Getting Started

This course website, found on the CUNY Academic Commons is the central hub for this class. Everything that you need to be successful is here. In fact, there’s a lot of material here, and it may be a bit overwhelming at first. While I will be tracking your completion of materials in Blackboard, your main stop for this class each week should be directly through the course website rather than accessing the site through Blackboard.

You’ve probably all heard your instructors say, “It’s on the syllabus…” In this case, it’s all on the course site! (Syllabus, too!)

Each class week has a module due by noon on Sunday. The modules include readings, videos, and activities. The pages of the module are designed to be gone through in order, and you’ll find that they stretch across a number of linked pages to take you step by step through the materials in a specific order. The last step of each module will take you to a vocal exercise for that week and to give any assigned feedback to your classmates’ videos. Be mindful of instructions that tell you if something is optional, will be done in class, etc. as you progress.

Presentation and research assignments have varying due dates that will be listed under the Course Schedule.  Instructions for all assignments will always be available under Assignments in the main menu. You will find reminders in each module overview and links to the instructions for these projects.

Sometimes things change – I regularly update materials across the site and post announcements, but don’t be afraid to email me if something is missing or isn’t working.

Watch: Course Site Overview (if needed)

Note that this video is from a previous semester’s course but the navigation is the same.

The next part of this module will tell you a bit more about the CUNY Academic Commons that hosts this site and help you set up an account that will enable you to contribute materials. Any time you see a button like this one on the lower right of a page in the module, you should click to go on to the next page of that module.