Policy Statement

       
Course Theme: Writing for an Online Audience
Contact: Michael.Rifenburg@ung.edu / @jmrifenburg
Office: 206C Dunlap Hall
Office Hours: TR: 0700-0930 & 1215-1400 & 1530-1600
Required Materials

Overview
One decade ago, Time bestowed their annual Person of the Year award on You. Through this award, Time signaled attention to the vast number of users contributing content to a vast number of digital platforms (e.g., YouTube, Tumblr, Wikipedia, twitter, Reddit). Since 2006, only more digital platforms are available for use (e.g., Whisper, Snapchat, Wattpad) even as many have withered away (e.g., Vine, Yik Yak).

In this class, we are going to learn how our writing migrates onto digital platforms. I invite you to engage specifically with collaborative digital document platforms, twitter, and a blogging platform to tailor your writing to the unique rhetorical situations embedded in each of these platforms.

In an attempt to think through these important and challenging concepts, I invite you to compose two 1800-2400 word essays and collaborate on writing web content.

Objectives
By the end of the course, you will be able to

  • Engage orally and in writing with foundational works on the intersection of computers and composition;
  • Understand the constraints and affordances of various digital platforms and adjust one’s argument accordingly;
  •   Develop and sustain a written argument informed by literature on the intersection of computers and composition.
Assignments and grading 
I calculate final grades according to the percentages below. Notice I do not give equal weight to each paper.    

Mini-paper:                                      20% of final grade
Literacy Task #1:                             35% of final grade
Literacy Task #2:                             35% of final grade
Blogging:                                           10% of final grade


Definition of letter grades
A         89.5-   100
B         79.5-   89.4
C          69.5-   79.4
D         59.5-   69.4
F          0-        59.4


Submission of work
Unless specified, I ask that all graded work be typed and submitted to the D2L dropbox as a .DOC, .DOCX, or .RTF file. The campus maintains many computer labs if needed. Please follow MLA or APA format guidelines. See the following link for more information on formatting according to APA and and MLA.                 


Blogging
For most of the reading assigned for our class, I will ask you to blog a response to several questions found on the syllabus. Unless specifically assigned, these responses are not a summary, but an informed response. We will be using these responses to help springboard class discussions. Additionally, you may choose to use one of our readings in one of the literacy tasks papers, so thinking about the readings ahead of time may be helpful!


Physical folders
All of our readings are pdfs found on this site. But it is hard to read and engage with a pdf. I ask that you print out all the readings and place them in a folder, preferably three-holed punched. If you are unable to print the readings, I'll do it for you.

Attendance
My attendance policy differs from the standard one adopted by the University; however, as stipulated on the Academic Affairs website, this difference is acceptable:

“Individual instructors or departments may have attendance policies stricter than that of the university, as long as the policies are stated in the class syllabus.”

For our course, students are allowed three (3) unexcused absences per semester in a course that meets three times a week, or two (2) in a course that meets twice a week. The penalties for missing more than that are detailed in the table below:
Penalties for Unexcused Absences
2x/week Course
3x/week Course
Penalty
3
4
1 letter grade
5
7
2 letter grades
7
10
Automatic F


Student-athletes and others engaged in Provost-approved activities must notify the instructor of the reason for the absence ahead of time, and arrange to complete all coursework in a timely fashion.

Make-up work
Students are held responsible for all material covered during any absence. I accept late major papers, but they will be penalized. Late literacy tasks will lose a full letter grade for each day the paper is late. 

A literacy task turned in one day late will be marked down one letter grade. A literacy task turned in two days late will be marked down two letter grades. After two days a literacy task will not be accepted and will receive an automatic F. Please note: one day means one day, not one class day. I have attached a schedule to this syllabus informing you of the due dates for all major papers; therefore, plan ahead if necessary.

Additional information
The University's supplemental syllabus includes policy on plagiarism, inclement weather, and student disability resources.

Release statement
The policy statement and syllabus are open to change upon my discretion. Finally, continued enrollment in this class signals agreement to the policy statement.






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