ENGL 282 B: Intermediate Multimodal Composition

Here is a FULL COLOR digital version of the syllabus!

Walker-English 282 Spring 2019 - Printed.docx

Here is a quick-glance Grade Contract Chart/Checklist

Grade Contract Chart-Checklist for 282 Fall 2020.docx

Below is a version of the syallbus that you don't have to download

(But the formatting is "wonky")

ENGLISH 282 B: Multimodal Composition Spring ‘19

CONSUMING AND PRODUCING MEDIA(ATED) IDENTITIES                                                                                          

Loew Hall Room 220

MW  12:30-2:20pm

TJ Walker

OFFICE: Padelford A11 

HOURS: MW 2:30-3:30

EMAIL: tjwalker@uw.edu 

Course Website:

 https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1289680

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Have you listened to 1000 times more songs than you have performed? Have you read 100 times more books than you have written? Have you ever been home bored, scrolling through online tv shows and movies, thinking: I’ve already seen all this stuff…but ended up watching something for a second time rather than create your own content? In this course, we will work with and in a variety of media types (articles, songs, tv shows, movies) and our work will be loosely organized around these questions: Are we becoming more passive consumers of media rather than active creators of media? If so, is this a bad thing? If it is a bad thing, what do we do about it? If it is a good thing, what are its advantages? Or is this rather the age of active creation, where anyone can write a song or film a movie more easily than ever before? If so, is this a good thing? How does our role as a producer and/or consumer of media help shape our identity? You get the general idea…

But what exactly does multi-modal composition mean?  Obviously, there must be more than one “mode” involved, right? At the most basic level, this means composing with more than “just” writing.  Sound, pictures, video, three-dimensional shapes, gestures…all of these are possible modes, and this class will indeed work with these, not only traditional writing.

But multi-modal doesn’t just mean adding sound or video to a written project, it also means thinking about composing (even good old-fashioned writing) in new ways.  For example, we might ask how the physical form of a heavy, dusty textbook impacts our reading of that book, and how we might interpret it differently if we were reading it on a tablet or a phone.

While we will use online platforms, software and hardware to do our coursework, you don’t need any special “tech” knowledge to take this course. I will explain the use of all technical tools that we will use.  Although 282 has no formal prerequisite, it is an intermediate composition course, and I expect entering students to be pretty comfortable formulating claims, integrating evidence, demonstrating awareness of audiences, and know how to harness a variety of resources to revise their work for greater impact, organization, and clarity.

COURSE TEXTS AND MATERIALS

REQUIRED

• Regular Internet Access to submit assignments and stay connected through e-mail and the class webpage
• A USB drive to back up your work - be sure to have access to your work at all times in more than one way!
• UW Email Account

*Please check your university email accounts regularly as I will send out e-mail announcements and updates. Outside of office hours, email is the best way to get in touch with me. I usually respond fairly quickly to e-mails, but it can sometimes take a day (or even occasionally two on the weekends) for me to respond.  So please keep this in mind and don’t put yourself in the position of needing an immediate response.

Course Goals --ART-UP!

• ANALYZE

Critically engage in rhetorical and design analysis of multimodal texts produced for specific audiences and purposes

• REFLECT

Reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of your work; incorporate feedback from your peers and instructor, explain how you could revise your work to better achieve your intended goals; connect your coursework to your out-of-class interests, communities, life goals, and career plans

• TECH

Demonstrate a basic facility with hardware, software, online platforms, and other tools used to produce multimodal content

• USE

Locate, evaluate, and ethically use researched sources and multimodal assets

• PRODUCE

Produce complex multimodal work that demonstrates awareness of audience, context, and stakes; engage specific genre conventions; incorporate appropriate evidence; and strategically combine selected modes

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS

In this course, you will complete two assignment sequences, each of which is designed to help you fulfill the course outcomes. Each assignment sequence requires you to complete several shorter papers leading up to a major paper. These shorter papers will target one or more of the course outcomes at a time, help you practice these outcomes, and allow you to build toward a major project at the end of each sequence.

During the first assignment sequence you will work individually, practicing analyzing, producing, and reflecting on works in different modes.

During the second assignment sequence you will work as part of a group to produce a collaborative, multi-modal project.

Finally, you will produce a portfolio of your work which you feel best demonstrates your achievement of the course outcomes and your understanding of the challenges and advantages of analyzing and producing texts in different modes.

ASSESSMENT

PORTFOLIO (70% of Course Grade)

At the end of the course, you will have the opportunity to select examples of your strongest work, make an argument for their rhetorical effectiveness and explain how you might revise them to better achieve your intended goals. Ultimately, your grade will depend on your understanding of the possibilities and challenges of working with different modes and your skill in conveying this understanding. This can be demonstrated both through the production of works that successfully achieve their goals and your reflections on how these works achieve their goals. You do not need to be a technically talented drawer, painter, sculptor, film-editor, etc. in order to get an excellent grade, but you do need to think carefully about and be able to explain what makes a drawing, painting, sculpture, or film powerful!

The portfolio will include the following: 2 of your shorter assignments, discussion of your role in the group project, and a critical reflection that explains how the work in the portfolio demonstrates your achievement of the six outcomes for the course. (NOTE: Even though your portfolio will only include 2 of your shorter assignments, all assignments must be completed to pass the class). A portfolio that does not include all the above will be considered "Incomplete" and will earn a grade of 0.0-0.9. The portfolio will be worth 70% of your final grade.

NOTE: Although I have purposefully designed the coursework to be quite flexible, if you would like to design an alternative to any of the individual course assignments to better meet your own learning needs and career goals, I’d be happy to discuss this with you. Please see me as soon as possible if you are considering this. Alternatives need to be approved at least 72 hours prior to the due date.

PARTICIPATION (30% of Course Grade)

The rest of your grade will be determined by your participation in and out of class. Your participation grade consists of the following components:

- Attendance/Respectful Participation: (6% total of course grade) If you are not present in class, you cannot participate, therefore regular attendance is key to your participation grade. It is also important to create an atmosphere that encourages your classmates to participate. I hope and expect that everyone will be very supportive of their classmates.

- In-class and Group Work: (24% total of course grade) This portion of your grade will come from engaging in group work, reflecting on your own work, and providing feedback in peer review. I expect you to be consistently prepared with readings, to have finished all composer’s memos and “day to day” homework on time, and to be active in all discussions -->Peer review 6%; Project and Artifact Sharing 6%; Group Leadership 6%; Composer’s Memos 6%;

Note: Because the exchange of ideas is so important to this class, it is necessary for everyone to be respectful of one another. It is normal and even expected that, in our class discussions, we will disagree. Differences can and should be discussed, but these discussions should maintain the academic spirit of respect. Disrespectful language or behavior will not be tolerated in our classroom.

ATTENDANCE/RESPECTFUL PARTICIPATION

You are expected to be an active participant in class, so come prepared to contribute to the discussion and participate in activities. Participation can take many forms, including online discussions, office hours visits, small-group work, presentations, and in-class discussions.  We are all responsible for the intellectual work being done in class and although I expect everyone to occasionally contribute their ideas, listening attentively to each other will be the most common form of participation. We are many, and we cannot (or at least should not) all speak at once!   The participation grade will be a holistic assessment of your contributions to our classroom community. When you miss a class, you miss the opportunity to share and learn from our class community. If you are absent, come to my office hours to see what you missed and/or ask another class member for notes. Make up all missed work in a timely manner.  If you come in after class has started, even by only a few minutes, you will be considered late, and doing this repeatedly will hurt your participation grade. However, I fully recognize that we all have lives outside of English 282.  I am flexible in accommodating your health, family, travel, and other needs as necessary, but please communicate these to me with as much advance notice as possible! Opportunities to make up participation will be offered, and I hope and expect everyone to do the work necessary to get full participation points! (6% of final grade)

PEER REVIEW:

Several times this quarter, you will be asked to give feedback to your classmates on their work.  This will sometimes happen casually when we have our “project sharing” days.  At other times, you will be given a particular “peer review” assignment. The importance of being able to give and receive constructive feedback cannot be overstated. No one has ever been a “born” writer or composer.   We achieve excellence by practicing, sharing, and listening. (6% of final grade)

PROJECT AND ARTIFACT SHARING:

During the early part of the quarter, we will have several class sessions where we either 1) Bring in an example of a work that fits the modes we are working on that week (e.g. Text and Single Images; Sequential Images; Sound; A Combination of Text, Sound, and Images) or 2) Bring in our own recently produced assignment that uses those specific modes.  You will be sharing the examples and work that you bring in with small groups, giving feedback to each other, and making comments and posing questions related to the work done by your group members and/or the specific modes for that day. (6% of final grade) 

Note: This grade overlaps partially with the peer-review grade above.  The distinction is that here you are primarily accountable for the quality of the samples and ideas you bring to class, not only on your feedback to peers.

GROUP LEADERSHIP:

For about one week this quarter, you will be responsible for leading small groups of your peers as we share and discuss work in selected modes (Text and Single Images; Sequential Images; Sound; A Combination of Text, Sound, and Images).

On “Example Sharing” days, you will be responsible for coming up with three additional samples of works that demonstrate your selected mode or modes. You will facilitate the discussion and record the ideas and questions of your group. After class, you will post your group’s samples and a summary of your comments and questions on the course website.

On “Work Sharing” days, everyone will share the project that they have just completed. You will again facilitate discussion, record your group’s comments and questions, and post a summary of these on the course website.

(6% of final grade)

CONFERENCES:

There will be one optional and one mandatory conference this quarter. These conferences give you the opportunity to get feedback about your papers/projects and to express any concerns, questions, or suggestions you might have about the course or the assignments. If you miss the mandatory conference, it will negatively affect your participation grade. I will provide you with a sign-up sheet for these conferences and detailed instructions about how to prepare for them.

LATE WORK:

All assignments are due before class (12:30pm) on the due date unless otherwise specified.  If you have a good reason for not being able to turn in a completed paper on time, I can usually allow a little flexibility if you contact me ahead of time!  However, many of our assignments will be discussed in class the day they are due, so the less complete your work, the more you and your group will miss out on productive discussion. Consistently turning in late work will be disastrous for your participation grade.

COMPOSING RESOURCES

I encourage you to take advantage of the following writing resources available to you at no charge!

The CLUE Writing Center in Mary Gates Hall (141 suite, CUADSS lobby) is open Sunday to Thursday from 7pm to midnight. The tutors here can help you at any stage of your composition process. You do not need to make an appointment, so arrive early and be prepared to wait.

The Odegaard Writing and Research Center is open in Odegaard Library Monday - Thursday 9am to 9pm, Friday 9am to 4:30pm, and Sunday 12pm to 9pm. This writing center provides a research-integrated approach to composition instruction. Find more information and/or make an appointment on the website: www.depts.washington.edu/owrc.

Media Arcade

– 381F Third Floor of Allen Library

The Media Arcade is an audio/video viewing and makerspace where the UW community can watch and create videos, listen to and edit music, watch TV, play and critique video games, digitize and preserve vintage media. Open 9am-9:50pm M-TH, 9-5pm Fridays. 1-4:50pm Saturdays. http://www.lib.washington.edu/media

Code of Academic Integrity

Students are expected to be committed to the principles of truth and academic honesty and to follow the Code of Academic Integrity, the full text of which is available at:

https://depts.washington.edu/grading/pdf/AcademicResponsibility.pdf

Plagiarism is a tricky topic.  A good guideline to follow is: If you know that you are expected to write or create something yourself, don’t use someone else’s creation or ideas without letting your audience know! If you are uncertain how to borrow ideas and properly cite sources, ask TJ!

COMPLAINTS

If you have any concerns about the course or your instructor, please see the instructor about these concerns as soon as possible. If you are not comfortable talking with the instructor or not satisfied with the response that you receive, you may contact the following Expository Writing Program staff in Padelford A-11: Director Candice Rai, (206) 543-2190 or crai@uw.edu; or Assistant Directors Nanya Jhingran (nanyaj@uw.edu) or Sara Lovett (slovett@uw.edu). If, after speaking with the Director or Assistant Directors of the EWP, you are still not satisfied with the response you receive, you may contact acting English Department Chair Anis Bawarshi, (206) 543-2690.

ACCESS AND ACCOMODATIONS: 

Your experience in this class is important to me. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please communicate your approved accommodations to me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course.

If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), please contact DRS at 206-543-8924 or uwdrs@uw.edu or disability.uw.edu. DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions.  Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, your instructor(s) and DRS. It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.

RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES

No student will be penalized because of observances of their religious beliefs; students shall be given an opportunity, whenever feasible, to make up within a reasonable time any academic assignment that is missed due to individual participation in religious observances. Please inform me in advance of any intended absences.

CAMPUS SAFETY

Preventing violence is everyone's responsibility. If you're concerned, tell someone.

• Always call 911 if you or others may be in danger.
• Call 206-685-SAFE (7233) to report non-urgent threats of violence and for referrals to UW counseling and/or safety resources. TTY or VP callers, please call through your preferred relay service.
• Don't walk alone. Campus safety guards can walk with you on campus after dark. Call Husky NightWalk 206-685-WALK (9255).
• Stay connected in an emergency with UW Alert. Register your mobile number to receive instant notification of campus emergencies via text and voice messaging.

Sign up online at www.washington.edu/alert.

For more information visit the SafeCampus website at www.washington.edu/safecampus

FIUTS

The Foundation for International Understanding through Students: FIUTS is an example of a campus organization that can bring together your social and academic learning. "FIUTS is an independent non-profit organization which provides cross-cultural leadership and social programming for UW's international and globally minded domestic students. FIUTS is local connections and global community!" FIUTS also offers a free international lunch on the last Wednesday of every month. Consult FIUTS' web site for a detailed calendar of events and links to many resources http://www.fiuts.org/

COUNSELING CENTER

UW Counseling Center workshops include a wide range of issues including study skills, thinking about coming out, international students and culture shock, and much more. Check out available resources and workshops at: http://depts.washington.edu/counsels/

LEADERSHIP WITHOUT BORDERS

I am trained as an Undocu Ally. Undocu Ally training is intended to provide UW staff and faculty with knowledge about resources, services, best practices, and allyship for undocumented students. In 2003, House Bill 1079 was signed into law in Washington State, allowing eligible undocumented students to pay in-state tuition. Resources, support, and services for undocumented students are available from the Leadership Without Borders (LWB) Center and the Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center.

http://depts.washington.edu/ecc/lwb/

Q CENTER

The University of Washington Q Center is a fierce, primarily student run resource center dedicated to serving anyone with or without a gender or sexuality – UW students, staff, faculty, alum, and community members.  They host and support student groups, put on regular programming events, house a lending library, and amplify student voices on their Student Blog.  Explore their website for more information or stop by the Husky Union Building, Room 315 http://depts.washington.edu/qcenter/wordpress/

STUDENTS IN DISTRESS

College can be a period of high stress. If you encounter psychological problems that interfere with your life as a student, services are available to you at Hall Health at 206.583.1551 during business hours or 206.731.2500 after hours, http://depts.washington.edu/hhpccweb/

FOOD INSECURITY

If you have difficulty accessing sufficient food or lack a safe and stable place to live, and if you believe this need may affect your academic achievement, you are urged to contact the Office of Student Life at http://www.washington.edu/studentlife/. Please also be aware that there are resources available to help address food insecurity in the UW community. http://www.washington.edu/anyhungryhusky/home/get-food/

TENTATIVE COURSE CALENDAR

This is a rough outline of the quarter which contains some of the key dates to remember (holidays, major assignments, etc.) This calendar is, of course, subject to change, but you should consider it to be accurate unless I inform you otherwise. Note that additional homework will be assigned in class that is not detailed on the syllabus. Remember, it is your responsibility to ask me or another member of the class about missed assignments if you are absent._______________________________    

Portfolios Due On Canvas:

Monday, June 10th, by midnight.

Holidays:  Memorial Day, Monday, May 27^th

Last Day of Class:  Wednesday, June 5^th

Finals Week Begins:  Monday, June 10th