Marshall University Writing Project

The purpose of this project is to bring members of Three Bridges Writing Project and Coalfield Writers together as they plan and prepare for their respective Summer Institutes.

Pairs will meet via Skype to discuss what role they play at SI and how they are getting ready for the summer.

After each meeting, the pairs will post a re-cap of their discussion on our group's VoiceThread. This way, all members of the leadership team can see what is discussed, learned, and shared.

The VoiceThread can be located here.

Skype partners will meet for five to ten minute sessions according to the following schedule:

Discussion Topics
Here are some sample discussion starters to guide you and your partner as you share.

Introduce yourself.

• Briefly and to the extent of your comfort, share some personal information about yourself.
• Show your partner the things you like to do.
• Show your partner around your home. Take advantage of the visual medium. Show them some cool stuff.
• Talk about your personal life. What is your family like? What do you like to do with your friends?

Introduce your position at SI

• What job do you do?
• What are the steps of this job?
• What guiding philosophies do you use to plan your portion of SI?
• What are the specific plans for the summer?
• How will you implement these plans?

Question your partner.

• What information about your partner and his or her job are you desperate to know?
• What would you like to follow up on since your last meeting?

Skype Setup Walk-through
If you're nervous about setting up Skype, here are the basic steps I followed to set up my account. It was all very easy and worked automatically.

Visit http://www.skype.com/ and download the current version of Skype by clicking on the big green button.

Run the file SkypeSetup.

Agree to the license and let the set up wizard run. This will take a few minutes.

When it finishes, click "Start Skype."

You'll need to input your information to create an account. You'll probably want to write down the password you created so you can access your account in the future.

(You'll probably want to uncheck "Yes, send me Skype news and promotions" unless you really want Skype news and promotions.)

Click "I agree. Create my account."

Optionally, you can fill in your location and phone number information. Skip this step if you're uncomfortable, but I see no reason not to. It can aid people finding you via Skype if you input your city and state. But maybe you don't want anyone looking you up.

After completing your profile, you have the option to test your equipment. I suggest you run the simple tutorial that shows you how to ensure that your camera, microphone, and speakers are working properly.

If everything is working properly, you're ready to add your partner to your contacts list. Click on "Directory" to access the search engine and input your partners Skype name, real name, or email address to add them to your contacts list.

Then, get on there and start Skyping.

If you experience any difficulties, there are thorough FAQs at https://support.skype.com/.