Module 1

Introductions

Welcome to Writing Adventures, a course about travel writing. As I point out in the syllabus, the intention is to build the Writing Adventures blog (which also serves as the course website) with solid writing about travel. You are the writers and editors of this website that you are reading right now.

To navigate this online class, just follow the modules on the Schedule. Each module has a date range (e.g., September 14 – 18), corresponding to the week of the term, although you can read/skip ahead whenever you want. You are responsible for completing an Assignment and an Editorial Review by the due dates listed in that module. Write when and what you can by the first due date each week. Take chances and make mistakes. If you need extra time, you can start any assignment as early as you want.

Each module has Sample writing and writing Techniques that are there to help you in composing and reviewing the week’s assignment, but there’s never a test or response required of those materials. What I am trying to encourage is an approach to writing that professional writers engage in—reading as many or as few samples to note genre features or where a niche or approach works—coupled with some teaching moments—describing some writing techniques that you can use to make your writing better. Primarily, the course is designed so that you improve by writing and then get feedback on that writing.

Here are your tasks for this module

  1. Read the Syllabus
  2. Read Pico Iyer’s “Why we Travel” (4,202 words, 32 minutes).
  3. Register for the course website/blog. If you are having trouble figuring it out, watch this Flipgrid video on how to register for the website. When accessing Flipgrid, select Sign in with Microsoft and use your DU email account to log in because that is how the Flipgrid was set up for this class.
  4. Go to this Flipgrid Topic for the course and add an Introduction video by selecting the icon on the page: . You can use a tablet or phone [iOS and Android] if your computer doesn’t have a webcam.
    Answer the following questions: who are you?, where are you from?, and why do you travel?
  5. Feel free to respond to other students in the class via Flipgrid. Give them an emoji, write a comment, say hello!

Due

  • Introduction and why you travel video due on Flipgrid by Friday, September 18