STUDENTS ENTER HERE

Fear of Writing Online Course

Guidelines for Using this Curriculum

1. Please complete the assignments in the order they are given.

2. This course is designed to last for a minimum of eight weeks. You must spend no less than one week working with each of the eight sections. Even while you’re not actively “working” on the course during each allotted week, that full seven days is still being used to let the material percolate into your soul.

3. However, if life gets too hectic you can make arrangements with your Course Presenter to extend the duration of the course beyond eight weeks. PLEASE BE PROACTIVE ABOUT THIS! We very much appreciate students who do not leave it to us to do the follows up when they suddenly drop out of sight.

4. Whenever you post work to the message board, please use the private student board specific to the section you’re working in [eg. Student Message Board 1—Weeks 1 & 2]. See message board structure below.

Student Message Board 1—Weeks 1 & 2

Student Message Board 2—Weeks 3 & 4

Student Message Board 3—Weeks 5 & 6

Student Message Board 4—Weeks 7 & 8

5. When posting to the message board, please be specific in the Subject line. For example, use the name of the assignment or the title you gave the piece, rather than calling your posting “Hi” or “From John.” This enables your course presenter and fellow students to locate postings more easily, especially when the message board is experiencing traffic from multiple students at once.

6. IMPORTANT: When preparing assignments to post to the message board, type your assignment in your word processing program first and then go online to copy and paste it to the message board. (This guideline was added after a student lost a long assignment she was writing in the message board when her connection to the Internet timed out.)

7. IMPORTANT: Whenever you post a new assignment, immediately email your Course Presenter to let her know it's up there. Otherwise, in the jumble of student postings, she might not see your assignment. See below for correct email address.

8. After posting, most students like to check whether their post appears on the Student Message Board. If you cannot see it, try refreshing your screen. The Refresh button is typically a green arrow found among the icons at the top of your browser window.

COMPUTER TIP: Sometimes assignments get buried by other, more recent posts. If you're looking for yours so you can read your feedback (or reread your story for pleasure), try this: In the drop-down menu of your browser, select Page > Text > Size > Largest. This will enlarge the font on the Message Board and make your posts easier to locate. Milli also uses this handy trick when reading her Student's assignments so she doesn't have to strain her eyes.

9. Use the Student Message Board solely for posts requested by this curriculum. Please carry on “getting to know you” conversations with other students by email.

10. Do not post feedback on other students’ assignments until you get to the last exercise in Week Two. You’ll understand why during Week Two’s lessons when you see our guidelines for giving feedback.

11. EMAILING YOUR COURSE PRESENTER

In your email program, please whitelist the correct address from below.

When your course presenter is MILLI THORNTON use this email address:

When your course presenter is DEE NIELSEN use this email address:

DEE IS ON SABBATICAL

When communicating with your Course Presenter, please relax and feel comfortable in knowing that she cares.

Exception to the above: No romances between Student and Course Presenter. Your Course Presenter has been instructed to notify Milli of any sexually “off” comments or romantic expressions from Students. Should this happen, you'll immediately find yourself with a different Course Presenter (and possibly an intervention email from Milli's husband).

12. Print the guidelines and keep them in the folder you’ll be asked to prepare shortly. Review these guidelines again after you’ve completed your first assignment to ensure that you’re following the course structure. This structure will free you to concentrate, and will also assist your Course Presenter in her work of supporting you.

PRINTING TIP: Use Printer Icon > Print Preview from your browser's drop-down menu to first check how the Guidelines will look when printed. If all you can see is frames on the first page (or the idicator says there is only one page to print), then you'll need to right click anywhere in the body of the Guidelines and then click Print in that new drop-down menu. This should prevent the frames from printing and wasting paper.

Have fun & let your imagination
loose. Yabba Dabba Do!

REQUIRED READING:
SPECIAL GUIDELINES FOR ADULT CONTENT
Unlike the live groups or other intermingled settings, the Online Course provides a place where students can be freer with adult content without violating the philosophies of Fear of Writing [one *essential* being that it remains a safe environment for everyone]. But to post this kind of work, you must label it so that students who do not want to read overly violent or sexual content will not go there by mistake. Your Course Presenter will also have the prerogative not to open more posts by a student if she has found previous posts to be beyond her sensibilities. Here’s how your posts should look, depending on the level of warning needed:

*Adult Content—1* (plus name of assignment)

*Adult Content—2* (plus name of assignment)

*Adult Content—3* (plus name of assignment)

The student will be the one determining whether it rates a 1, 2 or 3 (3 being the highest warning). Please respect your Course Presenter and fellow students by using an accurate rating, to the best of your ability.

NOTE: Mild stuff that you’re aware is acceptable to all but the most extreme in prudish attitudes (such as harmless curse words like "crap") does not require a label. The best way to determine whether your post needs a label? If you have any nervousness that your post may offend, please label it. If you have any concerns and want to discuss them, email your Course Presenter.

IMPORTANT: No racism, sexual discrimination or other hate literature will be tolerated. Students who flagrantly abuse the creative freedom we’re providing will be banned from the course, with Milli determining whether a partial refund will be given or no refund at all. (Despite how ominous this sounds, so far this has never come close to happening. )