Instructor introduction/sample post

Hi all,

This is sample post to help ease your concerns about posting here. Basically you can’t mess up the technology, so please hit the “add new” button above and post your test blog entry (this one doesn’t count towards your final tally of blog entries). Then feel free to comment on your classmates’ entries as a test of that as well.

For your actually posts for the semester (You’ll need to complete 4 entries and also 4 comments) you will need to apply a course concept or two to something relevant to your life and a topic we are discussing in class such as a specific country or region.

This is a slightly less formal assignment, and it should also be fun. But remember that it is a class assignment, so you will need to demonstrate your learning by applying a course concept (and citing and referencing), it shouldn’t just be a personal journal.

Please feel free to email me with any questions you might have about this assignment: bfr3@psu.edu

As for who I am, my name is Brian Redmond, and I’ll be your instructor for the semester. I’m from a lot of places. I was born in Upstate New York near the Canadian border, but spent most of my early life in Vermont. I went to New York City for graduate school and lived both there and in New Jersey. I spent a year back in Upstate New York before moving to Arizona for my first full-time teaching job. From there I moved to Pennsylvania back in 2008 to work here at Penn State. I work for the World Campus because I love online education. I’ve been teaching online since 2004 and made the switch to full-time faculty in 2008, so I’ve worked with a lot of great students from all over the world in the over 100 sections I’ve now taught. For hobbies, I am a sci-fi fan, and I’ve been reading a lot of classics recently; I am just about to finish Dune, which is amazing. I also am a big baseball fan. All sorts of baseball. I love coaching my son’s team in the summer and also enjoy going to see the local minor league team play; the State College Spikes.

I look forward to working with you all this semester.