Course Syllabus

GAH 2180: Introduction to Digital Writing

Instructor: Professor Adeline Koh

Office: K-125

Email: Adeline.Koh@stockton.edu

 

Course Description:

This hybrid course will introduce you to some of the key elements for writing for the web. We will consider how the Internet functions as a meeting space for different kinds of communities, and the role that digital writing plays in constructing this space. The major assignment for this class will be to build your own specialized blog and to create a social media following for this blog.

 

Course goals:

1)    To gain a broader understanding and appreciation of intellectual/cultural activity (music, science, literature, etc.)

2)    To develop skill in expressing oneself orally or in writing

 

Course Text

Net Smart, Howard Rheingold. 

Additional readings will be made available on the course Canvas website.

 

Course Videos

Wikiality and Truthiness, Stephen Colbert

 

Course Policies

• Based on student feedback: I have decided to change two policies in this class: attendance and late work.

• ATTENDANCE:

• Absences will no longer be penalized. If you come to class, you will be expected to be an active team participant and help one another improve content through peer review. If you come to class, you are expected to be engaged, contribute, speak, and collaborate with others. Only come to class if you are willing to do this. 

• People who attend class and are active participants can expect to:
• 1) get attention from your engaged peers about improving your work, and most likely actually achieving a solid internet presence because of your work in this class, and
• 2) more personalized and individual attention from the professor.

• If you choose not to attend class, you will not receive peer review of your work You will not be penalized for not contributing to peer review. But the lack of peer review will mean that your web content and presence will be much less successful.

• So: come to class if you want to be part of a community that will actually help you to produce something that you can use potentially to as a portfolio for possible employers in the future. You can still pass the class if you do not attend class but complete all assignments on time satisfactorily. 

• LATE WORK.
• I will not grade any assignments that are more than one week late. It is the students responsibility to tell me and follow up with an email if they have submitted a late assignment and which assignments these one are specifically. your grade will go down by 1/3rd of a letter grade for every day that it is late (For example, a B paper that is two days late will become a C+ paper.)

• Please expect a turn around time of one to two business days if you email Professor Koh.

• Refer to the Stockton policy and procedures on Academic Dishonesty for how plagiarism and related issues will be dealt with in this course here.

 

Grading Breakdown

Participation: 25% Includes active participation in class, daily writing exercises and online daily writing and comments. 

Twitter and Facebook You can IMPROVE your participation grade by tweeting or Facebooking  about the class and the ideas you have learnt regularly. We will sign up for twitter accounts the second week of classes together. You have to use the hashtag #GAH2180 and send the tweet to me @adelinekoh adelinekoh so I can record your tweets for your participation grade. Tweeting regularly by engaging with ideas from the class (more than 3x a week) will boost your participation grade. (Tweeting about your breakfast, however, will not.)  If you want credit for your tweets, please fill out the twitter form (link provided on the class Canvas site.) Join the class Facebook group here. You can choose to create anonymous, alternative accounts on Facebook and Twitter to participate in class discussion, but must inform the instructor as to what your pseudonym is. 

 

Peer Review Assignments: 15%

A large part of this class will be focused on training you to better edit and review each other’s work. You will be graded for completing your peer reviews and the quality of these reviews. Rubrics for writing good peer reviews will be provided.

 

Twitter vs. Zombies Game 5%

We will play a game to familiarize the class on using Twitter in September. Game participation and a reflective essay later will be 5% of your total grade. Twitter vs. Zombies is a Twitter version of the “Human vs. Zombies” game. You can find out more about the game here. It’s a lot of fun :)

 

Final Blog and Social Media Following Assignments: 55%

In place of a midterm and final paper for this course, you will be tasked with creating your own specialized blog and your own social media following over the semester.

This section of your grade (55%) will be further broken down into the following:

20% Participation in blog assignment

10% Participation in blog discussions in class

25% Peer Reviews and Collaboration with Classmates

45% Reflective Essay and quality of blog

 

 

Assignments

Critical Questions Homework: With the exception of the first week of class, you will answer the critical questions as a homework assignment on most Tuesdays. You will have to POST a digital copy to the forum by Tuesday 12.30pm AND bring a copy of these answers with you to class. They will be graded on completion. There are no exceptions for lateness. We will discuss these questions in class, where you will fill out an assessment of your groupmates’ answers.

 

Peer Review Assignments. You will be graded by your groupmates on how helpful your comments were in revising their homework assignments. Your groupmates (and you) will each submit a review of each other’s peer review work on most Thursdays, along with the revised critical questions.  

 

Revised Critical Questions. After you have participated in course discussion, you will revise your initial answers to critical questions before submitting them once more. You should make your revisions to your original document using a different color font. Using a different color will allow you and me to see how your interpretations of the text have developed based on the discussion. Revised critical questions answers are due on most Thursdays by 2.20pm. These revised questions will be assessed according to a grading rubric which will be provided to you. 

 

Twitter vs. Zombies Assignment. We will play a game to familiarize the class on using Twitter in September. Game participation and a reflective essay later will be 5% of your total grade. Twitter vs. Zombies is a Twitter version of the “Human vs. Zombies” game. You can find out more about the game here. It’s a lot of fun :)

 

Final Blog, Social Media following and Reflection Paper: Instructions to come closer to the date.

 

Course Schedule

 

Week 1: Introductions

Sept 4. HYBRID.

Due: Self-introduction assignment and first peer review assignment. Syllabus Quiz assignment. Self introduction due by Thursday September 4 at 11pm, and peer review and syllabus quiz by September 5 at 11pm. 

 

Week 2: Social Digital Know-How and Attention

Sept 9: Reading: Introduction, "Why You Need Digital Know-How—Why We all Need

It" and Chapter 1, “Attention!”

            Due on Canvas at 12.30pm and in class: Answers to Critical Questions.

 

Sept 11. HYBRID.

Due at 2.20pm on Canvas: (1) Revised Critical Questions. (2) Review of your

reviewers.

 

Week 3: Crap Detection

Sept 16. Read: Net Smart, Chapter 2: “Crap Detection 101: How to Find What You Need

to Know, and How To Decide If Its True”

Watch: Colbert, Stephen. “The Word—Wikiality.” Colbert Nation. July 31, 2006. Watch: Colbert, Stephen. “The Word—Truthiness.” Colbert Nation. October 17, 2005

Due on Canvas at 12.30pm and in class: Answers to Critical Questions.

 

Sept 18: HYBRID.

Due at 2.20pm on Canvas: (1) Revised Critical Questions. (2) Review of your

reviewers.

 

 

Week 4: Twitter vs. Zombies!

Sept 23. Introduction to Twitter. Class meets in COMPUTER LAB DOO4

Sept 25: Twitter vs. Zombies assignment (N.B. Assignment will run September 25-27)

 

Week 5:  Participatory Power.

Sept 30. Read. Net Smart, Chapter 3. “Participatory Power.”

Read: O’Neil, Luke. “The Year We Broke the Internet: An Explanation. An Apology. A Plea.” Esquire.com. December 23, 2013.

Due on Canvas at 12.30pm and in class: Answers to Critical Questions.

 

Oct 2. HYBRID.

Due at 2.20pm on Canvas: (1) Revised Critical Questions. (2) Review of your

reviewers.

 

Week 6. Social Digital Know-How and How to Tweet Better.

Oct 7. Read: Net Smart, Chapter 4: “Social-Digital Know-How: The Arts and Sciences of

Collective Intelligence.”

Replaced with Peer Review Twitter assignment.

 

Oct 9. HYBRID.

Replaced with Peer Review Twitter Assignment

Howard Rheingold talk/Twitter at Whittier. Talk begins 5pm PST (2pm EST and

will be live streamed… extra credit for participating)

 

 

Week 7: Blogging and Improving Your Social Media Presence

Oct 14. What makes up a good blog? Collaborative class redesign of blog and social media presence experiment.

Oct 16. HYBRID

Deadlines decided upon by students for blogs. 

 

Week 8: Different Blogging Platforms and Blog Research 
Oct 21. Meet at COMPUTER LAB DOO4 to workshop your blog platform and different platforms to showcase blogs.

Oct 23. HYBRID.

Due at 2.20pm on Canvas: 

1) Niche blog proposal and market research. Do research on blogs that are similar to yours that already exist. Analyze at least five of these in detail. To cover: a) How long have these blogs existed, b) How big is their readership, c) Assessment of the design of their sites d) Analysis of their content, voice used in blogs e) What can you learn from this site in establishing your own blog? This report should be at least 5 pages long. 

 

Week 9.  Peer Review of Niche Blog Proposals

Oct 28. PRECEPTORIAL ADVISING, NO CLASS.

 

Oct 30. Hybrid.

            Due at 2.20pm on Canvas: Two peer reviews of your classmates revised blog proposals and market research.

 

Week 10. Blog and Twitter Peer Review.

Nov 4. Due on Canvas at 12.30pm and in class: Blog post and twitter strategy for the week for peer review. 

Nov 6. HYBRID

Due at 2.20pm on Canvas: Revised blog post and twitter strategy. 

 

Week 11. Blog and Twitter Peer Review.

 

Nov 11. Due on Canvas at 12.30pm and in class: 

 

1) Blog post and twitter strategy for the week for peer review. 

 

2) Report on how your blog post and twitter strategy from last week were received. 

 

Nov 12. HYBRID.

 

            Due at 2.20pm on Canvas: Revised blog post and twitter strategy. 

 

 

Week 11. Blog and Twitter Peer Review.

Nov 18. Due on Canvas at 12.30pm and in class: 

1) Blog post and twitter strategy for the week for peer review. 

2) Report on how your blog post and twitter strategy from last week were received. 

Nov 20. HYBRID.

            Due at 2.20pm on Canvas: Revised blog post and twitter strategy. 

 

Week 12. Peer Reviews

Nov 25. HYBRID

            Due at 2.20pm. Two peer reviews of each others’ websites.

Nov 27. THANKSGIVING, No class

 

Week 13. Blog and Twitter Peer Review.

Dec 2. Due on Canvas at 12.30pm and in class: 

1) Blog post and twitter strategy for the week for peer review. 

2) Report on how your blog post and twitter strategy from Week 11 were received. 

Dec 4. HYBRID.

Due at 2.20pm on Canvas: Revised blog post and twitter strategy. 

 

Week 14. Revisions and Reflections.

Dec 9: Last Day of Class. Due: Revised blog and reflection paper.