Syllabus.
Instructor: Nicole Turnipseed
E-mail: turnips2@illinois.edu
Meet: Tues/Thurs 12:30pm-1:45pm
Class Location: Greg Hall 9
Please Call Me: Niki (PGPs: She/Her, or they/them)
Office: English Building, room 302
Office Hours: TBD
Mailbox: English building, 2nd floor
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This syllabus is interactive! Please read and respond to it before our first class meeting so we can begin building this class together.
(First, a note on the beautiful complexity of authorship! The design of this course, including this syllabus, has been greatly influenced by the continual collaborative work of WAM teachers and CWS directors dating back to 2008. Intertextual echoes noted with gratitude 😊)
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Course Description
How do you “read” an image? Have you ever “heard” an author’s voice in their writing? What avenues for persuasion and inquiry are afforded by your word processor? …by the camera lens on your cell phone?
In Writing Across Media, we’ll explore how we can utilize and create tools for understanding and communicating beyond the alphabetic. Building toward active intervention by first cultivating our self-understanding and genuine curiosity about our worlds, we’ll use our theoretically grounded practice in this class to test the affordances and limitations of modes (linguistic, visual…), media (alphabet, photograph…), and technologies (pencils, Snapchat…).
Our class time together will hinge on discussion and workshopping; we’ll work together to speak back to utilize and build on theory, while also serving as interested and generative audiences for one another in the process of composing. Along the way, we’ll develop a malleable toolkit for understanding and composing multimedia products while attempting to identify, and just as importantly challenge, implicit assumptions about media.
This course fulfills UIUC’s General Education Advanced Composition requirement.
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Learning!
Here are some things I hope you’ll cultivate in this class:
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An understanding of “writing” as a multimodal product and process.
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A view toward how texts are mobilized across multiple spaces and contexts and how modality, media, and technology offer affordances for authors’ intended purposes in creating those texts.
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Some interest and comfort in thoughtfully engaging with, analyzing, testing and contesting theories of modality, media, communication and composition.
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Skill in inventing, drafting, revising and presenting multimodal products with evidence, analysis, and sophisticated attention to audience, purpose, situation, technology, design, and/or material,
o Including the vocabulary to clearly explain, defend, and reflect upon your rhetorical and design decisions, processes, and products with regard to media and technology
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Professional/human collegiality in thoughtfully giving, receiving and taking up feedback.
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Course Texts/Materials
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All course readings and materials, aside from those you locate on your own to explore your chosen issue, will be available online through our course website; no need to purchase any textbooks. Depending on the media you choose to work with, there may be material costs throughout the course. I choose free, open access course texts in part so you can use the money you would have spent on a textbook on materials to create interesting things. I HIGHLY recommend utilizing the FabLab as a low-cost resource.
Course texts are available in the "required reading" tab atop our course page, and linked directly on our course calendar. It is imperative that you have access to course texts and your notes on those texts during our class meetings. Whether you print these materials out or access them via a laptop, tablet, or other electronic device is up to you. I suggest saving all of your work and materials to the cloud for easy access in case of tech blips.
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Please do bring your laptop to class if you have one. You are welcome to compose on your phone if necessary, but that interface can hinder your ability to participate. If you don’t have the requisite software or hardware you feel like you need to succeed in this class, you can check out select technologies from the Media Commons at UGL. If you’re struggling to come up with the necessary technological resources to complete a project, please let me know ahead of time to the best you can, and I can do my best to provide assistance as needed.
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Protip: Need access to university software on your personal computer? Try connecting to Citrix: https://it.engineering.illinois.edu/ews/lab-information/remote-connections/connecting-citrix
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Course Arc and Portfolio Grading
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This class will use a portfolio system to review and holistically assess your work. Three times throughout the semester, I’ll ask you to select, curate, and revise the work you’ve done thus far and submit it in the form of a portfolio. After submitting your portfolio, you’ll conference one-on-one with me to discuss your work to that point and trajectory toward upcoming projects.
On the whole, portfolio assessment allows you to take more substantial risks in your work. It affords you the opportunity to experiment with new ideas and enables you to demonstrate your growth as a multimodal composer over time. As you can see below, more weight is given to your later writing, in the form of your final portfolio, in order to grant you some freedom to play and practice before you’re expected to perform.
Though you’ll only receive grades at the three points of portfolio submission, don’t hesitate to ask questions in class or come see me during office hours if you are ever unclear about my expectations or unsure about how your work is reaching toward the learning goals outlined above. If I’m concerned about the quality of your work or engagement, I will let you know.
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Prompts for all assignments in each portfolio and the Media Literacy Project are available in the tabs of the course website.Drafts and final products will be submitted through our course CMS at learn.illinois.edu, where you can also track your grades.
Grading breakdown:
PORTFOLIO 1 - 20%
PORTFOLIO 2 - 25%
PORTFOLIO 3 - 30%
PARTICIPATION/COLLEGIALITY/ACTIVITY 25%
1. Leading Media Literacy Workshop - 10%
2. Meaningful participation* and support of peers in class discussions/activities throughout the semester (assessment communicated 3 times/semester at each portfolio 5x3) - 15%
*Participation means coming to class prepared to talk about the assigned readings, discussing you and your peers’ works-in-progress, and actively engaging with in-class activities. In class, I expect you to listen attentively to your peers and to challenge, respectfully, the source material as well as the assertions of your classmates. In addition to verbal participation, this grade also takes into consideration timely and thoughtful completion of in-progress work throughout the unit: making good use of in-class work time, bringing reasonably workable drafts in on workshop days, and submitting draft assignments on deadline.
Digital Course Components and Resources
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*Our Course Site: Our course site is as follows: https://seedling89.wixsite.com/wamfall2019. I will use this website to post announcements, assignments, resources, and other related content. The course syllabus and schedule are also available on this site, which you are responsible for keeping up to date with. Feel free to follow the blog if you prefer to receive e-mail updates when I post new entries (in-class activities, announcements, clarifications and the like).
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*Our CMS: sign in with your university credentials at learn.illinois.edu to submit drafts and final assignments and to view your attendance and grades.
*Individual Course Site: You will all need to create a course site as well, either through WordPress, Wix or another blogging site of your choice. Your site will house your three portfolios.
*E-mail: On occasion, I will send brief e-mails to your university e-mail addresses with reminders, resources, and/or clarifications on assignments. I check my e-mail daily and usually respond within one business day; I expect you to do the same. Legally, I’m not permitted to give out or discuss grades via e-mail, so if you’d like to discuss these matters, please set up a time to meet with me face to face instead.
*Media Commons: UIUC’s Media Commons, located in the Undergraduate Library, can assist you with your media projects. It’s a great space for learning more about media technology, and it additionally houses top-notch video and audio recording studios. Feel free to check it out or make a media consultation appointment to take advantage of this resource.
*Loanable Technology: If you don’t have the requisite software or hardware you feel like you need to succeed in this class, you can check out select technologies from the Media Commons at UGL. If you’re struggling to come up with the necessary technological resources to complete a project, please let me know ahead of time.
*Lynda.com—Since this class is not a “how-to” course in terms of learning the nuts and bolts of tech or software, you might find yourself a bit lacking in the requisite skills when it comes to creating media projects. Fortunately, UIUC offers free access to Lynda Online Training (access through: go.illinois.edu/Lynda). Lynda is a great resource for a wealth of training modules detailing software (Linux), video editing (iMovie), audio editing (Audacity), and more (Python, Twine). Follow the link and log in with your UIUC ID to access bajillions of video tutorials.
-Lynda is now migrating to LinkedIn Learning. If you have used your Lynda account, you can migrate your account here: https://learning.linkedin.com/cx/upgrading-from-lynda-to-linkedin-learning/getting-started
*Fab Lab: The CU Community Fab Lab is an awesome, affordable resource for learning and making. It’s an open and collaborative workshop space for computer-driven innovation, design and fabrication that houses a ton of cool tools and awesome people to help you work them. I suggest familiarizing yourself with their resources and tutorials so when you have an idea for a project, you’ll have a start on ideas to make it come to life. Here’s their website: http://cucfablab.org/, and here are a bunch of awesome tutorials and learning resources they post: http://cucfablab.blogspot.com/.
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Attendance
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Your presence and active participation in this course are critical to your success in this class since most of the course consists of in-class discussion and peer feedback.
You can have up to two unexcused absences with no questions asked. If you have a cold or a personal emergency, you should probably just stay home for the day and catch up by looking at our course website and speaking with a peer about what you missed - maybe they will share their notes and impressions. I will not personally give you a play-by-play of the day’s activities via email. (There is no need to give me an explanation of why you weren’t in class – I assure you I’m very sympathetic, but don’t need the graphic details of your stomach flu.)
Absences beyond your two freebies are deducted from the number of classes held during each unit and assessed at portfolio time. (One-on-one conferences count as 2 class periods.) So, for example, if you miss 2 of the 10 class meetings during that section of the course, you couldn’t get more than 80% of the participation credit for that period. Tardiness, non-participation and distraction in class will further lower that grade. Missing more than 5 class periods may put you in danger of failing the course. I handle grade reductions for excessive absences case-by-case. If you choose not to be accountable for your attendance, agentive about making accommodations with me, or responsive to my messages regarding it, I reserve the right to dock your portfolio or course grade as I see fitting for the situation.
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That said, I understand that attendance guidelines and policies are inherently ableist insofar that they’re prejudiced against students with mental, physical, and other sorts of disabilities that might prevent them from making it to class, on time, or at all. If there’s something going on in your life that’s regularly making it difficult to participate—whatever that means to you and whether disability-related or not—please let me know and we can figure out a system of accommodations that’ll work for you.
If that sounds unclear, know that I think your attendance in this class is incredibly important to your ability to get something useful out of your time here, and that I also understand that sometimes life throws more at us than we can handle, and while I think the work we do here is important, I know that some things (the health and safety of yourself and your loved ones, for instance) are more important. Let’s work together to ensure you get something valuable from your time here and can contribute to the growth of your peers.
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Personal Electronics
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Technology is a major component of our classroom, and this digital infrastructure, aside from constituting an eco-friendly classroom, provides opportunities to develop your technological literacies. However, the availability of laptop and tablets can be a blessing and a curse. You are welcome to use your devices in the classroom for course related activities, but I reserve the right to see your screen at any time.
For many of us, our laptops, tablets, and phones are an integral part of our lives, and of course, we (unconsciously) check them dozens of times per day. I recognize these habits and urges, in part, as informed by literacy practices, especially in a class like this where you might be very well using your phone as a media technology in its own right. As such, I do not wish to police cell phone use during class. If you feel like you might be inclined to use your phone briefly during class, all I ask is that you leave your device on your desk and be acutely aware of when, how, and how much you use it during class.
That is not to say that you are permitted to tune out on your device during class. If I notice that you are more engaged with your phone, tablet, laptop, or other technology more than course activities, I may (gently, I hope) invite your attention back by directing questions to you, OR I many choose not to disrupt the class and just silently mark your inattention for grade calculations. If you are unable to focus in class because of unchecked habits, your course grade will likely be negatively affected, whether through docked participation points, or missing out on the discussions and activities designed to help you succeed in the your coursework.
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Classroom and Course Etiquette
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Respect for diversity
In this course, as elsewhere in life, you will undoubtedly work with people who differ from you, whether in terms of gender, sexuality, race, nationality, language background, age, mobility, neurodiversity, modes of communication, what-have-you. Regardless of these differences, you must absolutely respect (ideally, value) the attitudes and contributions of your classmates, even if their perspectives differ from your own. (As they should; we’ve all had different life experiences!) As such, (cis)sexist, racist, ableist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic or otherwise demeaning/disrespectful remarks or behavior will not be tolerated, nor will any additional form of harassment. These attitudes are not only counterproductive to a safe and inclusive learning environment, but they’re simply unacceptable and have no place in this classroom, much less anywhere else. So please be respectful of your peers’ verbal contributions to class and their work, as we will all be working together to promote a rich, comfortable learning environment.
Content warnings
It follows that I envision our class environment—both in its physical and digital iterations—as a brave space in which everyone feels welcome to participate. Should we encounter material that might be emotionally challenging or potentially traumatic, I will provide a trigger or content warning in advance. If you find yourself having difficulty dealing with a particular class discussion or reading, feel free to step out of the classroom and/or speak to me about it in person.
Networked spaces
As noted above, classroom etiquette also extends into networked spaces, specifically with regard to e-mail communication and blog activity. In your e-mails to me and to your peers, please be sure to include a title explaining the subject of the message, a greeting (“Hi Niki”), a clear explanation of your question/concern, and a signature.
Please allow at least 24 hours for an e-mail response from me. By no means do I consider e-mail correspondence an appropriate substitute for office hour conversations (in-depth discussions about major assignments, talking through writing processes, etc.).
Learning and comportment
Our different brain-bodies engage and learn quite differently. Please do your best to honor your own learning needs while minimally interfering with your peers’ ability to focus and engage. If you feel the need to amble, fidget, visit the restroom, respond vocally etc. in order to best engage with class activities, please do so with an eye toward minimally disturbing those who learn better in a quiet, still environment. For example: tap your thumb on your pant leg beneath your desk, rather than tapping your pen loudly on top of your desk. Likewise, if you’re bothered by your peer’s movement, please first check your engrained assumptions and judgements about what learning “should” look/sound like and assess whether that action is truly distracting to you. If it is, work out with your peer a solution that can work for all involved. (Switching seats, for instance.) I have faith we can create a learning environment that works for everyone.
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Students Requiring Accommodation
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Everyone learns differently and benefits from different kinds of support. Please get in touch with me if you would like to discuss your individual learning style and/or needs and how this course can best accommodate them, whether you have a documented disability or not. If you have a disability that requires accommodation for you to succeed in this class, you may want to contact the Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) for additional support.
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Academic Integrity and Plagiarism
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The University of Illinois has high standards of academic integrity set out in Article 1, Part 4 of the University Student Code. Unfortunately, some of that code itself is plagiarized…
Fun fact: if you do a phrasal Google search on the first sentence (“Every direct quotation….), you will find this sentence appearing in a number of institution’s policies. In fact, it is a direct quote from a legal journal article’s model policy (Pavela, 1978). However, that fact is not indicated in the university policy by either quotation marks or citation. (In fact, a general acknowledgement of the article that appeared in earlier versions of the code was removed at some point, and the sentence was left unchanged although the committee knew it was copied word for word from the article.) Based on the policy’s own definitions, the policy is intentionally engaging in plagiarism.
To complicate things further, the above section of text was cribbed from a white paper I co-authored with the Center for Writing Studies staff. Where a use like this may be punishable under the university policy, it is common practice in many workplace settings to reuse boilerplate language without attribution. So, does that mean you’re excused from any effort toward academic integrity or source citation? Absolutely not. It DOES mean that the reality of authorship is more complicated than it tends to be represented in policy or understood in punishment.
There are, in fact, multiple norms for source use, citation, and authorship. It is my responsibility as a teacher to help you develop sophisticated and flexible understanding and practices for source use, citation, and authorship, just as it is your own central responsibility to learn how to understand and employ norms, to determine what norms are in force in a setting, and to respect those norms in their work. Cultivating this understanding is crucial to our shared goals of making knowledge and organizing learning, and we will work on understanding and enacting sound practices together. I do not expect you to know and apply all norms perfectly the first time, but I do expect you to take responsibility for learning them, and I will not take lightly academic integrity violations with evidence of deception.
We will read and speak early in the semester about academic and course-specific norms. Because it is so important, and since citation is particularly tricky in continually changing new media and multimodal contexts, we will carry this conversation through to the end of the semester. Please raise questions about citation in your particular projects throughout the semester – we’ll all learn from figuring it out together.
Pavela, G. (1978). Judicial review of academic decision making after Horowitz. NOLPE School Law
Journal, 8(1), 55-75.
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Mandated Reporter Status and Sexual Assault Resources
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Please know that, while I care greatly for my students and am happy to lend an ear in support when asked, under Title IX, I (along with your other teachers) am designated as a mandated reporter. This means I am required to disclose reports of sexual misconduct to the University or law enforcement. If you are a victim of sexual violence and are ready to speak to an advisor but unsure of whether you want to file a report, you do have access to confidential advisors and other confidential resources through the university and community. You can find information about those and other related resources here: http://www.wecare.illinois.edu/resources/students/.
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Writers Workshop
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The Writers Workshop provides free, one-to-one help to all UIUC writers. The Workshop’s consultants can help with any kind of assignment, in any class, and at any stage of the writing process. While the Writers Workshop is not an editing service, tutors will help students with anything related to their writing, including grammar, brainstorming, organizing, polishing final drafts, citing sources, and more. Bring a draft to revise or just stop by for help with getting your ideas together.
The Writers Workshop offers 50-minute sessions by appointment at the Undergraduate Library (251 UGL) during the semester. Both online and face-to-face sessions are currently offered, so feel free to make an appointment if you’d like to talk through your work with someone.
Main Location: 251 Undergraduate Library E-mail: wow@illinois.edu
Website: https://writersworkshop.illinois.edu Phone: 217.333.8796
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Changes to Syllabus / Course Schedule
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Our course syllabus and schedule are subject to change based on our needs. You will be notified of any such changes in class and in writing (most likely through e-mail or the course website), so pay attention.
