I got to see the ESNE newsletter in a mostly finished state this morning. I had hoped for it to go out in August, but if we get it out within a week, I don't think it will be fatally late. We still need to arrange printing and mailing, but that shouldn't be a terrific problem. Still, the whole process will be a lot easier to do the second time around.
My class officially began today. The first week is mostly just orientation and getting started with 
Tikiwiki. One student got an early start and accomplished 90% of the week's work the night before class began. So far, things are going fairly smoothly. I'll be really interested to see how the students respond to the projects we've proposed. I think that if the students approach the projects meaningfully, they will get a great experience out of the class. And I think it will be relatively straightforward for us, as instructors, to evaluate the extent to which students seriously engage the projects. I've seen some on-line classes that depend on such engagement, but can't tell when students don't engage. Using wikis and blogs makes all the difference.
Last night, I stayed up late and overslept a bit this morning (getting up at 7am), which suggests that I'm pretty much over the jetlag. Finally! It took a lot longer coming west than it was going east. Now, once I get the semester going, I need to get ready for Okemo and ACUBE. It never ends.