COURSE SYLLABUS
ENGLISH 315: Digital Writing
Instructor: Dr. Santosh Khadka
Classroom location: Online
Email: santosh.khadka@csun.edu
Course Description
This course engages the expanded notion of writing, and focuses specifically on the composing practices with multisemiotic resources, such as sound, video, images, web, graphics, and animation, in the digital world. It also deals with social media, digital identity, and ethical issues surrounding the digital production of texts.
Course Outcomes
Students will:
- Gain experience with a variety of digital writing tools and platforms.
- Explore the rhetorical effects of different media.
- Build upon their current levels of experience and expertise with digital writing.
- Read a series of texts that explore practical and philosophical issues related to digital writing.
Required Texts (List Subject to Change)
Hempe, Barry. Making Documentary Films and Videos: A Practical Guide to Planning, Filming, and Editing Documentaries (Buy at Matador Bookstore).
For other Materials–follow hyperlinks in the calendar or download PDFs from file tab in Canvas.
Course Requirements and Grade Distribution
Major Assignments (For detailed descriptions, see assignments in the links below)
- Digital Literacy Narrative (10%)
- Audio Movie Review (20%)
- Documentary Film (20%)
- Collaborative Wikipedia Article (20%)
- Digital Portfolio (20%)
- Blog Responses to Course Readings (10%)
Logistics:
Students
A 120 or higher gigabyte portable or external hard drive, USB 2.0.
An 16 gigabyte SanDisk SDHC memory card, class 6
Required free materials include a blog space.
Schedule
(Subject to change)
Part I: Digital Narratives/Composing with Sound
Week 1, January 24, Monday (Synchronous Class):
Introduction to course syllabus. Setup of initial website. Sample post. Create Blogs. Introduce digital literacy narrative assignment.
Week 1, January 24, Wednesday (Asynchronous Class):
Introduction to digital writing:
Read these articles and write and publish a blog post on your personal site around the following questions:
- National Writing Project: “Introduction: Why Digital Writing Matters.” (PDF in Canvas)
- Alexander Bacalija: “Digital writing in the new literacies age: Insights from an online writing community” (PDF in Canvas)
- Top 10 Digital Transformation Trends for 2021 (Online)
- Top Six Digital Transformation Trends In Media And Entertainment (Online)
Respond to these Questions on your blog post:
- How is digital writing defined across the readings for today?
- How do parents view different digital writing activities? Which activities do they see as helpful and which ones hurtful to their children?
- Why do you think digital writing matters? Give five reasons.
- What are some of the top digital transformation trends in media and entertainment, according to Forbes articles? Think of 3 instances for each one of those trends.
- How is digital writing different from print-based writing in terms of medium, organization of ideas, style, context, and purpose, and delivery? Think of some concrete examples of differences between them.
- How are the contexts and spaces of writing changed these days? How are they different from, let’s say, 20 years ago? Think of some concrete examples.
- What are and could be some typical resistances to digital writing or teaching digital writing in college classrooms? How do you respond to such resistances?
Blog post 1 Due
Week 2, January 31, Monday (Synchronous Class):
Discuss criteria for Evaluating Print and Online Sources
Discuss writing technologies with a particular focus on audio.
Listen and analyze sample audio movie review from NPR:
http://www.npr.org/sections/movie-reviews/
Ted Talk on Sound Editing:
Week 2, February 2, Wednesday (Asynchronous Class):
- Read these two articles and write a blog post addressing the questions below:
Cynthia Selfe. “The Movement of Air, the Breath of Meaning: Aurality and Multimodal Composing.” (PDF in Canvas)
Mary Hocks and Michelle Comstock. “Composing for Sound: Sonic Rhetoric as Resonance” (PDF in Canvas)
–Questions on Cynthia Selfe’s “Aurality and Multimodal Composing”
- What is Selfe’s main argument?
- What are stakes for teachers and students in privileging print only in the academy?
- How did aurality lose its space in the university curriculum?
- What was the role of aurality in college composition classrooms from the mid-nineteenth century onward? In what forms did aurality persisted in college composition classrooms?
- How did different minority communities (African American, Hispanic, American Indian) retain aurality in their cultures? Think of some concrete examples.
- What set the grounds for the revival of aurality/multimodality in the early 21st century college composition classrooms? Scholarship? Technologies? Cultural Ecology?
- What are some common audio assignments the article discusses? What others could be included in the list?
—Questions on Hocks and Comstock’s “Sonic Rhetoric as Resonance”
- What is sonic literacy, and what is sonic rhetoric? Define based on your reading of the article.
- How does the article define resonance?
- What are three modes of listening? How are they different from each other?
2. Read this piece on writing a movie review:
Blog Post 2 Due
Digital Literacy Narrative Due.
Week 3, February 7, Monday (Synchronous Class):
1. Listen to this audio file as a sample of audio composition. Pay attention to the number of sound sources and think about the ways it would be different if it was in a video form:
Audio Only Documentary Sample: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csvsjn
2. Listen to some sample student audio movie reviews
3. Review Proposal Guidelines and Review Grading Criteria (both documents in Canvas)
4. Research and identify a movie to review for this project
Week 3, February 9, Wednesday (Asynchronous Class):
Complete your Audio Movie Review Proposal and Submit through Canvas
Read about Fair Use Principles and Make sure to use those principles in your project: https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/
Week 4, February 14, Monday (Synchronous Class):
Workshop on Sound editing.
Week 4, February 16, Wednesday (Asynchronous Class):
Data collection: Collect all the sources you need for your review–audio files, print sources, images etc.
Week 5, February 21, Monday (Synchronous Class)
Presentation of Audio Movie Reviews
Week 5, February 23, Wednesday (Asynchronous Class):
Audio Movie Reviews Due–Finalize your Audio Movie Reviews and Submit through Canvas
II. Composing with Video
Week 6, February 28, Monday (Synchronous Class):
- Read documentary making assignment following the link above
2. Watch a sample documentary film: Digital Nation
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/digitalnation/
Week 6, March 2, Wednesday (Asynchronous Class):
Complete a Blog post on Part III: “What Will You Show” and Part IV: “Writing Documentary” (PP. 89-216) of Making Documentary Films and Videos: A Practical Guide.
Blog Post 3 Due
Week 7, March 7, Monday (Synchronous Class):
Workshop. Introduction to iMovie and Camtasia. We will use audio and video resources in the link below to practice video editing.
Download Video Composition Resources here
Week 7, March 9, Wednesday (Asynchronous Class):
Read “Editing a Documentary” (PP. 324-340) from Barry Hempe’s Making Documentary Films and Videos: A Practical Guide, and post a Blog response to your personal site.
Blog post 4 Due
Data Collection: Identify and interview people. Find relevant video, audio, and image sources for the documentary.
Week 8, March 14, Monday (Asynchronous Class):
No Zoom Class, but complete these activities during the class time:
- Submit Proposals for documentary film through Canvas Link. I will send feedback to your proposals through Canvas box.
2. Read this guide to Film Editing Vocabulary, and watch the following video on cuts and transitions in film editing:
https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/a-beginners-guide-to-film-editing-vocabulary/
Week 8, March 16, Wednesday (Asynchronous class):
Write script for the documentary. Collect further data or Workshop on video production/editing
Week 9
Spring Recess (March 21-27)
Week 10, March 28, Monday (Synchronous class):
Complete the rough cut of your documentary project. Video Screening begins from Monday, November 1.
Week 9, March 30, Wednesday (Asynchronous Class):
Collaborate to edit the final cut (version) of your video. Final Cut is Due to screening in the class and in Canvas on November 1.
Week 11, April 4, Monday (Synchronous Class)
Documentary Film Screening
Both your script and the film are due through Canvas link by 11:59PM today.
III. Collaborative Authorship
Week 11, April 6, Wednesday (Asynchronous class)
- New Group work begins. We will continue with the same documentary groups even for the Wikipedia article group projects.
- Individually and as a group, read and annotate Wikipedia Article Assignment
- Read these articles:
I. Wikipedia as Accurate as Encyclopedia Brittanica.
II. Wikipedia better in Accuracy and References than other Encyclopedias in Three Languages.
4. Also read:
I. Introduction to “The Five Pillars of Wikipedia“
II. “The New Contributors’ Help Page.”
Week 12, April 11, Monday (Synchronous Class):
- Create a new Wikipedia account. (each of you need to have an account to add/edit content in Wikipedia)
- Review List of Stubs on Wikipedia (As a Group, determine if you are interested in any of these stubs? Which one? Why? Discuss in your group.
- Individually, read these articles from Canvas and write a blog post:
Chapters 1, 2, and 3 from Wikipedia and the Representation of Reality (eBook in Canvas)
Blog Post 5 is due today.
Week 12, April 13, Wednesday (Asynchronous class):
- Individually, read these chapters and complete a blog post:
Chapters 4 and 5 from Wikipedia and the Representation of Reality (eBook in Canvas)
Blog Post 6 is Due today.
2. As a group, start locating, evaluating, and collecting sources for your feature-length Wikipedia Article.
3. Work on your Wikipedia Article proposal. Find Wikipedia Proposal Guidelines at the bottom of Wikipedia Assignment description from the assignment link above and draft your proposal around them.
Week 13, April 18, Monday (Synchronous Class):
- Complete and Submit your Wikipedia Article Proposal through Canvas (one submission per group with everyone’s name in it is fine). Sharing proposals in the class.
2. Start putting together the Wikipedia Article in Google docs.
Week 13, April 20, Wednesday (Asynchronous Class):
Peer Review of Wikipedia Article (look for peer review groups in your email)
Use these criteria to respond to draft articles of your peer group.
Week 14, April 25, Monday (Asynchronous class):
Complete your Wikipedia Article.
Part IV: Composing with Web and Portfolio Exhibit
Week 14, April 27, Wednesday (Asynchronous Class):
- Individually, read and annotate Final Digital Portfolio Project.
- Individually, read and write a blog post about these chapters:
I. Paul V. Anderson, “Creating Reader-Centered Websites.” (PDF in Canvas)
II. Richard Beach et.al “Composing Multimodal Texts through Use of Images, Audio, and Video” from Understanding and Creating Digital Texts.
Blog Post 7 Due
Week 15, May 2, Monday (Synchronous Class):
Wikipedia Article Presentation
Week 15, May 4, Wednesday (Asynchronous Class):
Individually, start working on the additional artifacts for the portfolio (60 seconds video or significant revision of earlier major projects or 5 new blog posts). Read the digital portfolio assignment one more time for specific guidelines on this additional piece.
Week 16, May 9, Monday (Synchronous Class):
Workshop on your final digital portfolio. Also compose your course reflection.
Course Evaluation
Week 16, May 11, Wednesday (Asynchronous class):
Complete all the artifacts for Digital Portfolio. Include them on your site (make sure that you have all 7 blog posts and course reflection in addition to major projects for the course)
Portfolios Due: Submit the link to your portfolio, if you haven’t already. You can make changes to the content until 11:59 PM today.
Link to Student Portfolios, Spring 2022
Link to Student Portfolios, Fall 2021
Links to Student Portfolios, Spring 2021
Links to Student Portfolios, Spring 2020
Links to Student Portfolios, Fall 2019
Links to Student Portfolios Spring 2019
Links to Student Portfolios Fall 2018
Links to Student Portfolios Spring 2018
Links to Student Digital Portfolios FALL 2017
Links to Student Digital Portfolios Spring 2017
