English 605: Computers in Language &
Rhetoric
Fall 2001 Section 0101
T TH
FS 1225
Contact Information
Professor: Samantha Blackmon
Office: 301C Heavilon Hall
Phone: 494-8122
Email: sblackmon@sla.purdue.edu
Office Hours: T TH
Course Syllabus On-line at: http://www.sla.purdue.edu/blackmon/engl605
(Syllabus
and Calendar are tentative and subject to change. Please check on-line syllabus
for latest changes. Any hard copy may be obsolete, so be sure to bring it with
you to each class to record all changes.)
Course Description:
This seminar investigates how computers figure in
contemporary theories of text and text-making.
Required Texts (Available
at Von’s)
Hawisher, Gail E. and Cynthia Selfe. Passions Pedagogies and 21st Century Technologies
Haynes, Cynthia and Jan Rune Holmevik. High Wired: On the Design, Use, and Theory of Educational MOOs
Taylor, Todd and Irene Ward. Literacy Theory in the Age of the Internet.
Recommended Text:
Haynes, Cynthia and Jan Rune Holmevik. MOOniversity: A Student’s Guide to Online Learning Environments.
(See bottom of
printed page)
Course Expectations:
In order to accomplish the course goals, you must come to each class
prepared. This means coming to class on
time, as well as completing your readings and outside assignments. Active and informed participation in class
discussions and collaborative work is also crucial. In terms of writing
assignments, you will be required to complete one annotated bibliography (ten
points), one seminar paper proposal (ten points each), regular
journal entries (fifteen points), one
group pedagogy project (twenty-five points), and one
semester project (forty points). Late assignments will only be accepted with
the prior specific permission of the instructor and will be penalized 10% for
every calendar day late.
Grading Scale
The grading scale for this
course is straightforward with no curve.
|
100-90 |
A |
|
89-80 |
B |
|
79-70 |
C |
|
69-60 |
D |
|
59-below |
F |
Note about Incompletes: The
mark of ‘I’ is inappropriate if, in the instructor’s judgment, it will be
necessary for the student regularly to attend subsequent sessions of the class. I will give an Incomplete only in cases
of extreme emergency.
Class Participation & Assignments:
This is one of the most important components to the success of the course. All reading and outside assignments are to be completed prior to class. This means reading carefully and critically, bringing materials to class, and coming prepared to engage with the ideas and your class. Class investigations are participatory assignments that include critical and active discussions as well as in-class collaborative work.
While it is tempting to multi-task (i.e. surf the web and
instant message friends) while on the computer, students should refrain from
engaging in non-class related activities during class time. Students who are
caught engaging in such activities will be marked absent for the day. NO EXCEPTIONS!!
Attendance:
Attendance is welcomed, expected, and mandatory. To best utilize our time, come to class on time. You are considered absent if 1) you are more than 15 minutes late and/or 2) you are unprepared for class. There will be regular in-class work to record your attendance and preparation for class. You may miss three sessions without penalty. For every class after the first three, I will lower your final grade by five points. After three absences you must attend a conference with me to discuss whether you should continue in this course. Seven absences constitute automatic failure of the course.
Conferences and Contact:
I am open to discussing matters pertaining to the course, readings, and your writing; please feel free to contact me via email or phone as well as in person. I hope you will also take advantage of my office hours and email.
Academic Dishonesty
Cheating: All written work
submitted for a grade in this course must be the product of your own composition.
Ideas generated due to reading and group discussion may provide the inspiration
for your work, but should not be the sole ideas represented. With collaborative
projects, of course, ideas should be representative of the group’s work.
Plagiarism is the act of
presenting as your own work another individual’s ideas, words, data, or
research material. The concept applies equally to written, spoken, or
electronic texts, published or unpublished. All ideas and quotations that you
borrow from any source must be acknowledged: at a minimum, you should give the
name of your author, the title of the text cited, and the page number(s) of the
citation. The only exceptions to this requirement would involve what is
familiar and commonly held (e.g. the fact that the earth is round). You should
know that penalties for plagiarism are severe and can entail suspension from
the University. Students are responsible for reading and understanding the
University policy on Cheating and Plagiarism set forth in
Classroom Behavior:
I
am sure that at this level this goes without saying, but here goes. Insults, slurs, or attacks of any kind will
not be allowed in my class. Any student who engages in this type of behavior in
the classroom will be permanently removed from the class. In other words, forced to drop the course,
in addition to other possible punishment given by
Assorted Links
Currents in Electronic Literacy Home
K A I R O S: A Journal For Teachers of
Writing in Webbed Environments
The Journal of Electronic Publishing