Student agreement

During this course, you will be asked to collaborate with your peers by reading and constructively responding to their work. This collaboration takes the place of “class discussions” that might occur in a face-to-face class, and it plays an important role in your learning.

In order to create a safe and supportive environment, you must all agree to comment kindly on one another’s work, adhering to the basic rules of “Netiquette.”

The first and most important rule of Netiquette is this: “Remember the human.” In other words, you must remember that a real, flesh-and-blood person lies behind the words to which you are responding. You should never say something online that you would not say in person, on your nicest day, with your tender-hearted grandma looking on.

As the course continues, we will work together to learn how to respond in ways that are helpful in addition to being kind: That’s a hard skill, and learning it requires practice and time. We believe that it is worth the effort, especially in a world where online collaboration is increasingly important. For now, however, let’s prioritize the idea of kindness above all else.