Today we’ll focus on getting familar with the different online tools that we will all use for the course. Go ahead and login on a computer so that you can follow along on your screen if you’d like.

Keeping Up with the Course

• Follow the Twitter feed for @VTtengrrl
• Subscribe to the site via email (form in the sidebar)
• Check your email each day before coming to campus

Contacting Me

• Sign up for office hours 24 hours in advance via Google
• Follow the FAQ on what do I do when something goes wrong for emergencies

Tools We’ll Use

Course website: Everything for the course will be linked from this site. Look here first for anything you need.

Scholar: Our Scholar URL is https://scholar.vt.edu/portal/site/english3844s15

Lynda.com: Lynda.com is a tutorial site that is free to all VT students, faculty, and staff. Here are some examples:

• Introducing InDesign with Deke McClelland
• Personal Branding Basics with Lorrie Thomas Ross
• “Images and Words” from Foundations of Layout and Composition with Sean Adams

WordPress.com: You will create your web portal for the course and post blog updates on a WordPress site. You can use a WordPress.com blog (recommended), a self-hosted blog, or a Blogs@VT site. If you want to begin learning how WordPress.com works, you can begin exploring the Lynda.com videos for WordPress.com Essential Training with Morten Rand-Hendriksen.

Homework

• Today: Before you leave, please respond to the Writing and Digital Media Survey to give me some basic information about your experience with digital media.
• Monday:
  • View Sections 1 and 2 from Personal Branding Basics with Lorrie Thomas Ross (“Understanding Personal Branding” and “Establishing Your Brand”) — a very professional, career-oriented view of online identity.
  • View “Henry’s Story- Creating Online Identities.”
  • Read “Should I Be a Jerk or a Human Being on Facebook?” from the NY Times.
  • Read “Twitter, Facebook And LinkedIn: Social Media And American Identity [INFOGRAPHIC]” from Social Times.
• Wednesday: If you want to get ahead, view the “Images and Words” from Foundations of Layout and Composition with Sean Adams. I’ll share additional homework next week.