Are you ready for an online course?
Online instruction is not for everyone. You should have a fairly new computer and a stable (and preferably fast) connection to the Internet to take this course, and you should have more than a passing familiarity with the Internet and the programs on your computer. Go here for information on technical requirements for this course.
It is difficult to recreate the spontaneity and excitement of classroom discussion in an online environment, but that does not mean that an online course does not allow for the possibility of a rich and meaningful discussion of world literature. In some ways, an online discussion of literature can provide an even more meaningful engagement with literary texts because it requires everyone to contribute to the discussion, and because it allows students more time for reflection before submitting a comment.
If you are taking an online course because you think it will be easier than a regular course, you should probably reconsider your choice. Although this course will probably not be more time consuming than a regular course, it will not be less time consuming either, and it will definitely be more intensive in terms of the number of individual contributions you will need to make during the course of every week. And because your contributions to class discussion will be in writing, you will need to take extra care to make sure your contributions are written in a manner that is clear, coherent, and free of the kind of sloppiness and shorthand endemic to most online discourse. It is my hope that this more intense, and more intelligent engagement with the readings and with your fellow students (and instructor) will make this course an extremely meaningful educational experience for you.
Go here for detailed guidelines on how the discussion will be conducted.