Course Information: WRIT 1506

This course meets Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30 - 10:45 in Voss-Kovach Hall 115. The course home page can be found at: <http://www.d.umn.edu/~cstroupe/f18/1506> . This course fulfills 3 hours of the Liberal Education requirement in the Humanities category.

Resources Needed

• Orality and Literacy by Walter Ong, 2nd Edition (Routledge) ISBN 0415281296, 9-780415-281294;
• Narrative by Paul Cobley, 2nd Edition (Routledge New Critical Idiom) ISBN ISBN-10: 0415834449, , 978-0415834445;
• Bridget Jones's Diary (Penguin) by Helen Fielding, ISBN: 014028009X; ISBN-13: 978-0415212632;
• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi, ISBN-10: 037571457X, # ISBN-13: 978-0375714573;
• Picture of Dorian Gray (Dover Thrift Edition); ISBN-10: 0486278077, ISBN-13: 978-0486278070;
• Dracula (Broadview Literary Texts) (Paperback) by Bram Stoker, ISBN-10: 1551111365, # ISBN-13: 978-1551111360;
• 1984 (Signet Classics) by George Orwell, # ISBN 978-0-451-52493-5
• A Number of Printouts of stories, chapters, or articles available via the course Moodle site.
  

Since this class is a device-free zone, (see the policy below), you will need to purchase physical copies of all of these materials and to print out all additional readings.

Purpose

In this course, you will gain a broad historical perspective on the effects of writing and reading on the material, cultural, and political structures of society.

This perspective will be achieved

• by reading and discussing works of both theory and literature (fulfills goals 1-4, 6-7 below)
• by writing--both formally and informally--to apply theory and analyze literature (fulfills goals 1-7 below)
• by preparing for quizzes and exams that provide incentive to complete, absorb, and synthesize the readings (goals 1-7 below)
• by contributing to discussions in class and online (goals 1-7 below)

In particular, we will learn how forms of literacy have fundamentally influenced not only our ways of communicating, but our shared senses of reality and identity.

The goals of this course are to enable you to do the following:

1. to discuss the dynamic relationships of literacy, technology, and social development in historically and critically informed ways (W2)
2. to analyze present-day cultural transformations being wrought by technologies in light of history (W1)
3. to describe and distinguish the various cultural and intellectual ways that literacy has been defined across time (W1)
4. to contextualize writing as a technology within a larger understanding of media (W1)
5. to write in a conscious and productive dialogue with other voices and sources (W4)
6. to define how literacies restructure human consciousness and society (W1)
7. to compare and contrast traditional verbal literacies to visual and digital literacies (W3, W4)

(Numbers in parenthesis indicate the program student-learning outcomes that each goal fulfills, and provides a link to a page describing those outcomes. W refers to the outcomes for the Writing Studies major; D for the Digital Writing, Literature, and Design minor; E for the English major; L for Liberal Education.))

Grades

• 30%: your work on the written Preparation Sheets, Reading Guides, homework, and online forums
• 30%: Performance on the Final Exam
• 25%: Performance on the Midterm Exam
• 15% In-Class Participation, including oral contributions of quotations, comments, and responses to class discussion.
  

Note that each unexcused absence in excess of the allowed number will deduct 2% from your overall grade

General Grading Rubric

A = outstanding contributions to class discussion and excellent written work; no more than 2 absences. To achieve an “A,” take a leadership role in class discussions, including working actively to get others involved; prepare readings thoroughly, find and talk about connections among them and among other aspects of culture (then and now); make your presentations and written work stand out by bringing to them something really special in terms of your own contributions, interests, and ideas.

B = regular contributions and solid written work—exceeds average performance, but room for improvement; informed, active participation in all class discussions; no more than 2 absences. To achieve a “B,” prepare assigned readings thoroughly, initiate discussions about them by asking good questions or suggesting ways to interpret readings; prepare assignments and presentations that reveal that you have done good additional work that you can make both interesting and meaningful.

C = work that meets average (i.e., high) standards for UMD students, but some problems with content and/or expression; informed, active participation in most class discussions; no more than 3 absences.

D = significant problems with any or all course components (writing, examinations, participation).

F = performance that does not meet minimum standards for university students; more than 4 absences.

Reading and Writing

Readings

The readings are an essential aspect of this course--not just for the information they contain, but for the experience of reading them.

Unless stated otherwise in the assignment, you are required to do all readings using the physical books or paper printouts. (In the case of PDFs, you may print multiple pages on each sheet to save paper.)

You are also required to bring the book or printed hard copy to class on the day assigned (laptops or other devices are not permitted for in-class use, as explained below). Coming to class without that assigned reading on paper will result your being recorded as absent for the day.

You will be expected to complete all the assigned readings by the beginning of class. You should mark the book or printout to help you locate key words, ideas, names, passages, and examples in the future, such as when you're studying for the exams. See the online handout on the practice of Active Reading.

Please be prepared for brief quizzes and other activities intended to give you incentive to keep up with (and engaged with) the readings.

Homework, Preparation Sheets and Online Discussions

As preparation for some reading assignments, I will give you prompts to respond to, either online or in print.

Your responses should give evidence that you have read the assigned reading, that you understand it well enough to summarize key points from it in your own words and to reflect on their implications and consequences, and that you have thought about the prompts and reading questions.

I will often ask you to print the writing you've done to prepare for class (hand written work is fine if the assignment doesn't specify print) and bring the hard copy with you. As the term progresses, I will record all the work that you are to turn in on this site's page "Handouts and Assignments."

Exams

There will be a mid-term and final exam, which will be a combination of opened- and closed-book formats.

Early in the semester, I will go over in detail the kinds of things you'll be expected to remember, understand, and be able to discuss on the exams.

Your regular attendance is absolutely necessary for your success in the class. The UMD policy states:

Students are expected to attend all scheduled class meetings. It is the responsibility of students to plan their schedules to avoid excessive conflict with course requirements. However, there are legitimate and verifiable circumstances that lead to excused student absence from the classroom. These are subpoenas, jury duty, military duty, religious observances, illness, bereavement for immediate family, and NCAA varsity intercollegiate athletics. For complete information, please see: http://www.d.umn.edu/vcaa/ExcusedAbsence.html

1. Allowed Absences

You are allowed a small number of absences which you can spend however you wish: 4 (in a three-day-a-week class) or 3 (in a two-day-a week class). Allowed absences do not excuse you from the work due or completed on the days you are absent, and some in-class activities and timely requirements cannot be replicated or made up. Save your optional, "free" absences for a rainy (or snowy) day.

2. Unexcused Absences and Penalties:

Each absence in excess of the number of allowed instances deduct 2 percent from your overall grade.

3. Excused Absences

In the case of serious, legitimate, and verifiable conflicts that result in absences in excess of the allowed number, the UMD attendance policy states that absences can be excused if

1. you contact me prior to, or as soon as possible after, the circumstance resulting in your absence(s)

2. you provide written documentation from an authoritative source (e.g., a doctor, the Athletic Department) which speaks specifically to the reason you were unavoidably unable to attend class that particular day.

Like the other types of absences, documented, excused absences do not excuse you from the work due or completed when you did not attend, and some in-class activities and timely requirements cannot be replicated or made up.

4. Tardiness and Leaving Early

In addition to your budget of allowed absences, you also have 3 or 4 instances (depending on the 3- or 2-day schedule) of arriving late or leaving early to use if necessary. Instances in excess of this allowance will decrease your overall grade by 2 percentage points each. If you need to leave class early, even if it's one of your allowed instances, please arrange it with me in advance

Participation and Class Discussion

Class participation will include reading aloud from or explaining what you wrote in preparation for that class meeting. Be sure you have a hard copy of your text. I will try to call on a good number of students, and I do expect everybody to be prepared to speak. I will often collect your printed writings at the end of class.

Classroom Preparation

Basic preparation means you have

• read all material assigned
• are prepared to talk about what you have read
• the readings open (in print) on your desk
• a notebook open for taking notes.

Informed participation demonstrates that you are taking the course seriously, which means that you

• come to class having read and thought critically about the assigned material
• listen and respond attentively and respectfully during class discussions
• actively contribute quotations, ideas, and questions to class discussions that try to move the conversation to a new level of understanding or complexity, or that try to connect various ideas contributed by others.

To help me evaluate your participation, after each class meeting I will ask you to log any quotations from the readings which you orally raised and commented on in class. You will log each of these contributions in a post to a Moodle forum, "Classroom Contributions." Please log only quotations that you contributed to discussion out loud.  Post one message for each quotation using the format of this example:

M 3/14: Orwell, The Labyrinthine World of Doublethink
His mind slid away...contradictory, to know/not know, memory, unconsciousness, forget. 35.3

This format of each message includes:

• a header (including the date of class, the work's author, and a word or phrase that sums up the topic or point of the quotation),
• a string of key words from the quotation, especially from the beginning and end, to help us find the passage on the page,
• the page number (with tenths to indicate how far down the page).

Students with Disabilities Policy

It is the policy and practice of the University of Minnesota Duluth to create inclusive learning environments for all students, including students with disabilities. If there are aspects of this course that result in barriers to your inclusion or your ability to meet course requirements – such as time limited exams, inaccessible web content, or the use of non-captioned videos – please notify the instructor as soon as possible. You are also encouraged to contact the Office of Disability Resources to discuss and arrange reasonable accommodations. Please call 218-726-6130 or visit the DR website at www.d.umn.edu/access for more information.

Incompletes

Incompletes for the semester will be given only in the following very limited circumstances:

• you must contact me in advance of the semester's end to make a request for an incomplete;
• no more than one or two weeks of class, or one or two assignments, can have been missed;
• you must be in good standing in the class (not already behind, in other words);
• you must have a documented family or medical emergency, as required by university policy;
• you must arrange a time table with me for completing the missed work that is acceptable for both of us.
  

Academic Integrity and Student Conduct

Please see UMD's pages concerning these two issues:
<http://www.d.umn.edu/assl/conduct/integrity/>
<http://www.d.umn.edu/assl/conduct/code/>