You must register on WebCT in order to access our course newsgroup and chat rooms.   Instructions are available online.  Remember your login and password, since these will be required to enter news and chat.  The Learning Resource Center offers a number of instructional guides that will help acquaint newcomers with the wonders of cyberspace; you are strongly encouraged to use these to get up to speed.

I will post weekly discussion questions (DQs) on the readings.  Your responses must be posted before class on the Wednesday of that week in order to receive credit.  You may also post your own DQs, as well as responses to the readings, class discussions, and your colleagues' posts.  At least ten (10) substantive newsgroup postings - spread out across the semester, not in the last few weeks - will meet the minimum requirement.  This 10% will be graded on the basis of your level of engagement with the course content.
 
 

Include in the topic report the following:

• What is it? - intro & overview of your topic
• Why this topic? - significance of this topic to the study of technology and communication
• Is this study feasible? - preliminary review of sources available on this topic, including their credibility, currency, and usefulness

A partial list of possible topics is available to get you started; you're not limited to this list.  Any topic of significance to technology and communication is acceptable.  The format of the topic report is a well-organized essay.

Dr. Karin Duran, reference librarian at Oviatt Library, has offered her expert assistance to students in this course.  I encourage you to email her for assistance with your research.  Also, be sure you thank her for her generous offer.

Topic Reports should be apx 750 - 1000 words, or 3 - 4 typed double-spaced pages.    Citations and links to useful resources or further reading are expected.  You may format this as a text-only posting with active links, or as a web page, in which case you post the url on the newsgroup.

Topic Reports will be evaluated for the extent of your research on the topic, your rationale for the significance of the topic, the topic's potential for generating scholarly discussion, and the clarity and organization of your essay.   You are expected to be diligent in citing all sources, whether print bibliographic entries or links.

Topic Reports must be posted to the "Topics Reports" section of the newsgroup by Feb. 27.  A hard copy should be turned in to me as well. 
 

To claim a reading ---> Post on the newsgroup your choice of a recommended reading as soon as possible and no later than the 3rd week of classes.  These choices will be granted on a first-come, first served basis: the first student to post a claim gets that reading.  This means that you must check the newsgroup to make sure the reading is still available, and also that the longer you wait, the fewer your choices. 

In your report, cover the following:

• what perspective the author writes from
• the major claims of the essay
• support or evidence used to support the claims
• an evaluation of the substance of the essay
• your position on the issue or topic addressed

Your work will be evaluated on the complexity of the chosen reading,  the substance and clarity of your report, and on your ability to take a position on the reading and defend it in an articulate manner.

These reports should be posted to the "Recommended Readings" section of the newsgroup before the class period in which they are listed.  Hand in a hard copy to me as well.

Graduate Students' Additional Assignment:  If you're counting this course in your M.A. program, choose one of the following as your additional assignment:

1. Provide an annotated bibliography of  3-5 sources on a topic or issue in the readings or posted on the newsgroup. 
2. Do two additional recommended readings reports, choosing essays from online or from published anthologies on reserve in Aronstam departmental library. 

The Midterm Exam will take place in class on March 20, and will cover all the course materials up to that point.

The Final Exam will take place on May 22, 3:00 - 5:00.  The subjective portion of the final will be cumulative, while the objective portion will cover materials from the midterm exam onward.
 
 

Students will be responsible for developing one RTFM over the course of the semester and posting it to the RTFM section of the newsgroup.  Your manual should provide a context for the information you present and point users to more detailed resources on the Internet.  You may write your manual on anything Internet-related; your best bet would be to develop a short manual of help files for a particular task or piece of software that you want to learn more about.  For example, you could write a manual on how to research a medical condition on the internet, how to test your computer's security, how to set up a listserve, how to create a web page, etc.

Your manual need not include detailed and labored explanations of how to choose an item from a particular menubar;  instead you should concentrate on organizing links to various more detailed manuals that exist on the Internet. 

Students may choose to do their RTFM in the format of "Frequently Asked Questions" or "FAQs".  This is certainly one acceptable form of RTFM.  Other students might choose to integrate the answers to frequently asked questions within an overall outline of issues of significance to the topic.

Your project will be evaluated on the basis of your manual's ability to accomplish a specific purpose (e.g. to lead a new user through the intricacies of linux; to help someone learn HTML, etc.)   The logic of your organization will be a major part of this evaluation, as will the substance of your coverage.  Again I don't expect you to cover every tiny detail; rather, you should offer users of your manual the most thorough and intelligible set of links to other resources that you can.

RTFMs are to be posted by April 17.    These should be posted to the "RTFM" section of the newsgroup. 
 
 

This final project should go much farther than your topic report in terms of the amount and quality of your research, the depth of your analysis and the clarity of your articulation and evaluation of the issues.  You should provide print sources as well as links to electronic resources available on the Internet. 

Your presentation will be evaluated for the substance of your scholarly contribution to the topic and for the creativity you incorporate into your mode of presentation. 

Final projects should be posted to the "Final Projects" section of the newsgroup by May 13.   Hand in a hard copy to me on the day as well.  An evaluation of the final project and your course grade will be delivered to you via email after that time.