WRIT 3500 Writing Design and Circulation
http://writ3500.richardcolby.net
| Instructors: Richard Colby Email: richard.colby@du.edu |
Overview
Welcome to WRIT 3500 Writing Design and Circulation. This is the capstone class for the Minor in Writing Practices. A capstone class is a culmination of an academic program, and in this case, it is meant to capture the writing experiences and instruction that you have been a part of thus far at the University of Denver. The major project that you will be completing for this class is an ePortfolio, and you will be composing, producing, and designing activities along the way to contribute to that ePortfolio as well as your own learning. As part of the path to creating this portfolio, you will do a substantive revision of a previous writing assignment, learn about curation and circulation of writing, and conduct some analyses of your writing and writing process. The course culminates with a public showcase of your portfolio.
Writing Minor Goals
- Students will learn writing techniques and strategies, and they will gain practical experience writing for different audiences and purposes and in different genres.
- Students will understand differences in writing for creative, professional, academic, and civic situations.
- Students will learn origins, contexts, assumptions, and implications of different theories of and approaches to writing.
- Students will develop a portfolio of writings that will effectively represent their abilities to various constituencies.
WRIT 3500 Outcomes
The expectation for this course is that you will come with an understanding of writing for different audiences and situations, and that you will have a variety of written work from which to draw from in producing a portfolio. To compliment these experiences, your learning outcomes in this course are as follows:
- Demonstrate practical web-based design strategies for public audiences.
- Demonstrate the ability to select and arrange a collection of written work for different audiences and purposes.
- Synthesize and summarize learning and communication ability through reflection, revision, and remediation.
- Distinguish affordances of and demonstrate ability to produce for print and screen.
Assignments
Activities – Throughout the term, you will be writing interacting and writing in response to prompts relevant to that week’s topic. Sometimes you will be asked to comment on others’ posts. These design and writing exercises are designed to support the larger portfolio project and as practice writing for a public audience. Many of these blog assignments will have the potential to be a part of your final portfolio.
Revision – You will need to revisit a piece you wrote within the last four years and revise it substantially for a new audience and/or purpose. This could include taking an essay you wrote your first year and revising it into a case study research project in your major, or it might involve taking a SWOT or IMRD report and revising it as a longform journalistic piece—the new genre, audience, and purpose are entirely up to you. The length of this revision will depend on the genre and audience, but you are expected to spend 4-6 hours on this revision. This piece has to be included in your final Portfolio.
Portfolio – the primary project of the course is a web-based portfolio that will consist of selections from past writing assignments, including projects written in Common Curriculum courses, major courses, and Minor in Writing Practices courses. You cannot include everything, so you will have to select and arrange your written projects. You will need to write additional introductory and supplemental materials to provide context for the works and the portfolio. You are required to include the Revision and one of the Analyses Blog Posts, but the rest is up to you. We will discuss the many options available and consider a variety of rhetorical situations.
Grading
| Project | % |
| Activities | 40 |
| Revision | 10 |
| Portfolio | 50 |
Grading Criteria
Activities: There are a total of 10 activities, some larger than others, but all worth 4 points apiece. A score of 4 is full credit for that activity; a score of 5 is reserved for exceptional work, and can add to the overall Activity score and can compensate if you received a 1 or 2 on a previous activity. You cannot normally make up an activity without first talking to your instructors.
Revision: The Revision will be evaluated at three levels. A third of the grade will be in how well you followed the Rhetorical Genre Analysis for the revision. A third of the grade will be on how ambitious a revision of the original project (i.e., length, depth, extent of new research or fieldwork). A final third of the grade will be on the overall rhetorical effectiveness/appropriateness of the new version.
Portfolio: Portfolios will be evaluated based on the following three criteria:
- Context and Material. Are the following elements included: a bio/about page, coursework descriptions, revision project, analysis project, 1 applied project, 1 theory project, 1 common curriculum or major project.
- Rhetorical Appropriateness. Does the portfolio clearly demonstrate the following: audience appropriate selection and arrangement? Clear purpose?
- Design. Does the portfolio clearly demonstrate the following: easy to navigate and find work? Visually engaging and easy to read? Appropriate use of contrast, alignment, repetition and proximity?
Achieving these goals/criteria is the basis for passing the work. Grades of A/B are reserved for portfolios that excel in these criteria.
Policies
The Course Website and Privacy
As a student enrolled in this class, you are protected by FERPA, and you have the right to not publicly disclose your name as a student registered for the class on the course website or any other public forum in which you are asked to write. If you would like to use an alias for your work in the class, you are free to do so as long as that alias is communicated to me. If you would like to use your actual name, but restrict some of your content to only members of the class, then you can select Publish to “Private” option when you want to post. Also, note that your work will be kept on the website indefinitely unless you notify me that you would like it hidden or removed after the course is completed. This all said, your final ePortfolio should use your real name.
Participation
Each week, you will have required tasks to complete within a learning module. If you follow the modules, then you should easily achieve full credit for the course.
I understand that life sometimes gets in the way of school obligations. Please let me know if you are having trouble. I am more than willing to work with you if you let me know what is going on. However, completing the course is ultimately your responsibility, so if you go a week or more without participating or emailing, I will encourage you to drop the course. It is your responsibility to communicate your situation. If you just stop turning in work, you will receive an F in the course.
Late Work
All work— rough drafts and final copies— must be turned in on-time. We will not accept late work unless you have made a previous arrangement.
Lost Work
You are responsible for maintaining a copy of each draft of your work. While the course website is designed to be reliable, there is always a possibility that things can get messed up. Please keep copies of your work on a flash drive or cloud storage (Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, or Dropbox). It is your responsibility to maintain your work.
Submitting Work
All blog posts should be “published” by the due date for each.
Plagiarism
There are many types of plagiarism and each has negative consequences on learning. It is my expectation from the beginning that you are responsible for your own work, that you collaborate fairly, and that you give credit where credit is due. More on the DU Student Honor Code can be found at http://www.du.edu/ccs/
ADA Statement
The University of Denver is committed to equal access and participation for all persons, including those with disabilities. Appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities are provided on an individualized, collaborative, and flexible basis. However, it is the responsibility of students with disabilities to request accommodations after first contacting Disability Services, working with them to determine appropriate accommodations. Visit http://www.du.edu/studentlife/disability/ or phone 303.871.2278 for more information.