Casey R. McArdle, Ph.D.
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Welcome to Summer 2015 WRA 110!

Note: this class runs on Eastern Standard Time (that is the time zone in which MSU resides), so make sure that no matter where you are in the country or world, the due dates and times are set via EST. Make sure you factor this in when you submit assignments.

Below in the left column you will find the entire course schedule for the 7 weeks we will be working together. Note that we will be doing something every day this summer. All of the writing for this course will take place in Eli Review, so make sure you create an account and enter the code that I email you (you must enter that code as it will give you access to the class and also make it free for all MSU students).

If you have any questions or concerns I highly recommend that you email me or try to set up an online video conference so we can talk. 

My email:  cmcardle@msu.edu

Course Schedule
Week 1

7.6
Introduction to Syllabus, the course site, and Eli
Discussion of Project #1 - Technology Literacies
Kurt Vonnegut “Harrison Bergeron”
Stuart Selber Multiliteracies for a Digital Age
Blog Response: Introduce Yourselves

7.7
Is Google Making Us Stupid?
Does the Internet Make you Smarter?
Video: The Machine is Us/ing Us
Outline and direction draft of Project #1
Eli Review Response: Intelligent Internet

7.8
Rhetorical Appeals: ethos, pathos, logos
Revision, Arrangement, Invention, Delivery, and Style
Introduction of Project #2 - Cultural Literacies
Direction Draft of Project #1 Posted to Eli by 11:59PM

7.9
Peer Review of Project #1 via Eli Review
Chapter #1 – The Curious Researcher
                                                                       
7.10
Discussion of Project #2 - Cultural Literacies
Chapter #2 – The Curious Researcher
Digital Cultural Artifacts
Revision Plan of Project #1 Posted to Eli by 11:59PM

7.11
David Freedman “The Aggressive Egg” 
Chapter #3 – The Curious Researcher
Eli Review Response: The Aggressive Egg

7.12
Discussion of Project #3 - Disciplinary Literacies
Chapter #4 – The Curious Researcher
Review MLA formatting - Purdue OWL
Revision of Project #1 due to Eli by 11:59PM

Week 2

7.13
Review Chapter #4 – The Curious Researcher
Review Project #2
Examinations of Audience

7.14
Eli Review Response: Outline for Project #2

7.15
Eli Review Response: Eli Review #1

7.16
Direction Draft of Project #2 posted to Eli Review by 11:59PM 

7.17
Peer Review of Project #2 via Eli Review

7.18
Work on Project #2
Review Project #3
Begin trying to contact professors and professionals in your discipline.
Revision Plan of Project #2 due to Eli by 11:59PM

7.19
Revision of Project #2 due to Eli by 11:59PM

Week 3

WEEK 3 - during this week, try to set up video conferences if you want.
7.20
Memorial Day

7.21
Review Project #3
Chapter #5 – The Curious Researcher
Examine Department Websites – Scheduling Interviews
Continue trying to contact professors and professionals in your discipline.
Karen Rosenberg “Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources”

7.22
Eli Response: Interview Someone Close to You

7.23
Create a set of survey questions to send to professors.
Create a set of survey questions to send to professionals.
Eli Response: Survey Questions

7.24
Eli Review Response: Outline for Project #3

7.25
Kyle Stedman “Annoying Ways People Use Sources”

7.26
Direction Draft of Project #3 Due to Eli Review by 11:59PM

Week 4

7.27
Peer Review of Project #3 via Eli Review

7.28
Work on Project #3

7.29
Work on Project #3
Discuss Project #4 - Digital Remix

7.30
Work on Project #3
Revision Plan of Project #3 due to Eli by 11:59PM

7.31
Work on Project #3

8.1
Work on Project #3

8.2
Work on Project #3

Week 5

8.3
Review Project #4
Larry Lessig “Laws that Choke Creativity”
Eli Review Response: Prestwood & Lessig

8.4
Fair Use Definition
How will you create/support the brand of your discipline?

8.5
Robin Williams Type
Robin Williams CRAP
Eli Review Response: Williams Articles

8.6
Revision Draft of Project #3 due to Eli by 11:59PM

8.7
Edward Tufte - The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint - Columbia

8.8
Work on Project #4

8.9
Direction Draft of Project #4 due to Eli by 11:59PM

Week 6

8.10
Peer Review of Project #4 via Eli Review

8.11
Eli Review Response: Progress with Your Remix

8.12
Work on Project #4

8.13
Work on Project #4
Revision Plan of Project #4 due to Eli by 11:59PM

8.14
Work on Project #4

8.15
Work on Project #4
Discuss Project #5 - Revising Literacies

8.16
Clay Shirky “How Social Media Can Make History”
Hans Rosling “New Insights on Poverty”
Eli Review Response: Shirky & Rosling
Revision Draft of Project #4 due to Eli by 11:59PM


Week 7

8.17
Direction Draft of Project #5 due to Eli by 11:59PM

8.18
Peer Review of Project #5 via Eli Review

8.19
A Vision of Students Today
Revision Plan of Project #5 due to Eli by 11:59PM

8.20
Lost Generation
Revision Draft of Project #5 due to Eli by 11:59PM
Eli Review Response: Lost Generation

Online Conferences

There will be times when you may want to talk about various projects - if so, you may use these video conferencing applications to to meet with me. Make sure that you email me to set up an appointment for an online conference.

Skype Username: crmcardle
Google Video/Hangout: cremcardle@gmail.com

Documents

Syllabus
MSU Rubric
Project #1
Project #2
Project #3
Project #4
Project #5

Help Videos

Introduction to the class

How to Use Eli Review

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7

Reflection Memo

Project #1
Project #2
Project #3
Project #4
Project #5

Project #1 – Technology Literacies 

Your task for this assignment is to construct a “tech-literacy autobiography” that gives a detailed and specific account of at least one significant way you encounter technology in school, outside of school, or both. 

For this essay, you may wish to construct a chronological literacy narrative where you describe your experiences with how your current technology practices reflect technology usage over time (throughout your life, while in high school, etc). Or, you may wish to provide a non-chronological analysis, selecting nonsequential scenes that tell a story when placed together. Regardless, you might address any of the following questions (but do not answer them as if you are checking them off a list): 
  • What are the differences between the ways you use technology at home, and how you use it in school? 
  • What types of technology do you use to read and write in both settings? 
  • Do you have advantages over some of your friends when it comes to technology 
    use? (or vise-versa) How so? With what types of technology in particular? 
  • Have you taught someone about technology? 
  • Has someone taught you about technology? 

I want you to think about and write about a specific and detailed example of technology usage (or a lack thereof). I’m looking for your “stories” about technology and your tech literacies (broadly speaking). Be as specific and detailed as possible. Feel free to write in the first person. 

Your finished paper should: 
  • Be 3-4 double-spaced pages in length 
  • Include a one (1) page Reflection Memo describing your processes and reflection 
    at the end of the paper 
  • Use MLA formatting for any citations 
  • Include a properly formatted MLA Works Cited page 
  • Include relevant images (properly cited) 

Project #2 – Cultural Literacies 

Your job for this assignment is to write an artifact or profile analysis of a digital or multimedia “object” of some kind. The object could be a film clip, television episode, song, recording of a speech or poem, commercial, YouTube video, blog, or a website. If you have another idea, feel free to suggest it. Think about what the artifact or profile says about the culture that created it. 

I want you to make an argument about the artifact or profile based on the details you find – try to think about these (but do not answer them as if you are checking them off a list): 
  • What does this artifact or profile tell us about its creator or author? 
  • How does the author portray him or herself through the artifact?
  • In other words, who is this person?
  • What are they saying about themselves? 
  • What argument is this artifact or profile making? 
  • What assumptions are we making?
  • How does this relate to you? 

 Requirements: your paper should: 
  • Have a clear focus, so that your reader knows what you are arguing and why
  • Include a full enough description of the artifact so that the analysis makes sense
  • Be well-organized, so that each paragraph has an identifiable purpose and point
  • Use detailed evidence (language, description) from the artifact you’re analyzing
  • Use examples from the text (artifact) itself to support your argument
  • Have a title that indicates both the subject of your analysis and your position on it
  • Carefully proofread and edit 

What’s the point? 
  • You spent the first project thinking about how digital technologies have affected you, now try thinking about how they have affected others, how so, who created them, why, and so on. Try to rethink how others use technology and how that affects you. 

Your finished paper should: 
  • Be 3-4 double-spaced pages in length 
  • Include a one (1) page Reflection Memo describing your processes and reflection 
    at the end of the paper 
  • Use MLA formatting for any citations 
  • Include a properly formatted MLA Works Cited page 
  • Include relevant images (properly cited) 

Project #3 – Disciplinary Literacies 

Earlier assignments for this course gave you opportunities to identify themes and terms for analysis so that you could begin to understand and practice meeting the expectations for writing in higher education. This assignment allows you to continue engaging effective invention, arrangement, revision, style, and delivery practices. It also introduces you to the ways that research and participating in important academic discussions prepare you to use literacy in successful ways across the kinds of writing situations you will find yourself in higher education and beyond. 

Many students come to higher education with only a vague idea of what it means to become a participating member of an academic discipline. Your purpose in this essay is to give students who are new to the academic discipline/field you have chosen an introduction to the expectations for writing, reading, and researching in that discipline. Ultimately, your paper should help your audience understand the ways that literacies (both technological and rhetorical) are used to create and communicate knowledge in the discipline/field you choose to explore. 

Requirements: 
Different academic disciplines have different ways of presenting and analyzing information, different ways of building knowledge, and different ways of presenting knowledge in written forms. This paper gives you the opportunity to begin building your own understanding of how writing, reading, and researching operate within a discipline of interest to you. You may choose any discipline you wish to examine for this project. Whichever you choose, you must engage in the following activities: 
  • Analysis of at least one scholarly article from that discipline 
  • Analysis of at least one article from a trade publication related to that discipline 
  • Conduct an interview with a person who teaches major courses and/or does 
    research in that discipline 
  • Conduct an interview with a person who practices (works) in a field related to 
    that discipline 

If you are undecided, think about a discipline that interests you. Ultimately, the choice is yours, but don’t hesitate to ask. Make sure you schedule your interviews early – many professors and professionals will have busy schedules. 

Your finished paper should: 
  • Be 5-7 double-spaced pages in length 
  • Include a one (1) page Reflection Memo describing your processes and reflection 
    at the end of the paper 
  • Use MLA formatting for any citations 
  • Include a properly formatted MLA Works Cited page 
  • Include relevant images (properly cited) 

Sample Email:


Dear Dr. Franklin,

My name is Casey McArdle and I am a student in WRA 110. My current class assignment requires me to research a discipline that I would like to major in or that I am interested in. I notice from the Economics website that you are a professor here and I wondered if you have a few minutes to spare for a quick interview.

Please let me know when you are free or if you have any time. I can interview face-to-face or over the phone – whatever is most convenient for you.

Thank you and I appreciate your time.

Sincerely,

Casey McArdle

Project #4 – Digital Remix Project 

For this project, you will focus on the concept of revision as you convert your Disciplinary Literacy Project into a different medium—a poster. You will be tasked to translate the analysis found in your DLP into a digital poster, which will rely on images and text to, in one frame, communicate information about your chosen discipline as a means to advertise the field. You can use Adobe Photoshop, MS Word, or whatever other types of software to complete this task by applying the readings from Robin Williams' The Non-Designer's Design Book. 

This work will emphasize the following 3 rhetorical moves: 
  1. Revision. You must convert an academic research paper into an advertisement, which uses images and text to “sell” a discipline. This task will require that you translate from one genre to another and from one purpose to another. 
  2. Condensation. Because you only have one page to work with, you will have to reduce the amount of information you present to your viewers, but still get your point across. This will require significant revisions to the core concepts of your DLP. 
  3. Attention-getting. Because this remix involves you creating a visual advertisement for a general audience, you will have to make gaining attention a priority. This will require you to consider the visual appeal of your poster as well as the provocativeness of your language. In this case, delivering facts and statistics about your profession/discipline may not be an effective strategy. 

Learning Outcomes: 
This project is designed to (1) complicate your ideas of revision, (2) give you experience in composing in digital media, (3) oblige you to consider how academic discourses can inform more business-oriented discourses. 

Audience: 
Much like the audience for your DLP paper, you should compose for an audience that has little familiarity with your chosen discipline or profession. However, instead of teaching this audience something, your goal is catch their fleeting attention and encourage them to conduct their own research. You must also understand that posters are not intended for lengthy readings, so your message must be compact and impactful. 

Grading:
This Remix assignment is worth 15% of your overall course grade, divided into the following categories. 

Poster Visual Appeal: 3% 
To earn the full 3% for this assignment your poster should visually attractive and attention-grabbing. The text should be readable and grammatically effective (although the grammar rules for papers do not always apply for visual compositions). Your images should not be distorted or overly pixelated. 

Poster Arrangement: 8%
To earn the full 8% for this assignment you must effectively deploy the Williams' CRAP principles. Your contrasting elements should be “strong;” e.g., the color of your text fonts should stand out against the color of your background without distracting the reader. You should repeat elements in order to create a unified theme. Your elements should show a definite pattern of alignment that enhances reading. You should use proximity in order to make connections between your elements; e.g., if you have a photograph of a person, should supply a caption that enables readers to easily match one to the other. 

Format: 4% 
To receive the full 4% for formatting you must submit for your rough and final drafts of the posters as .pdf files. If you use photographs or images that are not your own, you must cite them in an attached page to the .pdf final version of your poster. 

Your finished Poster should: 
  • Include a one (1) page Reflection Memo describing your processes and reflection at the end of the Poster 
  • Use MLA formatting for any citations
  • Include a properly formatted MLA Works Cited page 

Project #5 – Revising Literacies 

This assignment asks you to reread the papers and projects that you have created this semester to meet the following major goals: 
  • Use writing for purposes of reflection, action, and participation in academic inquiry. 
  • Engage in reading for the purposes of reflection, critical analysis, decision- making, and inquiry. 
  • Read in ways that improve writing, especially by demonstrating an ability to analyze invention, arrangement and revision strategies at work in a variety of texts. 
  • Exercise a flexible repertoire of invention, arrangement, and revision strategies. 
  • Demonstrate an understanding of research as epistemic and recursive processes 
    that arise from and respond back to various communities. 

Requirements for this Assignment: 
You will write a final paper for this course that revisits and revises your individual literacy development for the specific purpose of helping incoming students understand the big picture of First-Year Writing to enhance their chances of success in the Program. 

The important thing to remember as you use Purpose, Audience, Subject, and Writer to define your final project is that the final product should help you both 1) revise and revisit your literacy development in a significant way by drawing on course materials and activities, and 2) create strong points of significance (i.e. strong purpose/audience/subject relationships) within and across each of four course assignments. 

Your finished paper should: 
  • Be 3-4 double-spaced pages in length 
  • Include a one (1) page Reflection Memo describing your processes and reflection 
    at the end of the paper 
  • Use MLA formatting for any citations 
  • Include a properly formatted MLA Works Cited page 
  • Include relevant images (properly cited) 
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