Arrive, Survive and Thrive in Prof. Nixon’s Classes, Fall 2011 Edition

It seems like summers get shorter every year. This summer, I was asked to become the Interim Chair of the Communication Department at Southeastern University, so my summer was spent with several days a week on campus preparing for the fall. I hope that your summer was fulfilling, whatever you chose to do.

You will soon be able to see the syllabi for my two fall courses, PR Applications and Writing for Digital Media, at my Scribd site (update: available now). If a syllabus is updated during the semester, you’ll find out in class, and the current version will always be available at Scribd. To learn which books and supplies you will need now, see Getting a Jumpstart on Prof. Nixon’s Fall 2011 Classes.

So that we can make the most of this semester, please (Please, PLEASE) take some time to read through the blog posts I’ve included here. I promise you, it will be well worth your time. (How often do professors let you get inside their heads, letting you know their tips for success and their pet peeves?)

• Prof. Nixon’s Teaching & Learning Philosophy
• Shhh. Here are Nine Ways to Annoy Prof. Nixon
• 9 Things I Learned From My Students
• Show Up Unprepared? Then You’re a Loser*
• Keeping Organized by Using Google Calendar
• How to Fail a Class (Without Really Trying)
• Ten Ways NOT to Prepare for College Advising
• My End of Semester Rant, Kinda

Additionally, here are a few more tips:

• When communicating with me via e-mail (or Facebook), always put your course number (such as COMM 2322) in the subject line to help me immediately identify who you are and frame your questions or comments. Do your best to write in full sentences, paying attention to standard English grammar and spelling. Always sign your e-mails with your first and last name, as your e-mail address will not make that readily apparent to me.
• When submitting an assignment in BlackBoard, always put your last name as part of the file name, and also include your name in the document itself. Papers submitted without your last name as part of the file name cannot earn full credit.
• If an assignment is due in BlackBoard, the only way to get full credit for the assignment is to submit it in BlackBoard. (E-mailing an assignment to me can be risky; I receive 250+ e-mails a day, and there’s a chance I will not even see it in my inbox.)
• Follow me on Twitter, if you really want to get inside my head. (What’s Twitter?)

Let’s make this a great semester together!

(PS: If you’re one of my Fall 2011 students reading this post, please leave a reply to this post so that I can know you have read it. If your reply doesn’t show up immediately, no worries — I may need to approve it before it appears, if you’ve never commented on my blog before.)