ENGL4420: Writing With Computers

Tentative!!
 Instructor: Dr. D.E. Haley
Course Description: Computers have the potential to change the ways we write—the styles, heuristics, forms, and functions of writing—more than any single invention since the pencil. Writing with a computer entails more than just knowing how to use a word processing program—it requires a greater level of knowledge and ability in the areas of layout, collaboration, reader response, and manipulation of sources. This class will meet in the English Department Computer Lab, allowing students access to internet research sources, desktop publishing software, and the Daedalus interactive writing program. Among the topics, readings, and exercises that make up this class are "one-draft writing and editing"; using the computer to extend the writing process and to facilitate process interruption; the importance of layout/format in technical and expository writing; personal and professional publishing; research and collaboration via networks (and in the larger context of the internet); electronic writing groups; and writing for the World Wide Web. Although students will learn about computers and the internet as part of the class, the focus of the course is writing. Note: This is a UIT-intensive course.

Course Policy
Required Texts
Class Assignments
Tentative Class Outline
 Course Grade and Grading Scale
ETSU English Department Home Page
Daedalus User's Manual
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 Required Texts:
(1) Miller, Susan, and Kyle Knowles. New Ways of Writing: A Handbook for Writing with Computers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997. ISBN 0-13-531260-4. This text is available in the campus bookstore. Always bring your textbook to class.

(2) User's Guide: Daedalus Integrated Writing Environment. This text is on "photocopy reserve" in Sherrod Library. You should make a copy of this manual at your earliest convenience.

Optional Text:
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 5th ed. New York: Modern Language Association, 1999.

Additional Materials:
(1) Internet Access: By the beginning of the second week in class, you should have established the ability to email me from somewhere other than the English Department Computer Lab. Generally this means you'll have to arrange for "dial-up access" to the internet (either through the University, if available, or through an Internet Service Provider).

(2) Internet Browsing: Since you'll need internet access if you are to check syllabus/course outline changes, and if you are to successfully complete all the assignments for this course, you'll need access to the internet as mentioned in (1), above. Email is the beginning; however, you'll also be "surfing the net" early in the semester.

(3) Data Storage: You'll need at least one 3.5-inch diskette for data storage; ideally, you'll have several on hand. I suggest that you keep your disks in a portable storage box (we'll discuss ways to protect your disk). Under no circumstances are you to attempt to keep all your information on the hard drives in the EDCL.

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COURSE POLICY
Basic Skills: I expect you to begin this course with rudimentary typing and internet browsing skills. Do not expect me to spend class time teaching these very basic skills.
Attendance: You MUST attend class. Exams, quizzes, and paper topics may be drawn from class discussion and other material not in your textbook. There are NO excused absences in this class. Notes from the health center, your therapist, faculty or staff in other ETSU programs, or others do not constitute an excuse absence in this course—please don't show me such notes. The ETSU English Department's policy concerning absences clearly states that six absences constitute failure in a TR-scheduled course; due to the cumulative nature of this class, you will find it difficult to pass the course if you accumulate more than three absences. You may, occasionally, arrive late to class—by "occasionally," I mean once or twice during the semester. Repeated tardiness will be recorded as absence from class (scale: one absence for each two "tardies"). Note: If you must be absent from class in order to complete work for another class, or to attend or participate in University activities, you will still be "counted absent."
Email: You'll be sending me a lot of email this semester. ALWAYS begin the "subject line" of your email with the identifier, ENGL4420; I get a lot of email from list-serves and individuals, and may miss yours if you don't clearly identify yourself. The first line of the "body" of your email is for your name; although many email programs allow your full name in the "sender" area of the message, typing your name as the first line of every email to me assures that I'll know who you are, no matter what email program you use. Later, when we use the Daedalus interactive computer-assisted writing software, you won't have to add the identifiers to your DIWE-issued messages.
Electronic Communications Devices: Other than those we share in class, you will disarm any noise-making devices you carry (i.e., cellular phones, beepers, small children).
Plagiarism: At this point I expect you know that plagiarism is presenting in any way, deliberately or not, the work of another person as your own. The penalty for plagiarism is outlined in university policy, and I will strictly enforce it. All ETSU students agree to the University's Honor Code; if you're not already familiar with that code, I suggest you read it at your earliest opportunity.
Deadlines: These are NOT NEGOTIABLE. I will impose severe penalties upon work that is submitted late -- those penalties may include, but are not limited to, assigning a failing grade to the late assignment or reducing of final or late work grade.
Appointments: In most weeks you may visit me during my office hours, without appointment. You may also make an appointment to see me during office hours or at other times. I encourage you to meet with me as often as you need to. By the way, some professors consider failure to show up for an appointment to be evidence of a character flaw or "controlling personality."
Students With Disabilities: If you have a disability that should be brought to my attention, please have the appropriate University office send me appropriate documentation. ETSU has well-established guidelines for faculty and students to use in determining what arrangements should be make for students with disabilities.
On Professional Academic Behavior: This is a "senior-level" class. I am not your parent or guardian, nor am I a morals monitor. Now that these obvious points are stated, we can proceed to behave as adults. I don't care what internet sites you access (the EDCL does not keep track of users' internet sessions); however, when you're in my class you may not entertain yourself by using the computer for activities not directly related to this class. Neither may you change any of the desktop or system settings on the lab computers. I am not interested in discussing with you, in or out of class, issues such as restricting access to certain internet sites, private behavior on the internet (other than behavior that directly affects this class), or business opportunities involving computers, the internet, or writing. Although you may use the EDCL on your own time, for other class work, you may not use the lab for non-academic work; you may not install or use "chat" software or games in the lab, nor may you print out long, personal documents using lab equipment.

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COURSE GRADE AND GRADING SCALE
Grades for this class will be computed according to the following scale:

Projects (4 @ 100 points each)
Weekly Exercises
Class Presentations
Final Project
 40%
10%
10%
40%

For your semester grade, I follow the following scale:

96 - 100 = A+
93 - 95 = A
90 - 92 = A-
 86 - 89 = B+
83 - 85 = B
80 - 82 = B-
 76 - 79 = C+
73 - 75 = C
70 - 72 = C-
 66 - 69 = D+
63 - 65 = D
60 - 62 = D-
 Below 60 = F


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A TENTATIVE Course Outline: As the semester progresses, this outline will change. Check your course outline regularly.

Week One (1/10 & 1/12): Introduction to the Course; Email and Electronic Communication; EDCL Tutorial
Week Two (1/18 & 1/20): What is CAI?; "One-Draft" Writing and Editing; Software Demonstrations; The History of Computer-Assisted Writing
Week Three (1/25 & 1/27): Preparing Your First Project
Week Four (2/1 & 2/3): Project 1; The Electronic Submission
Week Five (2/8 & 2/10): Electronic, or Computer-Driven, Discussion; The Daedalus Interactive Writing Environment
Week Six (2/15 & 2/17): UIT Forum—Synthesis of Computer-Assisted Heuristics
Week Seven (2/22 & 2/24): Preparing Your Second Project
Week Eight (2/29 & 3/2): Mid-Term Examination/Project 2; The Computer and "Process Interruption"
Week Nine (3/7 & 3/9): Research Methods for the Internet; Synthesizing, Storing, and Manipulating Electronic Data
Week Ten (3/14 & 3/16): NO CLASS (Spring Break)
Week Eleven (3/21 & 3/23): Preparing Your Third Project
Week Twelve (3/28 & 3/30): Project 3; The Collaborative Computer Project
Week Thirteen (4/4 & 4/6): Using Instructional Technology—Student Presentations
Week Fourteen (4/11 & 4/13): Using Instructional Technology—Student Presentations
Week Fifteen (4/18 & 4/20): Preparing Your Final Project; UIT—Student Presentations
Week Sixteen (4/25 & 4/27): Final Examination/Project 4; Synthesis of Skills in Computers and Writing


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Reader Response Assignments

Although we'll begin the semester with somewhat familiar assignments involving computers and writing (i.e., email and email etiquette, sending your writing as attachments to email, basic web browsing and design), later assignments will demonstrate a variety of methods and options for computer-assisted writing. Some of your class assignments will be posed here; however, later assignments may be posted via email or Daedalus.

Reader Response Assignments: these assignments will be posted weekly, when applicable. You should send the completed assignment to me via email, as we discussed in class. Click on the first button, below, to see your weekly assignments (check this frequently):

 Click the Icon to See Your Reader Response Assignments

Click the Icon to See Your MID-TERM EXAMINATION

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Class Projects

Project I: The Computer-Assisted, Collaborative Essay

I've dubbed this assignment "Manual Collaboration," because the transmission of your essay to your collaborators, at the beginning of the assignment, isn't electronic. The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate how, in many technical writing environments, you might use computers to work with a team to produce a single document. You get the job of "team leader," in this respect; while you'll be getting input from other students it's your job to produce the final document. In the workplace, I've used this process to produce a number of technical documents--from instruction manuals to four-color brochures to "coffee table" art books. Here are the steps in this assignment (you have already completed several of them):

Step I: Brainstorming
This is "freewriting," a 25 minute exercise during which you should produce as much text as you can. Don't worry about spelling/grammar/format--the idea is to respond to one of the following questions:
(1) How do you expect computers to affect your future writing?
(2) Describe your best/worst experience, in attempting to use a computer as a writing assistant.
(3) Do you expect this class to help you use computers to improve your writing? How?
Step II: Two-Person Collaboration (In-Class)
Here's where you get your first input about converting your freewrite into a short essay. Pass the disk containing your freewrite to a classmate (and get one yourself); follow these steps:
(1) Type a line across the page, below the freewrite; press the enter/return key a couple of times.
(2) Type your name; press enter/return key a couple of times.
(3) Using suggestions from the "Rogerian Responses" handout I gave you, make at least five brief comments about the freewrite (i.e., how you would turn the freewrite into an essay; what you found least/most clear). (4) Save your comments and return the disk to the writer.
You now have a collaborator. Repeat the steps, above, with another student.
Step III: Collaboration via E-Mail (Out-Of-Class)
I'll place you in groups of four and give each group the appropriate e-mail addresses. You'll use a handout I give you to: (1) share your essays and (2) collaborate much as you did in Step II.
Step IV: The Project Proposal
Here you'll ponder the input you received from your collaborators, and will create a tentative plan for the essay. You'll communicate your plan to me via e-mail; and I'll either o.k. the plan or suggest changes.
Step V: Editing, Round I
After I've approved your Project Proposal, you can began to draft your essay. In a separate word processing document you'll paste your freewrite and begin to edit it, using the input you received from your collaborators. In class, I'll give you some instructions for communicating with me about this draft.
Step VI: Editing, Round II (the Final Draft)
Having received my input, you'll produce and submit (electronically) the final draft of your essay.
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Project II: Using Daedalus Interactive Writing Environment, With Internet Resources

You have already been exposed, in this class, to the Daedalus collaborative writing software (DIWE) available in the lab, and to the Netscape internet browser. Now you're going to use this software to collaborate in small groups, to research a topic for a brief paper, to engage in a whole-class interchange (real-time electronic conversation), and to produce and submit your Project II paper. Here are the (tentative) steps:

Step I: DIWE Tutorial
We'll begin by using the InterChange feature of Daedalus to engage in a class-wide real-time electronic conversation. If you're comfortable with this feature, you'll have little problem with the rest of the program. The topic for this discussion: Should ETSU require all incoming students to purchase laptop or desktop computers with specific capabilities? I have prepared a list of "pros and cons" for you to consider before the electronic discussion.
Step II: Netscape Search
Collaborative writing software, even very sophisticated programs such as DIWE, is not a panacea. You need to get your data from somewhere (the library, the internet, other texts or materials, and personal experience). For this project we'll use Netscape to "surf the internet" for an topic that interests you; this will be the topic of the paper you produce as Project II for this course. Using the search engine of your choice (we'll talk about this in class), find a one- or two-page web document that relates to the topic you've chosen. Save the page(s) to your disk, and remember to record the URL.
Step III: Group Work (DIWE)
Since we lost our electricity before you completed Step II (on 2/3/2000), we'll begin this step with a five to ten minute period for internet searching (so you can complete Step II. You'll come to class prepared to produce, using the word processing function of Daedalus, a one-page draft (or report) concerning the material you obtained in Step II. I will have assigned you to a small group (the class will be divided into five groups of four collaborators), and we'll discuss how to use DIWE to (1) perform heuristics, or invention, (2) share your work with the other members of your group; (3) comment on papers from other members of your group; (4) send and receive DIWE-based email; and (5) integrate group comments and your work.
Step IV: Preparing a Draft via DIWE
Here you'll use the Invent function of Daedalus to brainstorm and to formulate ideas for/about the first draft of your essay. You'll add this material to your essay, then you'll send the essay to the collaborators in your group (via DIWE's Respond function). As a collaborator, you'll prepare comments about the drafts you receive from the other members of your group, and you'll send your comments to the appropriate authors. At this point you will use Netscape to search for more data about your essay topic. Remember, when commenting on other students' papers, to suggest ways they might obtain more information (through the internet). This step may take more than one class period.
Step V: Submitting a First Draft via DIWE
After you've used DIWE's Write, Invent, and Respond functions, you will prepare a first draft of your essay and submit it to me electronically. I will read the short essays, prepare comments, and send you the revision information via DIWE's Mail function.
Step VI: Preparing a Final Draft via DIWE
As in Step IV of this project, here you'll brainstorm about your paper and read other group members' papers, send comments, and receive comments from your collaborators. Expect to perform at least one more internet search, to "fill out" your essay topic. Then you'll re-submit your draft to me (with a new document title--we'll discuss this in class).
Step VII: An Outcome
Note, here, that Project II has been entirely "paperless." You have performed several traditional collaborative exercises, and several technology-specific exercises, without printing a single page. You'll receive your grade for this assignment electronically, too--in class we'll discuss in class whether you'll check DIWE or internet email for the grade. I'm open to either option (but not both).
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Project III: The Mid-Term Project

(See the Link, Above)  You'll get an email from me with your midterm and course grade, as a sort of "process interruption" of your portfolio assessment.

Project IV: The Electronic Brochure/Newsletter
This is your most creative project for the course--designing a newsletter or brochure using (1) PageMaker and, perhaps, PhotoShop software; (2) artwork you will scan, or artwork (in specific formats) that you'll download from the Internet; (3) text that you will generate, either alone or in cooperation with the individual or business for whom/which you're producing the brochure.  Your finished product will be a front-and-back, 8.5-by-11-inch printout of the brochure/newsletter; this must be a folded document (either bi- or tri-fold). In producing your brochure/newsletter, you'll follow these (tentative) steps:
Step I: Engaging PageMaker and Desktop Publishing
In this step you'll learn to use PageMaker desktop publishing software, and will produce several practice newsletters with the PageMaker templates. As part of the production, you'll learn (1) the meanings of terms such as JPEG, GIF, and HTML; (2) some uses of PageMaker-specific editing and template combining; and (3) how to download and manipulate images "borrowed" from the Internet.
Step II: More about Technical Style and Editing
In this step you'll use handout on technical style, and will attend lectures on desktop publishing.  Along with the lectures, you'll learn to use some of this information to produce yet another practice newsletter.
Step II: Image Production and Manipulation; The Scanner and the .JPG image
Now that scanner technology and production has improved to the point where most individuals (and, certainly, most students) can afford to have a high-quality color scanner at home, inserting images in brochures and newsletters has become easier than ever.  You will learn to use the Epson color scanner in the English Department Computer Lab, and will have an opportunity to use the scanner outside of class time to produce JPEG, GIF, or TIFF images that you can use in your brochure/newsletter.  We'll talk a good deal, here, about the purpose, history, and benefits of various image formats.
Step III: Selecting a Topic and Producing a Dummy (or "Sample Layout")
In this step you'll use some of what you've learned about desktop publishing to produce what, among old-fashioned newspaper editors, is called a "dummy."  This is a hand- or computer-generated, graphic representation of your first final draft; you'll indicate the placement of photos, describe the texts you'll use (where appropriate) and apply the "rules of thumb" we've discussed to make your brochure/newsletter more readable.
Step IV: Creating and Collaborating; Your First Final Draft
After you've produced a "dummy," you'll be ready to create your First Final Draft.  You'll do most of this work in class (of course, if you have access to PageMaker at home or elsewhere, you can do a good deal of production work outside of class).  Having produced and printed the First Final Draft, you'll break into groups and collaborate--the goal, here, is to help the members of your group (1) improve the overall appearance of the brochure/newsletter; (2) resolve issues of understandability and of consistency in others' texts; and (3) discuss and use suggestions from your group for improving your own brochure/newsletter.
Step V: Creating and Producing; Your Second Final Draft
Armed with input from your small group, you'll produce and print a Second Final Draft of your brochure/newsletter. You'll have opportunity, here, to discuss your project "one-on-one" with me, and may have one or more small group sessions.  At this point, we'll focus on means of balancing text and images in your project.
Step VI: The Bottom Line; Submitting Your "Final-Final" Draft
After engaging in layout, editing, peer collaboration, and  hierarchical (or assertive) collaboration, you should be ready to produce, print, and submit the "Final-Final" Draft of your brochure/newsletter.  Rather than risk jamming the laser printer in the lab, you can submit your "Final-Final" Draft as two separate sheets--but the layout should be such that the sheets can be held back to back and folded, with margins and columns balancing as if you'd printed on both sides of a single sheet.
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Final Project: The Multi-Media Presentation
NOTE WELL: This project serves as your Final Examination in the course, and is worth 40% of your total grade.
Using new information OR information from any of your previous projects, you will conduct a multi-media presentation as your final project.  Your score will be based on (1) the process you engaged in producing the multi-media presentation; (2) the printed text (or product) of the project; and (3) your oral presentation of the final project to your classmates (and your instructor).  Rather than the steps for this project, the following is a definition of the "phases" for which you'll be graded:

Process: What is a multi-media presentation?  How do I create one?

Here you'll be evaluated on the thoroughness of your planning, the range of sources and materials you use, and the creativity of your overall approach to the final project.

What is a multi-media presentation? Well, in this case you should plan to present on a topic for which you can find (and store on disk) images and texts from the internet.  You will use the LCD projector in the EDCL to present the images at appropriate points during your presentation.  You should also plan to have at least a one-page handout on your topic.  In short, this type of multi-media presentation is an oral report that is accompanied by projected images and a printed handout (hence multi-media: oral, graphic, and printed media combine to create a coherent presentation on a narrowly-defined topic).

Product:
What "evidence" can you give me, as a record of your final presentation? You'll be evaluated, here, on the printed record of your project (you'll give this to me when you present)--and the product must include (1) an outline, or linear record of the order in which the materials will be presented; (2) text of the entire presentation, with notions to indicate where you'll be using images or sounds; and (3)copies (black and white will be fine, so you can use the EDCL laser printer) of the images you will use; and (4) an annotated bibliography, describing where you found your information, relating where you found information that you didn't use, and evaluating your sources and materials (we'll talk about this in class).

Presentation:
I think this is fairly self-explanatory; here you'll be evaluated on the style, organization, and creativity of the presentation itself. Plan a presentation that is no less than 7 and no more than 10 minutes long. Dress appropriately, and don't forget to creatively "time" your handout and your gestures.

We'll discuss the Final Project at length in class--please ask as many questions as you can, as you won't have an opportunity for a second (or revised) presentation.  Considering the number of students in this class, we will probably use most of the last two weeks of the term for the actual presentations.  Starting thinking about your topic and creating the project now, and let me know if you want to present on the first day--if I don't fill my time-slots this way, I'll choose the order of presentations by lot (actually, we'll talk about doing it this way and about forgetting the volunteer option, and I will keep in mind that the earlier presenter will have less time to prepare their projects than late presenters).



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