Attendance
Class Participation
Blogging
Late Work
Electronics
Emory Writing Center
Writing Workshops
Tutoring for Multilingual Students
Universal Design & Disability Statement
Academic Honesty
Attendance
Life’s too short. Are you familiar with that truism? A semester really is too short a time to cover all this material unless we’re each here every day that class meets; therefore, I look forward to seeing you at every class meeting, contributing to a dialog on each of the topics we’ll cover.
I make no distinction between excused and unexcused absences, so no documentation or excuse is required for an absence. If some sort of dire circumstance – such as serious injury or illness, death in the family, thermonuclear war – should arise, please notify me as soon as possible so we can try to make arrangements. (Note that malfunctioning alarm or automobiles, extended vacations, poor time management skills, or an overactive social life do not qualify as dire circumstances.) You should also remember that you are still responsible for any information or assignment covered in a class that you miss and that I do not provide make-up quizzes or other work.
Remember, too, that you score XP for attending and participating in class, so every time you are not present is an opportunity missed to level up. I do not give make ups for assignments completed in class if you are absent or late enough to class that you’ve missed that assignment.
Class Participation
Participation means more than simply being physically present – it means coming to class with the assigned reading completed and being ready to contribute in a thoughtful and respectful manner to discussion, peer editing, or other in-class assignments. You should have whatever text we’re discussing that day and any other necessary materials with you in class to refer to during discussions. To receive full XP for class participation you must contribute actively and regularly to in-class discussions in an informed and constructive manner.
I expect students to take their work seriously, to come to class prepared and willing to participate, and to treat peers and their ideas with respect.
Blogging
Each student will not only write posts on his or her own blog, but will contribute to the weekly class blog. There will be three roles on the blog, and each week a quarter of the class will rotate through these roles (one group has the week off in terms of blogging). Students in one group (“Readers”) will post an approximately 125-word critical response to the week’s reading by Monday night at 10pm. Students in another group (“Responders”) will either respond to these posts or to our classroom discussion by Wednesday night at 10pm. A third role (“Historians”) will summarize the class discussions and post these by Friday at noon. More details can be found on the blogging guidelines.
Late Work
All work is due on the date and at the time specified on the calendar. I may refuse to accept or choose to deduct XP for late work.
If something comes up and you cannot get a major assignment completed on time, please email or speak with me as early as possible to make arrangements. If you come to me in advance, I will do my best to be reasonable and to work with you to come up with a solution that allows you to succeed while remaining fair to the rest of the class and meeting my needs as the instructor of the course. If you email me 10 minutes before an assignment is due, or 3 hours after it’s due, I am much less likely to be able to make such accommodations.
Electronics
Since we are composing multimodally throughout the course, you are encouraged to bring to class and operate laptops, tablets, and smart phones. The classroom is equipped with desktops that we will use regularly. I encourage you to develop best practices for negotiating among virtual communities and the real time of the classroom. What choices can you make to remain attentive to your peers and me, while at the same time engaging with digital resources?
Emory Writing Center
The Emory Writing Center offers 45-minute individual conferences to Emory College and Laney Graduate School students. Our discussion- and workshop-based approach enables writers of all levels to see their writing with fresh eyes and to practice a variety of strategies for writing, revising, and editing. The EWC is a great place to bring any project—from traditional papers to websites—at any stage in your composing process. EWC tutors can talk with you about your purpose, organization, audience, design choices, or use of sources. They can also work with you on sentence-level concerns (including grammar and word choice), but they won’t proofread for you. Instead, they’ll discuss strategies and resources you can use to become a better editor of your own work.
The EWC is located in Callaway N-212. We encourage writers to schedule appointments in advance as we can take walk-ins on a limited basis only. We require hard copies of traditional paper drafts and encourage you to bring a laptop if you’re working on a digital or multi-modal text. Please bring a copy of your assignment instructions, too. In addition to our regular conferences in Callaway, we host Studio Hours every Tuesday from 7-9 pm in Woodruff Library 214. Studio Hours provide a supportive, focused workspace and are open to all students. EWC tutors circulate to encourage writers, provide resources, and address questions. For more information about the EWC, or to make an appointment, visit writingcenter.emory.edu.
Writing Workshops
In addition to free support services like the Writing Center and ESL tutoring, Emory Academic Advising and Support Services offers regular workshops to help you through various steps in the writing process throughout the semester. These workshops focus on specific techniques and practices of successful communicators – including thesis statement development; composing effective introductory and concluding paragraphs; organizational models for effective and compelling communication; research, citation, and incorporation of evidence; and other topics – and will be comprised of both instruction and hands-on workshopping. More information, a schedule, and sign-up forms can be found here.
There will be 8 different workshops offered. You will need to attend 5 of them over the course of the semester.
Tutoring for Multilingual Students
If you are a multilingual student and English is not your first language, you may benefit from working with trained ESL Tutors. These tutors are undergraduates who will support the development of both your English language and writing skills. Like Writing Center tutors, ESL tutors will not proofread your work. Language is best learned through interactive dialogue, so come to an ESL tutoring session ready to collaborate!
ESL tutors will meet with you in designated locations on campus for 1-hour appointments, and they will help you at any stage of the process of developing your written work or presentation. You may bring your work on a laptop or on paper.
In Spring 2014, a new scheduling system called ASST will replace TutorTrac for ESL tutoring appointments. For instructions on how to schedule an appointment, links to ASST, and the policies for using the service, go here.
If you do not have a scheduled appointment, you may use the Academic ESL Skills Lab, located in Room 422 of Woodruff Library (next to the Language Center). Here, you may have less time with a tutor if other students are waiting, but you can find drop-in support just when you need it. To view the lab hours for the current semester, go here.
For information about other ESL services available to undergraduates, go here or contact Jane O’Connor, Director of ESL Services (jcoconn@emory.edu) or Denise Dolan, Assistant Director of ESL Services (denise.dolan@emory.edu ).
Universal Design
This course emphasizes user-centered design and the value of connectivity over static standards to facilitate “universal instructional design.” Issues of accessibility are an integral component of instruction for all students. While students should disclose non-standard needs in keeping with guidelines provided by the Office of Disability Services in order to have those needs augmented by digital tools such as voice to text software or close captioning, the course recognizes the extent to which all students are “multiply situated learners” (Price 88). As such, the course emphasizes shared strengths over remediation.
All of that said, Emory University complies with the regulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and offers accommodations to students with disabilities. If you are in need of a classroom accommodation, please make an appointment with me to discuss this as soon as possible. All information will be held in the strictest confidence. For more information, please visit the Office of Disability Studies or contact the office by phone at (404) 727-9877 [voice] or TDD: (404) 712-2049.
Academic Honesty
“Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.”
Samuel Johnson
Article Four of the Emory University Honor Code defines academic misconduct as “action or inaction which is offensive to the integrity and honesty of the members of the academic community,” which may include, but is not limited to, the following:
(a) Seeking, acquiring, receiving, or giving information about the conduct of an examination, knowing that the release of such information has not been authorized:
(b) Plagiarizing;
(c) Seeking, using, giving, or obtaining unauthorized assistance or information in any academic assignment or examination;
(d) Intentionally giving false information to professors or instructors for the purpose of gaining academic advantage;
(e) Breach of any duties prescribed by this Code;
(f) Intentionally giving false evidence in any Honor Council hearing or refusing to give evidence when requested by the Honor Council.
Please read through the description of the Honor Code linked above and make sure that you understand what it says. We will spend time in this course discussing these issues and you must observe that Code at all times. It is the responsibility of every faculty member and every student in the university to support the honor system here. Plagiarism is a serious academic offense: any students who engage in academic dishonesty will receive a zero on the assignment or fail the course and all suspected cases will be reported to the College Honor Council.