Course Information:
WRIT 1605—Section 001, course #45967—meets from 1:00 p.m. - 1:50 in EduE 20 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The course home page can be found at: <http://www.d.umn.edu/~cstroupe/sp11/1506>

Professor Information:
Dr. Craig Stroupe, cstroupe@d.umn.edu, 218-726-6249, Humanities 425, Office Hours Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. or by appointment.

Resources Needed

• Orality and Literacy by Walter Ong (Routledge) ISBN 9-780415-281294;
• Narrative by Paul Cobley (Routledge New Critical Idiom) ISBN ISBN-10: 0415212634. (See online retailers at Bookfinder.com)
• Bridget Jones's Diary (Penguin) by Helen Fielding, ISBN: 014028009X; ISBN-13: 978-0415212632
• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi (Author); ISBN-10: 037571457X
  # ISBN-13: 978-0375714573
• 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 chapters available from UMD library's electronic reserve. I will post links to these online files here on the Web site as they become available.

Grades

• Your work on the Preparation Sheets: 50%
• Performance on the final exam: 20%
• Performance on the midterm exam: 15%
• Class Participation: 15%

 

Purpose

Literacy, Technology, and Society is a course in the Liberal Education Program in Category 7. In general, courses in the Liberal Education Program are intended to add breadth to your education. More specifically, they are intended to promote certain educational objectives:

• to encourage you to think critically about significant ideas;
• to provide experience in learning analytic methods of interpretation and criticism;
• to provide an awareness of historical intellectual traditions; and
• to provide practice in written communication.

This course in particular, WRIT 1506, does deal with significant ideas as well as the critical methods for studying the historical and cultural context of various texts. In addition, this course provides students with practice in written communication through the preparation sheets and through essay exams.

Expectations

Readings

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.

Preparation Sheets

As part of the preview of each reading assignment, I will give you prompts explaining the items that you are to respond to in the preparation sheets. There will usually be two or three items. Your responses are to give evidence that you have read the assigned reading and that you understand it well enough to summarize key points from it in your own words and to reflect on their implications and consequences.

The preparation sheets are to be word processed. Each one should be at least two pages, double-spaced, and have a header identifying the assigned reading and listing your name and the name of the course and the due date.

You will receive feedback on your writing via the Preparation Sheets. I will expect you to pay attention to that feedback, and use it in improving later writings. Your grades on later preparation sheets will reflect the degree to which you have responded to this feedback.

Attendance

Since this class will function as a community of writer-designers, your regular attendance is absolutely necessary. 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 spent however you wish: 4 (in a MWF class) or 3 (in a TT 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 "free" absences for a rainy (or snowy) day.

2. Unexcused Absences:
Absences in excess of the budget of allowed instances deduct 3 percent each 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 absences can be excused if

1. you contact me prior to, or as soon as possible after, the circumstance

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 absence, 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 TT or MWF 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

Class participation will include reading part of your preparation sheet aloud in class when you are called upon to do so. On those days when we are going over the items on the preparation sheets, I will try to call on a good number of people, and I do expect everybody to be prepared to speak (that is why the written assignments are called preparation sheets). I will collect your Preparation Sheets at the end of class.

Turning in all required work on time is critical; work turned in late will be assessed a 3% penalty per day.

Exams

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

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/>