I have finished grading all the work for the course and submitted course grades in HokieSpa. As a reminder, I use a Virginia Tech’s default grade scale (no rounding). Thank you so much for your work this term. Have a great summer.

Unsubscribing from the Course Website and Twitter Updates

If you subscribed to the course website at the beginning of the term, you probably want to unsubscribe now. Look for an unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email message that you get from the course website.

If you were following the course Twitter account (@VTtengrrl), just go to the page in Twitter and click the Unfollow button.

Contact with 4HELP

I have had some contacts from 4HELP, and they have confirmed the speed issue. Their initial analysis is that the web company where the blogs are hosted is having some issue with their network & ISP. They have reached out to the host and are working to resolve the problem. There’s no estimate on when it will be fixed.

Suspend Work on WordPress Temporarily

So given the 4HELP situation, I’m suspending work on the blogs until the site is back up to speed. I don’t think it’s fair to ask you to continue trying to work with a site that isn’t functioning properly.

Your work will not be lost. Once WordPress is working properly again, we’ll go back to the project and finish it. But in all seriousness, stop working on the blogs.lt.vt.edu WordPress site. If you want to compose text in a word processor so that you are ready to add it to WordPress, that’s fine; but you do not have to go to the blogs.lt.vt.edu site until I let you know it’s fixed.

Plans for Wed, 2/17 and Beyond

You have no homework for tomorrow (Wed, 2/17). Because we are suspending work on WordPress, we will do something else in class. Admittedly, I haven’t decided what. I’m a very linear teacher, and I’ve never had to stop and skip ahead to a different project before. In the workplace however, this kind of thing happens all the time.

For now, we have no date for peer review or for when Project 2 will be due. I will give you time and plenty of notice.

We’ll talk about the whole WordPress situation more in class tomorrow. You can have a meltdown, cry, rejoice, and/or otherwise tell me how you feel.

For the 1:25 Class Only

We have a department meeting tomorrow, so I may not be able to get to the classroom early. Occupy the tables and chairs in the atrium. I’ll get downstairs ASAP.

Anything Else?

We should have plenty of time for questions tomorrow in class, but if you have a personal question, email me or catch me before/after class.

We’ll adjust the calendar to give you an extra class day on Project 2. We’ll just shift everything forward a class:

• TH, 2/18: peer review drafts are due by 11:59 PM
• FR, 2/19, peer review takes place in class
• MO, 2/22: Project 2 due

We will get back on schedule as we work on Project 3, so that the other due dates should not need to shift.

Keep working on your project, and I will address your various questions on Wednesday. I have submitted a 4HELP request about the speed of the blogs.lt.vt.edu site. Because of the weekend and the snow day, they haven’t yet replied. For now, try to be patient with the site. I hope we’ll have a fix soon. If not, the speed of the site certainly won’t influence your grade. If necessary, I will help you all migrate to a new site.

Stay warm. Drive, ride, bike, and walk safely.