Sample Online/Blended Moodle Course

This forum “Introduce Yourself” is for you to introduce yourself to our class.

Please consider following while you write on introduce yourself post.

1. Your Name on the subject line
2. Which program/year (or school name/year if you are early college) you are in + family (if you wish to)
3. Where are you from?
4. Why did you have to take this course?
5. Which topics on the syllabus enthuse you the most and why?
6. The weather story (a weather related distinctive story could be your own/ the one that you closely witnessed /were really impressed or shocked watching on TV).
7. Let’s find an awesome picture of you

Instructions for posting:

Initial Post:

Post your introduction by hitting Add a New Discussion Topic. Place a short title of your weather-story in the subject line. Start your introduction with a greeting to your class. Place your introduction text including all the elements listed above in the text box. Hit insert/edit image (the third from the right on top line) and upload a file of your picture.

Reply:

Reply to at least one other classmate with compliments to their picture, suggestion of a caption, question about their story/picture etc. Follow Netiquette rule while replying. Fir this particular post, you can add a little bit humor. Still be brief, and respectful. Also, reply those who ask you questions.

Your initial post is due on Wednesday night and reply and responses can be continued until the end of the week.

Discussion Questions:

Question 2: Read the provided resources, particularly, the class notes on the topics of Introduction of climate up to Think and Write section. The purpose of this section of the note is to provide you very basics of what drives Earth’s climate. First, find the definition of the terms listed on Introduction slide with the help of Glossary. Then read the rest of the notes and any other reference resource as you would like to think about the listed energy transformation process (slide 11) related to climate system. And write your response to each of the energy transformation.

Question 3. After reading attached chapter from physical geography, select one of the questions below to post in the topic discussion forum of this week.

3.a. Define solar constant, earth rotation and revolution and discuss how each of these affect the receipt of solar energy by the Earth.

3. b. Interpret diagram 3.15 and answer why Australia experiences winter in June while it is summer in Northern hemisphere.

3. c. With the help of the diagram 3.17 and related text, explain how persons living in Canada, New York, and Argentina would experience different daylight hours on June 21. Also highlight on the cause of this phenomena.

3.d. We (people at LSSU) are located at the latitude of about 46.5.

i) What are the approximate length of days at this latitude on March 20, September 22, June 21, and December 21 (Hint: use table 3.2).

ii) What would be the length of days at the corresponding latitude in Southern Hemisphere on those days?

3. e. If Earth were not inclined on its axis, would there still be latitudinal temperature variations? Would there be seasons?

3.f. Read the diagram 3.20 and related text to answer which zone(s) would have the least annual variation in insolation? Why?

Instructions to answer discussion questions:

Everybody needs to answer question 2.

For question 3, pick a question from the list 3a-3f to answer. Instead of providing mere summary in two to three lines, your answer/initial post should seek to deepen your/your colleagues’ understanding on the topic by incorporating reasons discussed on the chapter. You can support these by additional researches or your personal experiences. If a question is already answered by 5 of your classmates, don’t pick the same.

1. I suggest you draft your initial response in a word document so that you have opportunity to edit and finalize it before posting. When you write your initial answer, please follow the following rules:
   1. The answer with adequate explanation will be valued in grading.
   2. Use formal and respectful language, even when you are critiquing some authors’ ideas.
   3. Include example/s when possible.
   4. Write thought-provoking post so that you can entice your classmates for feedback.

1. Once your draft is finalized. Hit “Add a new discussion topic” on this activity page. Type the question number and a brief question to tell which question you are answering on subject line. In the main body of the post, first copy the question (use a slightly larger font size and different font color to make the question distinct than your answer-text) to orient your peers. Then, copy-paste your answer from word document.
2. Finally, hit “post to forum”, which then will be viewable to your peers to provide you feedback.

Instructions for feedback          

While providing feedback to your peer’s post, please keep in mind the following purposes and rules a proper feedback should serve:

1. Make your feedback purposeful by expressing your opinions of agreement or disagreement, helping to explain it further, tying ideas, asking to elaborate, and sharing personal experiences
2. Use a respectful and dialoging language. Provide the reasons to agree/disagree with personal experiences or research findings.
3. If you are not entirely sure about any idea, ask for clarifications
4. Demonstrate your understanding by expanding the initial post, be succinct here
5. Please be courteous