connected to BlueJeans, please do not just google for it - you need to log in here, using your regular UM login. You can use BlueJeans on your computer or your phone. In order to create as engaged a discussion as we can, we ask you to turn on the video camera during your section, so that your GSI can both see and hear you. This will help them facilitate discussion, to both see and hear how you're reacting to the conversation.
In order to make online interactions more possible for everyone, we are splitting sections into smaller groups. Rather than meeting with your GSI for our regular 2-hour session, you will instead meet online with them for 45 minutes, once a week, during your regularly scheduled section time. Depending on your section, you might also be split into two groups: one group will meet with your GSI during the first hour of your regular section, the other group will meet with your GSI during the second hour. You will get an email from your GSI explaining this in more detail and telling you when you should plan to log in.
We understand that there could be any of things that go wrong with this plan and with BlueJeans so we will necessarily remain flexible. We truly appreciate your willingness to try this and to share your feedback with us.
We ask two things of you in BlueJeans: first, that you turn on your video camera for the conversation, so your GSI can better engage all the students. Second, we ask that whenever possible you use headphones when communicating through BlueJeans. This really cuts down on the ambient noise that everyone else hears.
To be clear: this 45 minute section meeting via BlueJeans is the only thing you will be asked to do at a specific time. Everything else - all other requirements and work for the rest of the semester - can be done on your own time and schedule. We have organized it this way hoping that it makes it easier for you, given all the transitions many of us are going through. As always, please feel free to email Prof. Alexy with concerns or questions.
If this doesn't work - if BlueJeans fails, or the internet goes down, or we encounter any other problem - we will find a way for you to check in with your GSI.
DISCUSSION SECTION ACTIVITIES
As you know, each week in section you worked on activities together. We are moving those activities online now. So we will still ask you to use the "second hour" of your weekly section, to complete assigned activities, but you can complete those on your own time, when works best for your schedule. You'll get more information about these activities from your GSI and there might be variation across sections.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
The discussion question assignment has not changed. We are still asking you to turn in discussion questions, to Canvas, focused on the homework (readings or films) for that week. You should expect that your GSI will use these questions in your new 45 minute discussion sections. They are still credit / no credit, and due at noon on Wednesdays.
READING QUIZZES
Reading quizzes will continue but will move online. You will be sent a link and have 24 hours to complete the quiz. The questions will be of a very different sort than in the previous quizzes. You will be allowed to use the reading (or film) or your notes while you take the quiz, but that shouldn't be necessary.
HOMEWORK AND READING
We have reduced some of the reading and homework, but ask that you please complete the reading or watch the films on your own time. In general, we ask that you complete the homework assigned before watch the lecture for that day - the lectures are given assuming you've already completed the homework.
The next book we read, Staged Seduction, is available as an e-book through our wonderful library.
The last book we read, Sexual Citizens, is available as an e-book, too. Click on the title to be taken to bookshelf.vitalsource.com where you can create an account using your UM email address and get a free copy of the e-book.
All the films assigned are available streaming, with links on the syllabus page.
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
We have pushed the deadlines for each writing assignment, figuring that everyone could use extra time given all we are being asked to do. The syllabus page has been updated to include the new, later deadlines. Unlike in the first half of the semester, now all writing assignments are either the final draft of your paper (due March 27) or designed to help you complete your final project. If you need an extension for any assignment, please reach out to your GSI and we will be happy to be as accommodating as we can be.
FINAL PROJECT
It is very likely that you will need to make substantial changes to your final project, given that you might not be on campus and that many resources are no longer available to you. That is fine with us and we are happy to help you reformulate your final project into a version that you can accomplish in the current context. You are most welcome to make whatever changes you want or need to - from creating a wholly new project, to tweaking your intended format or audience, or anything else. Let us know if you would like to talk anything over. We ask you to give us a written update about your project, and how it might have changed, in Week 12 (April 3).
EXTRA CREDIT
Prof. Alexy is deeply committed to offering lots of extra credit opportunities because, as she said in class, our campus has many wonderful events and activities. But these events and activities are now cancelled, which means the opportunity for extra credit are also diminished. That said, the idea behind extra credit remains totally feasible - the world is full of interesting and engaging materials that relate to our course questions and topics. Therefore moving forward, we will make extra credit opportunities of materials available on the internet. We will add these opportunities to Canvas just as before, giving instructions about what you need to watch, read, or listen to for the extra credit. As before, to receive extra credit you'll also need to write a reflection of at least 350 words and upload that to lecture's Canvas page.
If you come across something that you think would make a good extra credit opportunity, please share it with Prof. Alexy. Keep in mind, any item needs to be easily available online, so not behind a paywall or subscription.
All extra credit responses are due on the last day of class, April 20, but you are welcome to submit them earlier. As before, we cannot add the extra points to your grade until the end of the semester, but you will see our comments in Canvas.
OFFICE HOURS
Your GSI and Prof. Alexy are still holding office hours, but will meet with you online or via phone. We are happy to talk with you! Please make an appointment through our calendars or reach out by email. We can figure out a method that works best for you.