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December 08, 2004

Course Expectations

The expectations for this course will differ in several ways from the typical graduate course, not the least reason for which is that we will be putting into practice many of the ideas that we'll be studying and discussing. Much of the course will itself be networked, and available for examination by the very writers whose work we will be considering. As I've written in another entry, one of the material changes that you'll experience in this course is a change in rhythm, and I've tried as best as possible to reflect that change in the expectations outlined below.

Readings

One thing that remains consistent is that I expect you to come to class having completed the assigned readings each week. Completing the readings in a graduate course entails being prepared to discuss them carefully in class, being cognizant of the connections and/or dissonances among them, and, in the case of extra-disciplinary readings, giving some thought as to their implications for our field. These are high expectations, as you've no doubt already learned, but I'd add that I don't expect "mastery." That is, your preparation can and should include questions, possible lines of inquiry, speculation, etc., with a focus on generating discussion.

Browsing

This semester, I have intentionally reduced the number of readings required each week, and I do so with the expectation that you do some individual exploration. As you'll see below, this will help you with some of the writing expectations. Let me make this as clear as possible: as part of your preparation for class, I expect you to spend 1-2 hours a week browsing the web. This may entail tracking RSS feeds, reading archives at sites that interest you, tracing out web conversations, investigating blogrolls, etc. Some of the material for this course will inevitably be written and published as the course is taking place, and it is your job (and mine) to stay abreast of relevant conversations.

Blogging

I'll be posting a separate entry with more detail about this requirement, but for the moment, I want to note that the primary writing assignment for this course involves keeping a weblog. You will each be keeping an individual weblog, you will be contributing to our course weblog, and you will be responsible for providing a certain amount of feedback (in the form of comments) on your classmates' blogs. My hope for this component of the course is that, for each of you, is that it becomes more than just another requirement to be ticked off a weekly to-do list. Invested with enough energy and attention, weblogs can help us re-imagine ourselves as professional writers, teachers, and scholars.

Writing

I will ask you to complete a project for this course, but the parameters of that project will be open for negotiation. The traditional output for a graduate course is the 20-25 page seminar paper, but because this course is about rhetorics that are in many ways post-print, I will encourage you to explore alternative models for your project. Some of the possibilities include

The bottom line here is that, if it's relevant to the course and you can imagine a way to do it, there's a good chance that it'll make an acceptable project. Over the course of the semester, we will discuss these and other options during class.

Calculating the Final Grade

Roughly 3/5 of your final grade will come from the blogging that you do this semester. Another 1/5 will come from your grade on your individual project, and the remainder will come from your participation in class discussions.

Posted by cgbrooke at December 8, 2004 10:12 PM

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