INFO/WRIT 303: Writing Across Media
Course Description
How do you “read” a videogame? What are the ethics of audio sampling? How does physical space affect how we write? How do we communicate using gestures? In this course, we will explore these questions and more as we consider how writing shifts across different digital and print mediums.
The ability to communicate effectively across multiple types of media is a crucial part of literacy in our society. In this course, you will explore the intersections of various media: print, video, images, sound, and gesture. You will consider the ways in which writing—as an object and as a practice—is shaped by multimodal interactions. This course combines theory with practice to allow time to develop effective strategies for designing multimedia presentations, projects, and texts that integrate photography, video, audio, and gesture. Welcome to WAM!
Note: Writing Across Media is neither a lecture course nor is it a how-to course on particular software or technologies. It is, however, heavy on writing, theoretical readings, and discussion. WAM also fulfills UIUC’s General Education Advanced Composition requirement.
Student Learning Outcomes
After completing this course, students will be able to:
-
Compose and present multimodal arguments across media and support said arguments with evidence, analysis, and sophisticated attention to audience, technology, design, and/or material.
-
Understand how writing is mobilized across multiple spaces and contexts and how the affordances of writing depend on the media involved.
-
Thoughtfully engage with, analyze, and contest theories of media, communication, composition, rhetoric, literacy, and design.
-
Clearly explain, defend, and reflect upon rhetorical decisions, processes, and products with regard to media and technology.
-
Revise multimodal work in response to course texts, class readings, and peer and instructor feedback.
Required Texts and Materials
You are only required to purchase one “reading,” which we will discuss during the nonlinear unit: the videogame Her Story, which is available through Steam and the App Store (this was listed at $5.99 at the time of writing).
All other readings will be available through the course website, either as a PDF file or a link to an online resource. On days that readings are assigned, you are required to either bring a hard copy to class or a device you can use to access the reading.
Course Technology and Resources
We will be using a Wix website for the course this semester, which you can find here: https://mericle2.wixsite.com/wamfall2019. In addition, you will each create your own websites where you will post process work, responses, and projects. You can view your current grade and point total through Moodle.
Writers Workshop
The Writers Workshop provides free, one-to-one help to all UIUC writers. The Workshop’s tutors can help with any kind of written project, in any class, at any stage of the writing process. Tutors can help students with anything related to their writing, including brainstorming, organizing, grammar, citing sources, and more. Bring a draft to revise or just stop by for help with getting your ideas together.
The Workshop has multiple locations and offers both face-to-face and online tutoring. You can schedule a 50-minute appointment or drop by during their open hours in 251 UGL Sunday-Thursday evenings. The Workshop also sponsors writing groups and provides hands-on presentations about academic writing skills.
I strongly recommend that you make the Writers Workshop a part of your writing process. Writers on every level benefit from this resource, as getting an outside perspective on your writing helps you improve. A tutor’s feedback can help you see your work in a new way, and I can see the direct impact when you put the time into reflecting on a piece of writing at the Workshop.
Fab Lab
We will tour the Fab Lab later in the semester, but feel free to visit and use their resources before then as well. The Fab Lab is a makerspace on campus with technology to create both physical and digital projects, including 3D printers, robotics, and videogame programming software. Check out their website for a complete list of tools, as well as low-cost materials and open workshop times: http://cucfablab.org/.
LinkedIn Learning
Through your UIUC account, you have access to a variety of video tutorials through LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com). There are tutorials available on photography, graphic design, and the Adobe suite, as well as video and audio production. If a project takes you in a technical direction you don’t have experience in, or need refreshers on, make sure to take advantage of this resource.
Assignments
Process Work (250 points)
This part of your grade will include writing that you complete in class as well as your feedback to your peers in workshop. Each day you will complete work connected to that day’s reading or an upcoming assignment to mark your engagement with the concepts from that class period. To earn credit for that class day, I will ask you to post your individual contributions, notes, or group work to the website that you will create for this course or to the class forum. In addition, you will be asked to reflect on this process work in your major project rationales. If you are over 10 minutes late to class, you will only receive half credit for the process work for that day.
If you know that you will have to miss class, come speak to me and we can discuss ways for you to participate electronically or complete the process work separately online. You’ll get full credit on process work assignments as long as they are complete and submitted on time. The goal of these exercises is to connect the course content to your own compositions. You can miss two days of process work without penalty, but after that your total process work grade will drop according to the following rubric:
-
250 (A) = No more than 2 missed class days
-
200 (B) = No more than 4 missed class days
-
150 (D) = No more than 6 missed class days
-
0 (F) = 8 missed class days or over
Multimodal Responses (100 points, 10 points each)
Each week of the semester I will post a prompt relating to Tuesday’s theoretical reading on the course website. The genres, modes, technologies, and materials that you draw on to answer these prompts are up to you, as long as you can explain your choice. In some of these prompts I will be more explicit about how you should respond (asking you to create a Tweet, for instance) but others will be more open-ended. I challenge you to play with format and style, and make these responses your own, drawing both on modes of responding that you’re familiar with, and modes you’ve never used before. You will compile these responses on a website (we will go over potential website creators that you can use). You are required to submit 10 responses this semester.
Media Presentations (50 points)
Throughout the semester we will touch on technologies and media that we won’t have time to cover fully in class. The media presentations are an opportunity to explore the threads that interest you. There are two options for these presentations. First, you can look into a piece of software or a platform that you are considering using for your projects this semester (anything from virtual reality to Garage Band), and take time in your presentation to explain the choices that this technology offers. Or you could explore an additional piece of media (a videogame, film, social media campaign, etc.) and speak to a unique compositional choice that stands out to you. In this case, you will spend time discussing the composition process behind this piece of media, connecting it to potential choices that you or your classmates might consider in your own work. Either way, you’ll work in groups of two to research and present to your classmates.
Major Projects (600 points total)
For each major project you will complete a Statement of Goals and Choices, a piece of reflective writing where you analyze and defend your writing choices and explain what you want the project to accomplish. The SOGC should be included in both your draft and final version of each essay, although it’ll likely be shorter and more in-progress for the draft. In the final version, consider how you’ll incorporate your revision choices into your SOGC.
You will post each of your major projects on the website that you’ll create for this course. Feel free to link out to other platforms (YouTube, Twitter, etc.), or to include files/documents to install where needed. Some projects will include physical pieces, which I will ask you to bring to class on the due date, or to drop off with me after arranging a time to meet at the end of the semester.
We will talk about the ways to acknowledge source use in different forms of media, but also keep in mind that you should give credit to the research that you’re drawing on, either for inspiration or information, for every piece that you create for this course.
-
Nonlinear Choice Project (150 points)
The first major project that you will complete this semester will focus on playing with interaction and choice. Your project can take multiple forms, from a text-based videogame where players choose the ending, to a physical choose-your-own-adventure book that you arrange and bind, to a video series where the viewer chooses and arranges the order of clips. We will explore a variety of genres and forms that you can put into practice here, exploring choice in a way that is meaningful to you. The goal of this project is to experiment, working with different models of organization that are common to the way that we navigate the Internet: moving across as well as along and within. Consider how designing choice into your project causes your audience to interact with your project in a different way, and how you can accomplish more by inviting that audience to compose and create with you, rather than just writing “for” them.
-
Remediation and Rearrangement Project (200 points)
In the second major project, you will build on our conversation surrounding revision, remakes, and remediation. Here you will revisit a piece of writing that you created prior to this class, and transform it while attending to the five modes that we have discussed. Consider how you can make your remediation exigent, perhaps by reaching a new audience, or updating the argument based on current developments or new research. The trick here is in making sure that your remediation is truly motivated and transformative. In other words, the new product should accomplish something that the original did not, and you should articulate what that is in your Statement of Goals and Choices. You can build on your work in the nonlinear unit by creating a project that consists of a string of interconnected pieces of media, rather than a single narrative, or you may choose to delve more deeply into one form of media that you want to explore.
-
Transmedia Advocacy Project (250 points)
For your final project of the semester, you will construct a campaign for a cause of your choice across multiple modes and platforms. This can be a local or national issue, but it should impact a community that you are a part of in some way. The first part of this project will require you to dip your toe into ethnographic research by examining how this issue is discussed, portrayed, and materialized in your community. Building from your findings, particularly on what is already being done about this issue, consider how you can make informed choices about the potential advocates that still need to be recruited, the information that needs to be made public, and the steps that need to be taken to address this issue. You will choose media and modes that will best accomplish this set of exigencies, and link them together through a central website, installation, or print portfolio.
Grading
Grades will be updated through Moodle, and your midterm and final grades will be posted in Banner. I will use a 1000-point system to determine your grade this semester, so you can keep track of your current grade by adding up the points you have received on all assignments. Your final grade will be calculated based on the total points received on all assignments in the course, minus any absences that exceed the policy limit.
I am available to discuss grade concerns with you, or to confirm your current point total, but make sure to speak to me either during office hours or an in-person appointment. I do not answer questions about grades or the late policy directly before or after class, due to the limited time frame, but please come by if you need to touch base on either issue. Also, because of university policy, I can answer basic grading questions but cannot discuss grade details over email. The best place to ask these questions is in my office.
Course Policies
Attendance Policy
We will spend class time breaking down theory from the readings and going over technologies that you will use for responses and projects. In addition, you will use class time to craft portions of your major projects, and receive feedback from me and your peers. As such, your attendance is crucial to your success in this course. Missing more than 3 class periods will result in a deduction of the process work portion of your grade, and will affect your other work in the course as you’ll be missing key material.
That being said, I understand and will work with you if, for reasons beyond your control, you must miss class. Your personal health and wellbeing ultimately come first, and we can arrange to have you join the class electronically or engage with the material outside of class, as long as you let me know. If you know that you will be absent from class, please speak to me in advance. You do not need to provide details or documentation about why you were absent—we can focus instead on making sure that you have what you need to succeed in the course. You are still responsible for all work due on the day you are absent—consult the course calendar and your peers—and let me know if you have any questions about the material you missed.
Late Policy
All reading responses, assignments and major papers are due at the beginning of class on the assigned due date unless otherwise noted on the course calendar. You are responsible for keeping track of your own due dates. Process work and multimodal responses will not be accepted late. Grades for major projects will be reduced by half a letter grade for each weekday (not class day) that they are late.
Each of you will receive two “late passes.” These will be slips of paper that you can turn in for an immediate one-day extension. If you forget to turn in an assignment on time, or experience technical issues or illness, then turn in one of your slips, signed and dated, and I will give you an extra day to turn the assignment in without penalty. If you do not need to use your late passes, turn them in at the end of the semester. Each unused late pass is worth 10 extra credit points.
If you experience emergencies or extenuating circumstances that the late passes cannot cover, come speak to me during office hours or set up an appointment before the assignment deadline. I consider extensions needed because of these circumstances on a case-by-case basis. Assignments will be submitted online, so they will be considered late even if you are absent from the class.
Electronic Policy
Devices. We keep them in our pockets, on our belts, strap them to our wrists and carry them in our bags. We use them to resolve debates, record conversations, gain knowledge, argue about politics, and connect to others around the world. With this in mind, my electronic policy basically boils down to “use it wisely and consciously.” It is up to you to decide what wise and conscious use means to you. Perhaps you know that your smart phone will inevitably lead you down a GIF rabbit hole from which there is no escape, and so you leave it in your bag. Perhaps you’re one of those rare users who can shut off the distractions and use your laptop responsibly to take notes.
Regardless of what you decide, I expect you to think about your decision. Technology in the classroom is both a blessing and a curse. We will spend time discussing how we will draw on this resource as a class community, and the readings in this course revolve around thinking critically about media use. On that note, consider ways to practice turning devices off at opportune moments and logging off when it becomes a distraction. I will check in with you throughout the semester on how technology is aiding or stalling your learning process, and reserve the right to deduct points from your process work grade if your device use interferes with your engagement in the course. I recommend that you check out distraction-prevention tools as well to set up good habits for switching between work and play. Here are some examples:
-
Freedom
-
Self-Control (Mac)
-
Cold Turkey
-
StayFocused
-
Rescue Time
-
Focus Booster
Classroom Discourse Etiquette
This class is discussion-based, which means that you will share your thoughts on your writing and the course readings both in small groups and with the whole class. It is important that you respect your classmates’ contributions, even if you disagree.
Difficult issues—both personal and political—may arise in discussion. Because of this, I have high expectations for mature attitudes regarding class conversations. Disrespect, mean-spiritedness and personal attacks, especially those based on race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, nationality or religious beliefs, will not be tolerated.
Remember that the topics we will cover have a real impact on your fellow students’ lives. The course readings may evoke emotional responses, which are a valid way of contributing to discussion. Help maintain an environment in which you and your classmates will feel comfortable contributing. Students who fail to meet these expectations will be asked to leave and recorded as absent for the day.
Academic Integrity and Documentation
Giving credit to sources—including words, phrases, information, and ideas—that appear in or otherwise inform your work is standard practice in academic writing. Therefore, you must use a citation style in order to avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is defined as misrepresenting another person’s work as your own, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and it is a serious violation of academic integrity at UIUC.
In addition to insufficient or missing documentation, academic integrity violations in this course also include: submitting work created by someone else (a friend or relative or purchased online); copying material or ideas from sources, including the Internet, without sufficient citation; submitting something you wrote for another class or purpose for this class; and giving away or selling your own academic work to another person. Violations of academic integrity can carry penalties from reduced or failing grades on assignments to failing the class and even, in severe cases, suspension from the university.
As university citizens, it is your responsibility to have full knowledge of plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty. As citation practices shift across different forms of media, we will discuss the best way to go about crediting your research in class, and I am available for consultation if you have any questions about what constitutes plagiarism.
Additional Resources
Instructor
I will be regularly available to meet with you during office hours. In addition, I require that you meet with me this semester for conferences. These meetings will line up with draft deadlines and I will pass around a sign-up sheet during class for times. To allow time so that I can meet with everyone, we will not have class on conference days.
You are welcome to email me or send me a message on Slack to ask questions. Please consult the syllabus and course website before emailing, so that we have more time to focus on concerns not answered by those resources. I tend to answer emails during working hours (Monday through Friday from 9-5), so I may not respond to an email sent over the weekend or late at night until the next weekday morning.
Students Requiring Accommodation
In designing this course, I’ve kept the different ways of learning and composing in mind, in the hopes that I can give you options so that you can interact with the course in a way that works best for you. Whether or not you have a documented disability, feel free to talk to me about your learning style or needs as a student, so that we can make the classroom space flexible for everyone.
If you have a disability that requires accommodation in order for you to be successful in this class, please contact me and the Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) as soon as possible to obtain disability-related academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids. You can contact DRES at 1207 S. Oak St., Champaign, (217) 333-1970, or via email at disability@illinois.edu.
Mental Health
College can be a stressful time, and all of us (including faculty!) benefit from support during times of struggle. You are not alone. There are many helpful resources available on campus. If you or anyone you know experiences any academic stress, difficult life events, or feelings like anxiety or depression, I strongly encourage you to seek support. The Counseling Center is here to help: call 217-333-3704 and visit their website at counselingcenter.illinois.edu/. For emergency services after-hours, you can call their Crisis Line at 17-359-4141 (TTY: 217-352-4217).
Sexual Misconduct Policy and Reporting
While I am always happy to talk to you and offer support, as a faculty member under Title IX, I am designated as a mandatory reporter. This means that I am required to report any reports of sexual misconduct to the University’s Title IX and Disability Office. After this report, an individual with the Title IX and Disability Office will reach out to you to provide information about rights and options, including accommodations, support services, the campus disciplinary process, and law enforcement options.
If you experience sexual violence and aren’t yet sure if you want to file a report, or if you’re wondering how to help someone you know, visit the We Care site for resources and information: www.wecare.illinois.edu. On the site you can find a list of the designated University employees, such as counselors, confidential advisors, and medical professionals, who do not have this reporting responsibility and can maintain confidentiality.