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English 4700--Spring 2000
Advanced Composition--Computers and Writing

Languages, Literature, and Philosophy Department Dr. Deborah Reese, Instructor
Class period: TR / 1:00 PM--2:15 PM Gamble Hall 109D, (912) 921-2329
Office hours: by appointment Email: reesedeb@mail.armstrong.edu

Texts and Materials:

Course Description:
English 4700 is a course in advanced reading, writing and critical thinking taught in a computer-mediated learning environment. Because reading, writing, and thinking are not easy tasks, we will experiment with various systematic ways of discovering and creating meanings. The "reading" that we will do to inform our writing may differ from standard English class reading. For instance, instead of interpreting traditional printed documents, we will examine electronic writing, television programs, video productions, audiovisual commercials, on-line news networks, and other examples of "technological" literacies. This course is also a practicum in writing; indeed, the main goal of the course is to improve upon and refine our academic writing, particularly in terms of its efficacy as electronic discourse. Since I am dedicated to the concept of teaching writing across the curriculum, students will have opportunities to write papers exploring their personal academic pursuits.
Students should be aware that this is not a course in basic computer literacy; everyone is expected to have previous experience and expertise with computers and word-processing software. Students will practice uploading and downloading Email and Internet documents, navigating the World Wide Web, using Zip and Super disks, scanning text and graphics into documents, developing and adding aural and visual material to documents, collaborating with colleagues to compile selective databases, putting together computer presentations, and so on. In addition, students should become much more comfortable with Netscape, Microsoft Office, Excel, and PowerPoint applications. Also, everyone will design and mount an individual Web page, which means that we will gain experience using Hypertext Markup language (HTML) and working with Web editor utility programs. Part of designing our individual Web pages will include incorporating the best of our electronic papers. Students will save all of their work in the form of an electronic portfolio.

Attendance:
Much of the work done in this class will be collaborative; therefore, active participation is extremely important. For this reason students must attend class regularly. I will allow four absences throughout the semester. Please note: Three tardies equal one absence, and students assume full responsibility for withdrawing from the course should the need arise.

Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is the presentation, whether innocent or intentional, of another person's work as one's own. Copying or paraphrasing passages from another writer's work without acknowledging the source author is plagiarism. Allowing another writer to write any part of one's own essay is plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious academic crime. Suspected cases of plagiarism are reported to the Vice President of Student Affairs. Disciplinary measures include automatic failure of the course and can lead to expulsion from the university.

Students with Disabilities:
If any student requires an accommodation based on a disability, I would like to meet with that person in the privacy of my office the first week of the semester to make sure that needs are properly met.

Addendum:
Not one person in this class is like another. Many of you are quite proficient with computers, while others of you are only beginning to feel comfortable with computer technology. Moreover, our academic studies vary widely. As we prepare to express our individual scholarship in writing and in the design of our Web pages, we need to work with the fact that each of us will be concentrating on different study goals this term. This means that we must recognize that our homework plans will be contingent, not only upon our progress with the computers themselves, but also upon our unique writing aims. Our coursework plans this semester, then, must be fluid and flexible. For this reason, our syllabus is designed to be an interactive and evolutionary one. Our assignments will agree in some points and differ in others. For example, a typical writing assignment might allow one student to prepare summary reading notes for an outside project while letting another polish a job resume. Additionally, as is appropriate for a class of this nature, many assignments will be electronically disseminated, instead of written down and handed out on "ditto" sheets. Initially, you may feel uneasy about this "unsettled" approach to a syllabus, but bear with me. I believe that you will eventually be pleased with your individually-generated study plans.

Assignments/Grades:
All work must be submitted according to the due dates on this syllabus; late work will not be accepted or graded. Students are responsible for keeping up with their homework assignments and for getting their completed work turned in on time. The final grade will be either A, B, C, D, or F. No "I"s are given for this course. Students are advised to retain copies of all assignments until after final grades are received.
Your grades are dependent on one electronic portfolio, your Web site, and one classroom PowerPoint presentation. The electronic portfolio will be saved onto disk and will contain virtual copies of all your work; it is worth 90% of your overall grade. The electronic portfolio will reflect the completion of certain assignments that will be given throughout the semester; it will be appropriately organized on a disk containing your Web page and PowerPoint presentation. Because one of the goals of this class is to make you familiar with various computer and writing protocols, it will be necessary for you to access your assignments according to different computer instructions. These instructions will be given to you in advance of completing the assignment.
All portfolio assignments will be graded, although some assignments will get "easier" grades than others. For instance, on one hand, you will be assigned the task of getting a working Email address; completing this assignment warrants an A. Writing assignments, on the other hand, are harder to grade; they are not a matter of simple completion. Students who are not pleased with the initial grade given to a writing assignment may rewrite the project once. At the end of the term, all the grades are averaged together with an attendance, participation, and presentation grade; this is how your electronic portfolio grade is calculated.
You will be responsible for reading Victor Vitanza's Writing for the World Wide Web and putting together a Web page. We will work through some of this reading together, as a class. Indeed, some of this reading will count as credit for your electronic portfolio. Bear in mind, though, that the electronic portfolio is not a record of your reading, it is an application of your reading. Your Web page will be, in the end, unique. Writing samples must be built into your Web page. You might also wish to incorporate images, sounds, graphics, and other items. I will mount the pages on the AASU server. I will not, however, maintain the pages after the semester is over. You must make arrangements with an Internet Service Provider if you want to publish and maintain the site on a permanent basis.
The electronic portfolio will also hold your PowerPoint presentation. This last assignment is a metacognitive one, and will give a concise overview of some of the projects that you have concentrated on this term. Specific guidelines for both the Web page and the PowerPoint presentation will be handed out to you. The in-class portion of your PowerPoint presentation is worth 10% of your overall grade. This project should give you the feel of putting together a professional oral presentation. You will be responsible for working with the PowerPoint arm of Microsoft Office. Each student's presentation should take no more than ten minutes. It will be scheduled during the last portion of the semester. A sign-up sheet for times will be passed around as the dates approach.
To repeat, due dates and grade percentages of our major projects are as follows:


Electronic Portfolio--21 April--90%

PowerPoint Presentation--last part of term--10%

SCHEDULE:

Most assignments have been designed for you. Additional assignments will be given out after I have developed a sense of where students "are" with their computer and writing proficiencies. Still other assignments will vary according to the diverse academic interests of individual students. Space has been provided on the syllabus for you to write in additional assignments.


Week One--Email Accounts and Signatures

Assignments:

How to add a signature to an Email account using Pine: How to add a signature to an Email account using Microsoft Exchange: How to add a signature to an Email account using Netscape:
Week Two--Listservs and Internet Discussions

Assignments:

How to subscribe to a Listserv with Telnet software:
Week Three--Electronic Writing Assignments:
Week Four--Netscape and Internet Search Engines

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Week Five--PowerPoint and Excel Software

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Week Six--Zip Disks, Super Disks, and Storage Devices

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Week Seven--Internet Sites, Resources, and Research

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Week Eight--Scanning and Imaging Technology

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Week Nine--Introduction to Home Page Design

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WEEK TEN--SPRING BREAK

Week Eleven--Collaborative Web Design

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Week Twelve--Collaborative Web Design

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Week Thirteen--PowerPoint Presentations

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Week Fourteen--Collaborative Work and Computer Presentations

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Week Fifteen--Presentations and Electronic Portfolios

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Week Sixteen--Revision and WWW Compliance

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