What You Will Learn and Practice

• Collaborate with classmates in planning, researching, writing, revising, and presenting information. [CLO 5]

What I Want You to Do

Work with classmates to set up an accountability group for the course. With the challenges of COVID, most of us can use some extra support to do well. Your group will collaborate to meet these goals:

• Keep one another on track.
• Help one another avoid procrastination.
• Remind one another of due dates and grace period dates.
• Encourage one another to set and keep a schedule.
• Set any other goals that the group wants.

Why I Want You to Do It

There are 5 Mistakes People Make in This Course more than any others—and none of them have anything to do with being smart or learning the course content. Instead they have to do with time management and the ability to keep track of the work going on in the course. I want you to check in with one another during the course so that you can avoid these mistakes. You can use whatever tools to connect that you like (e.g., GroupMe, Discord).

I will not be part of your group communications. My goal is to encourage you to support one another (not to check up on you).

Where You Can Find Help

• 5 Mistakes People Make in This Course
• Succeeding in This Online Course
• Typical Weekly Schedule

When to Do It

• Due Date: Have preliminary logistics for your group set up by 11:59 PM on Friday, January 21, 2022.
• End of Grace Period: Have your group setup firmly in place by 11:59 PM on Wednesday, January 26, 2022.

How You Do It

1. If you have not done so, read through the Professional Bios for your group members so that you can learn a bit about one another.
2. Post your thought on the following logistical questions:
   1. How often will the group check in with one another? Once a week, twice a week, every other week?
   2. How will group members check in? Discussions in Canvas? Email? Texts? Discord? GroupMe?
   3. Who will be in charge of reminding people to check in and passing along details about due dates and other announcements for the course? Will it be one person? Rotating facilitators? Do you need a backup person?
   4. What happens if a group member doesn’t check in? Is missing one week okay? What about two in a row? Will someone try to follow-up? Will someone in the group let Traci know?
   5. What kinds of discussion are—or aren’t—suitable for the group? As far as Traci is concerned, you can discuss anything you want, but your group may want to set limits.
   6. How will the group get back on track if everyone is having problems connecting?
   7. If any members feel that the group is not meeting their needs, how will they make their concerns known?
3. If you are good at team leadership, volunteer to help get the group organized.
4. As a group, work toward consensus on the guidelines you will follow to support one another.
5. Once you reach agreement, do the following:
   1. Post a Discussions message with a summary of your agreement.
   2. Set up whatever additional tools that you need (such as GroupMe) and ensure that all your group members have joined.
   3. Set up a schedule and responsibilities for your group, whatever makes sense based on your group’s agreement.

How to Assess & Track Your Work

You track and grade your own work in this course. Be sure to complete the following tasks:

• Track your work in your Weekly Work Log.
• I will skim through your group’s agreement to ensure it is reasonable, but I will not try to control your group. It’s your space.

Work is always marked as either 1 for Complete or 0 for Incomplete:

• I will mark this activity Complete in Canvas Grades, usually within 24–48 hours after the end of the grace period.
• I will mark this activity Incomplete in Canvas Grades if you have not participated by the end of the grace period.