ENGL 281: Intermediate Expository Writing - "Writing The University: Exploring the Past, Present, and Future of College" 

⟴ Summer 2024, A term

⟴ Online asynchronous course

⟴ Instructor: Jonathan Isaac, jisaac3@uw.edu

Course Overview

The catalog description for ENGL 281 reads, “Writing papers communicating information and opinion to develop accurate, competent, and effective expression.” Not very informative, is it? So how about this: Informally, the goal of this course is to build on the experience you have developed so far in other courses, and to expand your abilities to read and respond in writing to particular contexts, whether those contexts are disciplinary, professional, topical, personal, or something else. I want this course to be relevant and familiar to you, and so I thought: well, we’re all members of the university community. But what does that mean, to be a part of the university community? And what are the questions we can ask to better understand it?

Why the university? 

The idea of ‘the university’ is nearly 1,000 years old–the first university as we would recognize it was established in Italy almost a thousand years ago. Suffice it to say, many things have changed since then, though many, surprisingly, have not. Think about the terms we still use: alma mater (‘nourishing mother’ in Latin), alumnus, cum laude (‘with praise’), and so on. 

At the moment, the way we talk about higher education in the United States is characterized by headlines like these, professing that it’s headed in the wrong direction or that it has drifted from its original intentions. These headlines are worth taking seriously. At the same time, there is something that brought each of us here to this place, the University of Washington. We are all investing something (time, energy, money, sweat) and sacrificing some other things (time, energy, money, connections with loved ones).

In this class, we’re going to examine how we talk about the university (not The University of Washington, but “the university” as an idea that circulates in the public imagination). We will be reading arguments for and against the humanities, college, Artificial Intelligence, and so on. The goal is not necessarily to convince you of one perspective over any other, but rather to explore through writing what we mean when we talk about higher education and how universities are rhetorically constructed (that is, how they are produced through language and writing–more on that later).

A note: readings and assignments for this class will focus on university discourse in the US. This choice was made for a few reasons: we all have in common that we attend an American university, higher education in the US is internationally-regarded and subject to intense scrutiny, and it is where my area of specialization is. When appropriate or possible, you are welcome and encouraged to bring in perspectives that center on higher education conversations outside of the US.

Instructor Information

Jonathan Isaac, PhD - jisaac3@uw.edu

Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of English

Drop-in office hours: 

MW 10am-11am, Pacific Standard Time. I will hold a special office hour on Friday June 21 from 10-11, since there is no school on June 19! Office hours also available by appointment (please email me directly at the above email address). 

All office hours to be held at this Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/3598428977

Course Materials

There is no textbook you need to purchase for this course—any readings I assign will be posted to the Canvas website. To that end, you will need regular (daily) access to the Canvas website and to your UW email.

Overview of Assignments

This course will center on two major papers/projects. Aside from course introductions and a midterm check-in, all smaller assignments will be leading up to the drafting and revision of these assignments. Prompts and rubrics will be posted in Canvas, but here is a brief description of each:

Paper 1: Oh, The Humanities!

In this assignment you will read Justin Stover’s “There Is No Case for the Humanities” and write a considered, concise summary and response to it. Your response will draw from one or more texts that we have read. Rough draft due: June 25. Peer Review due: June 27. Final draft due: June 29.

Project 2: Tracing the AI Debate 

In this project, which will take the final form of a presentation in Adobe Express, students will conduct a rhetorical analysis of a topic or concern related to Artificial Intelligence, tracing the various ways it gets communicated (from a research article to a social media post), and demonstrating how time/place, platform, convention, and audience expectations all shape the ways that the “facts” get represented. At least one of the sources will need to address AI use in higher education. Rough draft due: July 10. Peer Review due: July 12. Final draft due: July 15.

Grading & Logistics

In this class we will use a contract grading system. The system is explained in greater detail in this Grade Contract document (which is also posted in Canvas), but in short, your grade in the course will be determined not by the quality of your work but your completion of it and by your participation in the class. If you complete all, or almost all, the criteria on time, you will get a 4.0. There are no exams in this course and it is not graded on a curve. Note that week 1 deadlines are Tuesday and Thursday. After week 1, all deadlines are Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Even with these deadlines, you should expect to be reading and writing almost every day in order to stay caught up.

Assignment Criteria 

In this class I will provide criteria (in the form of a rubric) for both major assignments. Think of these criteria as a kind of checklist that describes the important traits of successful writing. The criteria will help you see specific strengths as well as areas to focus on in your revisions. These criteria will refer to “higher order” issues such as argument, organization, and audience expectations-- not “lower order” things like mechanics (grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc.). 

We will function as a scholarly community in this class, and you will assess your peers’ writing based on these criteria. Each of your rough drafts will be read/viewed by some or all of your peers and by the instructor, and those readers will provide written feedback. Given the brevity of the quarter, I will only provide feedback on your final drafts upon request.

Course Policies, Expectations, & Resources

Student Wellbeing:

We are living in difficult times. Converging crises of public health, social justice, the economy, and the environment are making living a normal day-to-day life a struggle for many, many people. You are NOT alone. Please take advantage of the resources that your membership in the UW community affords you. The Husky Health & Wellbeing web site (URL: https://wellbeing.uw.edu/) compiles all its resources for physical, mental, and emotional health in one spot. Please take advantage of this support. If you are not sure what you need please get in touch with me and I will help you find the resources you need: jisaac3@uw.edu. It is my mission to create a class community where we take care of each other and see each other through. 

Religious Accommodation: 

Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy . Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form.

Disability Accommodation: 

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), you are welcome to 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.

Canvas Course Site: 

Check the course site in Canvas and your UW email regularly for announcements and assignments (if you are not set up to have your Canvas announcements and messages go to your email, please adjust those settings ASAP). You will submit all of your assignments in Canvas. Additional instructions for each assignment will be provided by the instructor. If you need technical help, please be aware of online assistance available from IT Connect: Canvas Help for Students. You can also reach them at help@uw.edu or 206-221-5000

Student Technology Loan Program:

This quarter all of us will rely heavily on our devices, given that this is an asynchronous remote course. If you think there is even a chance that your technology will be insufficient, I strongly recommend you check out the Student Technology Loan Program. They have laptops and tablets available to borrow for the duration of the quarter. Of course, resources are limited, so it’s important to make your reservations as early as possible. 

Collaboration & Participation: 

Writing is often collaborative, and it is always a process (as opposed to just being a one-and-done final product). When you enter the workplace, you will be expected to work in collaboration with others. For that reason, your learning in this course will be determined not by how you perform on exams, but by your willingness to engage with me and with your classmates. Your progress will be driven by your reading, your writing, and your discussion of reading and writing (yours and others’). We won’t be meeting synchronously, so your success in this course depends on your self-direction and willingness to work independently. The way to become a better writer is to read… and write… every… day.

Communication: 

I will respond to your emails within 24-48 hours. Please use the kind of formatting, language, and respectful forms of address with me and your class ws that you would use in any professional context. In this online class environment, I encourage all students to do what they can to help instructors get to know them personally: be descriptive in your self-introduction forum, include a signature line in your emails, upload a profile picture in Canvas, come to office hours to introduce yourself, etc. This will make the quarter more enjoyable for everyone!

Revision & Late Work: 

This course emphasizes writing as a process, and there are many opportunities built into the course to start your assignments early and revise them. Take advantage of these opportunities, and of the feedback you will receive from your peers and instructor along the way! Because it is disruptive to my own work flow and because the summer quarter is so short, I will not be able to provide feedback on late assignments. If you are not able to turn in an assignment, please make every effort to get in touch with me in advance of its due date so we can discuss a contingency plan. I would like to be as flexible as possible in the face of the many stressors we all face, and I also need to extend that flexibility and grace to myself. If your circumstances cause you to become chronically late with assignments in such a way that interferes with your chances of receiving the course grade you would like, please contact me sooner rather than later.