Course Documents
Note: The policy document below contains an outline for this course, but any information on this website supercedes the information contained in this file. When in doubt, refer to this site to find the most current information.
Weekly outline
13 January - 19 January
- Week 1—TuesdayTopic: Introduction to the course. Discuss diagnostic essay.
Week 1—ThursdayTopic: The culture of the mix; discuss Mix CD Assignment. Read: Two articles on mixtapes, linked below (in PDF format). Assignment: Work on your diagnostic essay (due on Friday night); come to class prepared to discuss the articles you read.
20 January - 26 January
- Week 2—Tuesday
Topic: Mix CD show-and-tell; overview of Adobe InDesign; begin InDesign lab activity. Read: Explore the Art of the Mix website (linked below) before coming to class. Assignment: Bring at least one CD (more if you can) case that strengthens, complements, or changes the way you listen to the music on the CD.
Week 2—Thursday
Topic: Continue InDesign lab activity; when you are finished with the lab activity, begin working on your CD label, cover, and liner notes using the Jewelboxing Templates. Assignment: Select a theme for your CD and create a tentative playlist of songs (before you come to class). Sign up for a CD burning/printing session with Quinn (we'll do this in class). Update: We'll do this over the weekend.
27 January - 2 February
- Week 3—Tuesday
Topic: Mix CD workshop; review printing procedures; discuss pre-flighting and packaging in InDesign. Assignment: Complete the Mix CD Status Report (linked below) before you come to class. Sign up for a CD burning/printing session with Quinn (also linked below). Finally, make as much progress on your Mix CD as you can over the weekend, and be sure to bring all of your electronic files for the Mix CD to class.
Week 3—Thursday
Topic: The history of word processing; introduction to our next assignment—Interrogating the Interface. Read: Ten Things Every Microsoft Word User Should Know; WordStar and the History of Word Processing. Assignment: Complete the Microsoft Word Reflection journal entry before you come to class.
3 February - 9 February
- Week 4—Tuesday
Topic: Continued discussion of word processing; complete Microsoft Word lab assignment; begin discussion of PowerPoint. Read: The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint (print and bring to class). Assignment: Select a software program for analysis and post your choice in the Interrogating the Interface Topic Forum; complete the reflection on PowerPoint before coming to class. Upload your completed Mix CD Assignment (a single .zip file) before class. (If you're unsure about how to prepare your InDesign files for printing and uploading, please refer to the Mix CD File Preparation Tips.)
Week 4—ThursdayTopic: Continued discussion of PowerPoint; Interrogating the Interface workshop. Read: In Defense of PowerPoint and two articles from Presentation Zen, all linked below. (You don't need to print the articles from Presentation Zen.)
10 February - 16 February
- Week 5—Tuesday
Topic: Continued discussion of PowerPoint and word processing software; invention and organization strategies for essay writing; keeping it all together. Read: Review at least three of the articles linked below on the Interrogating the Interface Resources page. We'll discuss these in class as models for your essay.
Week 5—ThursdayTopic: Peer review workshop for Interrogating the Interface assignment; sign up for oral presentations, to be delivered during Week 6. Assignment: Bring an electronic copy of your draft to class (preferably in ".doc" format, so we can use track changes). The draft does not need to be complete, but it should be more than just an outline or a few paragraphs of text.
17 February - 23 February
- Week 6—Tuesday
Topic: Interrogating the Interface oral presentations, in the following order: Emily Yaddof, Natalie Pick, Patrick Tarbox, Devin Rahn, Brendon Johnson, Alli Rowedder, Pat Gamble. If time permits, begin discussion of social networking unit. Assignment: Continue working on the final draft of your Interrogating the Interface assignment.
Week 6—ThursdayTopic: Interrogating the Interface oral presentations, in the following order: Sabrina Greiner, Whitney Warner, Jenna Maggert, Catlin Thompson, Emma Trausch, Sam Johnson, Rob Ramirez, Eric Skarnes. If time permits, begin (or continue) discussion of social networking unit. Assignment: Submit the electronic file for your Interrogating the Interface assignment before class; bring a paper copy of your essay to class.
24 February - 1 March
- Week 7—Tuesday
Topic: Interrogating the Interface oral presentations by Karla Martinez and Andrew Federowicz. Introduction to Social Networking assignment. Discuss the history of the Internet, social networking, and online identity. (UPDATE: We'll discuss social networking and online identity on Thursday.) Read: "As We May Think" and "We Are the Web" (print both articles and bring them to class).
Week 7—Thursday
Topic: MyLifeBits Project; discuss online identity and ubiquitous computing. Read: "Remember This" (print this one out) and peruse the MyLifeBits website and be prepared to discuss it. Assignment: Complete the brief Online Identity Self-Assessment before class. (UPDATE: Please also join the English 213 group on Facebook before class.)
2 March - 8 March
Week 8—Tuesday
Topic: Narcissism, exhibitionism, and privacy; strategies for creating and promoting social networks. Read: "Say Everything," Cornell University's "Thoughts on Facebook," and "Google Yourself and Enjoy It." Assignment: After you've finished the readings, complete journal entry linked below before you come to class; join the English 213 Facebook Group (if you haven't already); determine the focus of your Facebook/MySpace group for the Social Networking Assignment.
Week 8—Thursday
Topic: Social networking workshop; collaborative research activity. Read: "About Facebook." Assignment: Select a topic for your social networking research paper and respond to the questions in the journal linked below.
9 March - 15 March
- Week 9—Tuesday
Topic: Conducting online research; drafting workshop for social networking papers. Read: Tips for Conducting Internet Research and Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility.
Week 9—Thursday
Topic: Peer review workshop for Social Networking assignment; discuss checklist for final revision. Assignment: Bring an electronic copy of your draft to class (preferably in ".doc" format, so we can use track changes). The draft does not need to be finished; but it should have a complete introduction and a structure for the entire document.
16 March - 22 March
- Spring Break—No Classes
23 March - 29 March
- Week 11—Tuesday
Topic: Conclude Social Networking assignment; introduction to "kinetic texts" and the Kinetic Text assignment; in-class tutorial on using video cameras. Read: Visit the Billy Collins, Action Poet website and view at least three (preferably more) of the videos on the site. Assignment: Continue working on the final draft of your Social Networking essay; ensure that your essay uses a proper citation format (see resource below).
Week 11—Thursday
Topic: iMovie workshop; gathering visual and audio resources for the Kinetic Text assignment. Read: Making a Movie in iMovie HD and iDVD 5, pages 1–70. Assignment: Select a poem, speech, or other piece of text to use for your Kinetic Text project. Also, the final draft of your Social Networking assignment is due at the beginning of class. Please bring a paper copy of the essay to class and upload an electronic copy of the document before class begins.
30 March - 5 April
- Week 12—Tuesday
Topic: iMovie workshop; begin gathering images, video, and sound for the Kinetic Text assingment. Read: If you haven't done so already, read pages 1–70 of Creating a Movie with iMovie and iDVD (textbook). Assignment: Finalize your selection of a "text" for your Kinetic Text assignment before class; visit a Mac lab on campus and work through the tutorials in the iMovie textbook until you feel comfortable with the iMovie interface.
Week 12—Thursday
Topic: iMovie workshop; assembling clips, aligning audio and video, creating titles and credits. Assignment: Bring electronic copies of all components of your Kinetic Text assignment to the lab.
6 April - 12 April
- Week 13—Tuesday
Topic: iMovie workshop—aligning audio and video; putting it all together. Assignment: Before class on Tuesday, gather all of the raw artifacts you'll need for the Kinetic Text assignment (video clips, images, audio, etc.) and import them into your iMovie project.
Week 13—Thursday
Topic: Watch kinetic text videos (in progress) and give feedback to each member of the class; continue editing videos during remaining time. Assignment: Come to class ready to share a rough version of your Kinetic Text assignment (in .mov or .mpeg format).
13 April - 19 April
- Week 14—Tuesday
Topic: Discuss any final questions/concerns about the Kinetic Text assignment. Introduction to HTML and the Electronic Portfolio assignment. Assignment: Continue working on your Kinetic Text video; bring Creating a Web Page with HTML textbook to class.
Week 14—Thursday
Topic: Watch all Kinetic Text videos. HTML and CSS workshop. Read: Chapter 1 of Creating a Web Page with HTML; The History of HTML (just that section of the Wikipedia entry on HTML). Assignment: The Kinetic Text assignment is due at the beginning of class. For the video portion of the assignment, please upload your exported video to YouTube before class begins and bring the original iMovie file to class; Quinn will copy your iMovie file to his computer. For the memo portion of the assignment, please upload an electronic copy of your memo to the class website (at the Kinetic Text assignment link) and bring a paper copy of the memo to class.
20 April - 26 April
- Week 15—Tuesday
Topic: Styling web pages with CSS. Using Acropolis, FTP, and other tools to publish your website. Read: Finish Creating a Web Page with HTML. Review the list of Electronic Portfolio Resources. Assignment: Complete the tutorials in Creating a Web Page with HTML. Select several templates from the Open Source Web Design (or Open Web Design) site that you think you may want to use for your electronic portfolio.
Week 15—ThursdayTopic: Continued discussion of HTML and CSS coding. Web design workshop. Assignment: Submit the URL for the rough draft of your electronic portfolio homepage.
27 April - 3 May
- Week 16—TuesdayTopic: Web design workshop. Assignment: Come to class with electronic versions of all artifacts to be included in your portfolio, as well as a customized homepage that features significant changes to the visual appearance of the template you selected.
- Week 16—Thursday
Topic: Individual conferences with Quinn to discuss your final portfolio. Assignment: Sign up for a 20-minute conference with Quinn on Thursday. (If you can't meet on Thursday, please email Quinn to schedule a time for Friday.) Come to the conference prepared to show Quinn your complete portfolio. In other words, even if some of the pages are still under construction, you should have created the entire structure of your portfolio before coming to the conference. IMPORTANT: We will not meet as a class today, but the lab will be available during our class time for you to work on your portfolio.
4 May - 10 May
- Week 17—Final Exam (Tuesday, May 6, 9:45 a.m.)
Topic: Electronic Portfolio presentations; instructor evaluations. Assignment: Before coming to the final, upload your memo of transmission in MS Word format to the Electronic Portfolio assignment. Then, add a post to the forum below with two links: one that goes to the original template you selected, and one that goes to your finished website. (Please use your newfound HTML skills to make the URLs actually work as links!) Finally, come to the final prepared to discuss your portfolio for approximately five minutes. These presentations will be somewhat informal, but please note that attendance at the final is NOT optional.