The main content for your e-course will be delivered via email, and any other content will be available through special sections of the Practice Circle. A link to the Practice Circle will appear at the bottom of every email. This is a private forum open to and viewable only by those who have subscribed to the e-course. Here is the Practice Circle link:
www.SpiritualityandPractice.com/MakingPeaceDandDPC
Schedule
This e-course will begin on Monday, October 5, and finish on Friday, October 30.
Companions for the E-Course
Every time an email goes out to you, the content will also be put in the archives on the account page that was created when you subscribed, or received a gift, to the e-course. This means that if you know other people who might be interested in joining us, there's still time for them to sign up; they will have access to all the emails. The sign-up page is here. Your subscription to the retreat entitles you to receive, but not to forward, duplicate, or share the emails and other course content. So if you want local companions for this journey, please encourage them to subscribe!
Spam Blockers and Other Filters
Please take steps now to make sure that the e-course emails do not get stopped by the spam, junk mail, or promotions mail filters on your email account. Put this address in your email address book, your contacts, or allowed senders list:
E-Courses@SpiritualityandPractice.com
Missing Emails, Address Changes
If you join the e-course after it has started, or if at any point during the retreat you think you should have received an email and haven't, or if you accidentally delete an email, "sign in" from the top of any page at Spirituality & Practice and click into the "My E-Courses" tab. You'll see the course listed there. You can read the emails online or have them resent. If you need to change your email address during the course, you can do this from the "Manage Account" section.
Discussion Guidelines
Please read the Discussion Guidelines. The guidelines are based upon what people have told us in past e-course evaluations about what makes for a meaningful experience for the most people. We need to all be mindful of them in order to encourage many voices to contribute to our conversation.
Logging in to the Practice Circle.
When you click on the link at the bottom of the email, the system will ask you to sign in. Use the email address and the password you used when you signed up for the course. If you received the course as a gift, your password was in the emailed gift announcement. Or you can request a password reminder from the login page.
If you are the only one using your computer, you may want to check the box "Remember Me" so you don't have to sign in every time you want to visit the Practice Circle.
Your Profile
In the section titled "Manage Your Account" under "My Profile" choose a "Display Name" to appear next to your posts. You may also want to fill in some information about your interests so that others in our private group can know a little more about you. You can set the privacy level so that only Practice Circle Members can see your profile. Your "Email Address" and "Billing and Mailing" information will never be publicly displayed; that is only available to you.
Your Picture
Also in the "My Profile" section you can upload a picture (an "avatar") of something that you want to represent you. It will then be displayed next to your posts in the Practice Circle. We have a set of avatars, which will load at random with your posts, but you won't get the same one all the time. So you might like something more representative of you, and it's nice for the rest of us to begin to recognize you by an image.
Navigating the Practice Circle
The menu bar at the top of the Practice Circle, underneath the banner, takes you into different sections of the Practice Circle.
In Sessions you will see a new topic every time an email goes out. Please limit your posts in that topic to comments on that email's content and practices, as this will make the conversation clearer to those reading it.
Even if you do not post yourself, we encourage you to listen to your spiritual friends on this journey by reading the Practice Circle each day. You will probably want to check into several sessions as there is no time limit to a thread and people vary in how long they take to post.
The most recent topics will be on the first page. Each page only holds 10 topics, so once there are more than ten, you will need to click on the little page numbers at the top or bottom of the page to get to the previous ones.
In addition to the Sessions, there are other places to post accessible through the tabs in the Menu bar. You can check the date of the last post to see if you have missed anything in them.
Community has several topics:
- Introductions and Intentions: So we can all get to know each other a little better.
- Community Support and Prayer Requests: This is for expressions of support and gratitude for each other, as well as requests for prayers. You can post a redirect in another thread to this thread, such as: "To ________. Please see the Community Support thread."
- Off-Topic Conversations, a.k.a. The Kitchen: This is the place for general questions and comments on other topics that aren't specifically related to the course emails. Consider it similar to chatting in the kitchen when the main discussion is going on in the living room.
Media is where you will find any audio recordings and videos used in the e-course.
Technical Help is where you can describe any problems you encounter.
Resources is for recommendations of books, websites, audio programs, and organizations relating to the themes of this retreat.
Editing or Deleting Your Post
You can "edit" your post by clicking on "edit" that appears in the upper right corner of your posts when you hover your mouse over it. You will only see "edit" on your own posts because you cannot edit anyone else's posts. The post will open in a new window so be sure you have pop-ups enabled for SpiritualityandPractice.com. After you edit, hit "Save Changes." To delete your post, click on "Delete"; you can only delete your own posts.
Quoting a Post
You can quote from someone else's post by clicking "quote" that appears under the avatar of the person you'd like to quote. This will copy their post into the top of your post. You may want to delete any portions that you are not commenting on.
Uploading a Photo
You can now upload photos into your posts in the Practice Circle. This page gives step-by-step instructions.
Searching the Practice Circle
You can now search through the Practice Circle for your own posts, posts by the e-courses leader(s), posts by other participants, and phrases. Use the Search tool in the right column when you are in one of the topics of the Practice Circle. For Best Results use the full "display name" of someone you are seeking or an exact phrase you are looking for. The returns will give you Topic, the Display Name of the poster, and the Date of the post. Follow the link and use that information to find what you are looking for.
Questions? Post them in the Technical Help thread and we or some other savvy participant will reply.
We hope you enjoy your e-course and participating in the Practice Circle.