Syllabus


 * __SYLLABUS FOR ENGLISH 200: WINTER 08 - WRITING IN DIGITAL ENVIRONME____NT__**__**S**__

Text: //Writing in a Visual Age//. Lee Odell and Susan M. Katz. 2006. A thumb drive with at least 1G of free space--preferably a clean one just for this course · To help you become more confident in your writing for various audiences and purposes · To improve your ability to engage thoughtfully with materials, have a clear and interesting purpose, develop adequate support and analysis, and have an effective, efficient structure · To prepare you to understand both the verbal and visual elements of rhetoric · To understand how writing in digital spaces changes the way we write · To learn to write collaboratively · To improve your ability to constructively evaluate your own rhetoric and the rhetoric of others in digital spaces · To demonstrate how purpose, audience, and visual elements affect your rhetorical choices · To improve your overall writing abilities through extensive writing
 * __Required for Class__**
 * __Course Description__**: This course is designed to help you learn to write in ways quite unlike the usual academic essay. While the content will be similar to papers you have written previously, the focus will be on the ways that writing changes when you are working in digital environments and consider visual elements. You will learn rhetoric for PowerPoint presentations, you will learn to represent data by visual means, you will learn to write collaboratively, and you will learn to create rhetorically powerful web pages. The knowledge and skills you will gain in this course are becoming increasingly important as the roles of designer, author, editor and producer is frequently played by one person—and that person could be you. This course emphasizes visual and textual elements that persuade, as we study and analyze digital rhetorics.
 * __Course Goals__**:


 * __Projects__**: (60%) The course contains three units. Each unit is worth 20% of your grade, for a total of 60%.
 * __Journaling__**: (30%) Each unit requires additional metacommentary on your work, where you explain what you have chosen to do and why. These journals will be composed on the class wiki in your own wiki page and will be due at the end of the unit.
 * __Portfolio__**: (10%) At the end of the semester, you will compile a digital portfolio. This will mostly consist of work you have done during the semester and an overall evaluative look at your own work and what you have learned. More details later in the course.

Unit 1 – 200 points Journal 1 – 100 points Unit 2 – 200 points Journal 2 – 100 points Unit 3 – 200 points Journal 3 – 100 points __Portfolio – 100 points__ Total – 1000 points
 * __Semester Points__**:


 * __Moodle and the Course Wiki:__** I use Moodle as a place for you to turn in your work electronically, which I require. When papers or projects are due, you will submit them on Moodle by clicking on the “Drop Unit (number) Paper Here” link and following instructions. Please save your documents in the required format.

I use the course wiki for everything else (you are here). Here you will be able to see what work you have missed, know what is due the following class period (homepage), access any handouts you may have lost (handouts page), and a host of other things. We will spend some time familiarizing ourselves with this wiki so you are comfortable using it.


 * __Technology Issues__**: This course requires that you spend a lot of time on the computer. We have a Mac Lab, so if you are unfamiliar with Macs, it's a great time to get used to them. If, however, you're a Mac hater, then it is your responsibility to bring in your own PC laptop. The college computers all have the software you will need, so if your PC doesn’t have what you need, it should not be an issue. Keep this in mind, though, when planning your time: you likely won’t be able to get this work done in the middle of the night unless you’re using your own computer; the MAC lab is only open until midnight. Keep in mind as well that I have office hours in the writing center for three hours once a week, and during that time am available to help you with any technology problems you may have. If you are having trouble, please do not put off getting help till the last minute


 * __Plagiarism__****:** It is a crime, literally, to say you wrote something when you didn’t. Plagiarism means using someone else’s words and calling them yours. And you would be surprised how easy it is to plagiarize without realizing it. If you get something off the Internet or from a book, or write what someone else said, //you must cite the source//. In this course, it will be particularly tempting to “steal” from other websites. We’ll talk about this issue, but remember that any time you use something—even a little icon—from some other website, you must keep the URL and cite this. It is also plagiarism if you take someone’s words and shuffle them around or change them a little and call them yours. //Paraphrasing without citing the source is still plagiarism.// We will work on this to avoid it. And you’ll want to avoid it, because //plagiarism can result in an F on a project, failing the course, or expulsion from school//. (For details on AC’s academic integrity policy, see page 30 of the Academic Catalog). Plagiarism is a serious issue. Don’t do it.


 * __Late Work__**: For many reasons, it is important for you to turn your work in on time. If you won’t be able to come to class the day a Writing Assignment is due, let me know and we’ll make arrangements for you to turn it in on time in another way. If there are extenuating circumstances, these should be communicated to me //well in advance//; it isn’t an extenuating circumstance, for example, if you put off the paper until the night before and then don’t get it done. //For every day a paper is late, it will lose 5% of its total//. And that means //every// day, not just every day we have class, Saturdays and Sundays included. For instance, if your paper got an 83 (B) but was due on a Friday and you didn’t turn it in until the following Monday, you would lose 5% per day (15%) of that B, or 13 points, making your paper then only worth 70—a C/D. It will make a huge difference.


 * __Conferences__**: Conferencing can take one or more forms: you coming in to talk to me, group conferencing, or you going to the Writing Center. The Writing Center is located in the library. You may call or email me at any time to schedule an appointment. Some form of conferencing will be required at various times during the semester, and your grade will automatically be reduced 5% if you do not go when required. Some of you will be assigned personal tutors from the Writing Center to help ensure your success in ENG 100; I will let you know early on in the semester if you have a tutor, and a schedule will be worked out for you. In any case, it is important that you talk with others who can walk through a paper with you and really help you strengthen it. The more readers you have, the more successful your writing will be.


 * __Attendance__**: It is very difficult to succeed in this course without regular attendance. So I’ll give you 3 freebees—you don’t need to tell me anything at all. Let me make this clear: illness is NOT an excused absence. I expect you all to have a day or two that you don’t feel well. The three freebees are for these sick days, so be sure not to use them right away or take them lightly. Because for every absence beyond three, I will lower your grade by one-half letter grade: e.g//.// If your course grade is a “B” and you have four total absences (3 freebees plus 1 more), your final grade will be reduced by one-half letter grade to a “B/C”; five absences would make it a “C”, etc. Please contact me promptly if you are having problems and cannot attend class. If you know you will be absent on a particular day, please see me at least one week in advance to make arrangements. Only pre-arranged absences or issues discussed with me prior to the absence will be excused.


 * __The Writing Center__**: Although I will be available for conferencing at any time, additional help is available—and advisable—at the Writing Center. The Writing Center is located on the first floor of the library back by the computer lab. You may call the Writing Center (7097) or e-mail us (writingcenter@alma.edu) at any time to schedule an appointment. You will greatly benefit from this resource, so be sure to take advantage of it.