This syllabus cannot be copied without the instructor’s express consent.
How
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World, national and local events of the past two decades have triggered the most extreme
and traumatic transformation of information technology and communication since Johann
Gutenberg successfully linked moveable type with early automated press technology. The
viral spread of digitized information demands education and awareness to enable students to
locate, evaluate, and effectively use information. How We Know What We Know is a course
that merges the skills of global information literacy with the critical perspective required to
ascertain and measure the authenticity and credibility of what students consume in their aca
academic and casual research and writing. The course will provide students with an understand
understanding of the diverse and complex nature of information, bringing order to and maximizing the
value of the information glut and chaos, while limiting its potential harm.World, national and
local events of the past two decades have triggered the most extreme and traumatic transfor
transformation of information technology and communication since Johann Gutenberg successfully
linked moveable type with early automated press technology. The viral spread of digitized
information demands education and awareness to enable students to locate, evaluate, and ef
effectively use information. How We Know What We Know is a course that merges the skills of
global information literacy with the critical perspective required to ascertain and measure the
authenticity and credibility of what students consume in their academic and casual research
and writing. The course will provide students with an understanding of the diverse and com
complex nature of information, bringing order to and maximizing the value of the information
glut and chaos, while limiting its potential harm.World, national and local events of the past
two decades have triggered the most extreme and traumatic transformation of information
technology and communication since Johann Gutenberg successfully linked moveable type
with early automated press technology. The viral spread of digitized information demands
education and awareness to enable students to locate, evaluate, and effectively use informa
information. How We Know What We Know is a course that merges the skills of global information
literacy with the critical perspective required to ascertain and measure the authenticity and
credibility of what students consume in their academic and casual research and writing. The
course will provide students with an understanding of the diverse and complex nature of
information, bringing order to and maximizing the value of the information glut and chaos,
while limiting its potential harm.World, national and local events of the past two decades have
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what we know
A transdisciplinary global learning course at Florida International University
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Foundations of Global Learning in the Humanities
What we expect
What you should expect
What and how you’ll learn
Why it’s important
How we’ll all know you succeeded
Howweknow:making sense ofglobalinformation
Fall 2009-10 • Course day/time • Course location
World, national and local events of the past two decades have triggered the most extreme and
traumatic transformation of information technology and communication since Johann Gutenberg successfully linked moveable type with early-automated press technology. The viral spread
of digitized information demands education and awareness to enable you to locate, evaluate, and effectively use information. How We Know What We Know is a course that merges
the skills of global information literacy with the critical perspective required to ascertain and
measure the authenticity and credibility of what you consume in your academic and casual research and writing. The course will provide you an understanding of the diverse and complex
nature of information, bringing order to and maximizing the value of the information glut
and chaos, while limiting its potential harm.
Course
Overview
The course is designed for students in all disciplines to experience the effects of information
on their lives and the local, national and global communities. It explains how information
gets made and why it gets made the way it does. Course content will cast events against
the backdrop of social and cultural scenarios and examine how written, spoken and other
expressive forms of information influence history and humankind. Further, the course will
provide tools to translate, negotiate, and understand these various texts so students obtain
the ability to assess the need for information, the skills to access and critically evaluate
information, and the knowledge to integrate that information in personal, professional, and
scholarly activities. The course will examine the ethical, socio-economic, and legal implications of the use and misuse of information in the digital age. Finally, How We Know What
We Know inspires students to be information literacy ambassadors, encouraging and enabling them to undertake outreach and service learning projects to help the global citizenry
better understand the creation and uses of information.
Essential
Questions
In broad terms, the course will increase your knowledge of issues, processes, trends, and
systems in the collection, analysis and use of information on local, national, and global
scales. Toward those ends, you will be challenged by these general, broad-based questions:
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Course
Description
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1.
2.
3.
Essential
Questions
What roles do information1 and information literacy2 play in geopolitical change?
How does angle of vision affect cultural perspectives regarding information?
What knowledge and skills are necessary to help today’s global citizens become
more effective information consumers and scholars?
1
For purposes of this course, information is defined as “news, advice, or knowledge, communicated by others
or obtained by personal study and investigation; intelligence; knowledge derived from reading, observation,
or instruction.” (Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.)
2
Information literacy is the knowledge and skill set that enables individuals to “recognize when information is
needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.” (American Library
Association. Presidential Committee on Information Literacy. Final Report.(Chicago: American Library Association, 1989.)
How We Know
You also will be expected to demonstrate mastery of knowledge and skills (outcomes) that will
help you develop into much better researchers and information consumers. Upon successful
completion of this course, you will be able to:
Identify types, sources, and formats of information.
2.
Critically evaluate types, sources, and formats of information to develop searches that
produce new views or attitudes toward issues, trends, and systems.
3.
Dramatize how researchers and media practitioners gather, compile, and analyze
information for local, national and international audiences.
Core
Curriculum
Outcomes
1.
Explain the purpose, rationale, legal principles, ethics and sanctity of intellectual
property.
2.
Apply rhetorical methods as they are used to affect a variety of information sources
for global audiences.
Global
Initiatives
Learning
Outcomes
1.
Explain, interpret, evaluate, elaborate, and describe in an organized critical and
analytical fashion how the trajectory of a recent world event was shaped by various
information systems.
2.
Students will be able to compare and contrast their point of view on a recent news
article and the perspectives of others on the same article
3.
Students will be able to compare and contrast factors in the balance between the right
to privacy and free and open access to information in global societies.
5.
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Students will be able to interpret the interrelationship between global information
systems and politics.
Students will demonstrate a willingness to accept shared responsibility for solving
problems associated with legal and ethical ramifications of intellectual property.
Students will identify ways they intend to act as information literacy ambassadors to
help others better understand the creation and uses of information.
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Learning
Outcomes
You will be required to read The New York Times each day. You will be administered individual and team Readiness Assurance Tests in the first lecture session of designated weeks of
class. You also must read all assigned readings before the week designated in the course schedule section. You also will have outside Web exploration assignments and Web readings as well
as in-class interactive exercises as stipulated in the course schedule. You will be evaluated on
1,000 possible points with a letter grade based on percentage (900-1000=A; 800-899=B, etc.)
Plus-minus assigned at normal point cutoffs. There will be 7 individual (30 points each) and
7 team (20 points each) Readiness Assurance Tests on ALL READINGS IN ADVANCE (total
350 points); 7 team information literacy recitation assignments (50 points each, 350 total); 1
Team-based Peer Evaluation (50 points); and a capstone writing assignment, which will fulfill
the Gordon Rule requirement (250 points). 50 additional points – over the possible 1,000
– will be awarded to each student who attends every minute of every class. There also will be
an optional news literacy community outreach opportunity.
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General
Requirements
and Grading
How We Know
General
Requirements
and Grading
RATs: You will be assigned several readings each week of the semester. At the start of the
first lecture session each week, you will take individual and team Readiness Assurance Tests
on the readings and The New York Times to establish a foundation for lectures and recitations
for the week.
Attendance: Students are expected to attend every class period and are responsible for obtaining any class notes missed from another student. If you miss or do not turn in an assignment, you will have very limited opportunity to make up the work. Rarely, the unexpected
happens and emergency situations may arise, causing you to miss graded work. Please contact
your instructors within 24 hours after the class start time if you encounter such a situation.
Exceptions to the attendance rule will be based only on what the university classifies as excused absences. This is your responsibility. If you can prove the legitimacy of your tardiness,
you MAY be able to make up work.
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Course
Policies
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Essay: You will choose a recent world event and write a 10-12 page essay that explains,
from a critical and global perspective, how the trajectory of this event was shaped by various
information systems. Your goal is to evaluate the authenticity and credibility of information
reported about this world event, so the essay should demonstrate your understanding of the
diverse and complex nature of information, bringing order to and maximizing the value of
the information for the audience it reaches. True to the title of this course, your essay will
help you come full circle, in that you must explain how we know what we know about this
world event. Thus, your essay should state a thesis that not only analyzes how the event was
covered, but what this coverage means on a global level.
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Plagiarism/Academic Dishonesty: Florida International University commits itself to providing a sound, inclusive academic experience. Such a mission demands the highest standards of
academic honesty and integrity. Violations of academic honesty, including but not limited to
plagiarism, collusion, deception, conflict of interest, and theft are not tolerated and can lead
to severe penalties. Disciplinary actions are outlined in your student handbook. We simply
will not tolerate any such violations and will seek to assess the harshest punishment available
if you are caught cheating in this course.
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Personal Electronics: Use of cell phones, PDAs or MP3 players during class is prohibited.
Computers may be used only with instructor permission. Lectures may be recorded, but only
with prior approval of the professors. If you are caught using any banned device during a quiz
or exam, you will be considered in violation of the university’s policy on academic dishonesty.
Civility: The classroom is a place of learning. We will make that process as enjoyable as possible, but the classroom is not a meeting place for casual conversation or a lounge for taking naps. It is also not a place for rudeness. Displays of disrespect for fellow students or the
professors will not be tolerated. If you sleep in class, you will be asked to leave for the rest of
the class period. If you have a cellular phone, turn it off before you enter the classroom. If
you forget and it goes off in class, turn it off immediately and stow it away. If you answer your
phone, you must leave the room for the rest of the class period.
Special Needs: If you need accommodation based upon a disability under the terms of the
Americans With Disabilities Act or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, please discuss your needs with one of us before the end of the second week of the semester.
How We Know
Fred Blevens, professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, is a leader in
the emerging discipline of news literacy, which responds to the glut of digital information by
empowering citizens with tools to critically analyze information that shape global opinion. He
continues to study and teach about media systems that inform, influence and entertain citizens
in authoritarian, libertarian, Marxist, socialist and communist nations. Most recently, he has
extended his research into archival theory, examining serious credibility issues associated with
private corporate public relations archives being housed in major research university libraries. Dr. Blevens has taught transdisciplinary honors courses in media ethics at two universities and launched a transdisciplinary FIU honors course in news literacy in Fall 2009. During
the past 25 years, he has founded and/or been a director of three university-based residential
workshops for Hispanic and American Indian high school students, including the James Ansin/Peace Sullivan High School Workshop in Journalism and New Media at the University of
Miami. His teaching has been recognized at three universities and in 2001, the Freedom Forum
named him National Journalism Teacher of the Year. His concepts courses blend visuals, videos, lecture, humor, and discussion to provide dynamic presentations; his skills courses feature
intense and immediate feedback as students perform real-time exercises in research and writing. He holds the Ph.D. from the Missouri School of Journalism and is co-author of Twilight of
Press Freedom: The Rise of People’s Journalism.
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Your
Professors
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Ben Lauren, instructor, English Department, College of Arts and Sciences, graduated from
Florida State University’s creative writing program in 2003. Since then, Ben has found success
as a writer, a teacher and a musician, staying active in each discipline. His writing has been
published in composition and rhetoric scholar Wendy Bishop’s textbook On Writing: A Process
Reader; he’s taught writing, rhetoric and research classes at Florida State University, University
of Miami and Florida International University; and his songs have appeared in popular movies
such as Annapolis. He teaches writing and research classes at FIU and uses new media outlets
to engage student writing and feedback. During his years at FIU, Ben’s students have presented
at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research and earned scholarships for the writing and research created in his courses. His teaching focuses on new ways of creating knowledge and how technology affects discourse between international audiences and genres.
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George Pearson, university librarian, FIU Libraries, has been involved with information
literacy since its establishment as a vital part of the FIU Libraries’ mission in 1997. Through
committee work, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses, and hundreds of instructional
sessions in the library, he has worked to educate and inspire the FIU community in the acquisition and use of information literacy skills and thinking. He is noted for his activities with the
OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog), the primary searching interface between library databases and users. A frequent speaker at conferences and meetings, he will chair the Florida Center for Library Automation subcommittee on the OPAC which helps guide the development
of the state university system OPAC. His teaching experience includes undergraduate courses
for the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication in public records and online
searching, and graduate courses for the University of South Florida in computer automation,
reference services, and business resources, all of which feature extensive work in information
literacy. He often addresses various public and professional audiences on Japanese popular culture, and has organized numerous programs and workshops on such topics as Japanese animation, manga, and the educational impact of video games.
How We Know
Weeks 2&3
Identifying and critically analyzing sources. Introduction to news literacy. (LO 1-3; GI 1,2,4,5)
Reading: The End of Solitude (LO 3; GI 3,5,6)
Viewing: Ghost in the Shell (LO 2; CC 1,2; GI 3-5)
Web Exercise: InfoSkills -- Finding and Evaluating Information (LO 1,2; CC 1; GI 3,4)
Assignment: Group and annotated bibliography (LO 1,2; GI 1-3)
Service Option: Participate in an ethnic news literacy project (LO 3; GI 6)
Week 4&5
The interrelationship between global information systems, politics and government control of
information as it relates to global events. (LO 1; GI 1-4)
Reading: Evans, Donna (LO 1; GI 1-4)
Web explorations: Global Integrity and Global Politics.Biz (LO 2,3; GI 1,3,4)
Web Exercise: News University’s Information Neighborhoods (LO 1-3; CC 2; GI 1,2,6)
Assignment: Case study on Google’s troubles in the world (LO 1,3; CC 1; GI 1-4)
Weeks 6&7
How rhetorical methods are used to affect a variety of information sources for global audiences.
(LO 1; CC 2; GI 4)
Readings: The Rhetorical Triangle; Heffernan, Virginia; How to Write Great Blog
Content; McLuhan, Marshall (selections); Writing a Rhetorical Analysis
(LO 1-3; CC 2; GI 1,2)
Assignment: Blogs, Twitter and essay assignment (LO 2-3; CC 2; GI 1-2)
Week 8
The factors in the balance between the right to privacy and free and open access to information in
global societies and how this affects current events. (LO 1,3; CC 1; GI 1-5)
Readings: Markoff, John; Grossman, Lev (LO 3; CC 2; GI 1-4)
Assignment: Values grid (LO 2; CC 1; GI 1-5)
Week 9
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Welcome and introduction to the course. Why information literacy matters. The critical
perspective. Attitude Survey on Global Service. (LO 2; GI 1,2)
Reading: Considine, David (LO 3; GI 6)
Reading: The Case for Contamination (LO 2; CC 2; GI 2)
Assignment: 48-hour news blackout (LO 3; GI 6)
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The numbers in parentheses represent the
outcomes addressed:
LO is Learning; CC is
Core Curriculum; and
GI is Global Initiative
Week 1
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Schedule
How professionals worldwide develop the skills to effectively observe global events and trends.
First Draft of Essay Assignment due. (LO 2,3; CC 2; GI 1-6)
Readings: Sievert, Holger (LO 2,3)
Web explorations: International Federation of Journalists; Know the News; World
Federation of Advertisers (LO 2,3; CC 2; GI 1-6)
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Weeks 10&11
How researchers and media practitioners gather, compile, and analyze information for local,
national and international audiences. (LO 2,3; CC 2; GI 1-6)
Reading: Cohn, Noam (LO 2,3)
Web explorations: Global Journalist; The Institute for Public Relations;
Journalism Ethics for the Global Citizen (CC 2-3; CC 2; GI 1-6)
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Weeks 12&13
Week 14
The purpose, rationale, legal principles, ethics and sanctity of intellectual property. Second draft of
Essay Assignment due for Peer Review and TA Review. Complete End of Semester Attitude Survey on
Global Service. (LO 3; CC 1; GI 3-6)
Readings: Choate, Pat (selections); Halbert, Debora J. (selections); Kho, Nancy Davis;
Lessig, Lawrence (selections) (CC 1, GI 4, 5)
Viewing: Good Copy Bad Copy, A Documentary on Copyright (LO 3; CC 1; GI 3-6)
Course Conclusion. Final projects due. (LO 1-3; CC 1-2; GI 1-6)
NOTE: Schedule subject to change at discretion of your instructors.
How We Know
Contract
I understand and agree to abide by the grading and policy terms outlined in class and in the
syllabus. Turn this form in no later than the beginning of the third class period of the semester. No grades will be posted for you until you have turned this form into your professor.
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Signature:
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Date:
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Print Name:
Assessment of Core Curriculum Outcomes
and Global Learning Student Outcomes
Pre-Post Test
During the first class session, students will take an anonymous pre-test with at least two questions relative to the
course content keyed to the core and global learning outcomes. During the last class session, they will take an
anonymous post-test, allowing instructors to determine the gain that students, as a group, record in any or all of
the projected outcomes. 90 percent of the students will be expected to pass the post-test with a score of at least
75. If item-analysis shows that any question is answered correctly less than 75 percent of the time, the instruction
for that content area will be examined before the next semester.
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Rapid Evaluation
If clicker technology permits, students will be asked at the end of each class period to answer a series of five
questions designed to assess their perspectives of that day’s class session, an exercise that will allow instructors
to make adjustments in the methods of delivery and pace of the course as well as determine whether additional
instruction is necessary on key outcomes.
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Capstone Review
At the end of each semester, the instructors will randomly select and photocopy 20 capstone projects. Instructors
then will impanel three professors from random disciplines to evaluate the projects, using a rubric designed from
the learning outcomes in FIU’s three Global Learning Goals. Performance will be considered satisfactory if the
raters determine that performance on 15 of the projects (75 percent) meet the goals.
Bibliography
Appiah, Kwame Anthony. “The Case For Contamination.” The New York Times Magazine (Jan 1, 2006): 30(L).
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Bianco, Jaime Skye. “Social Networking and Cloud Computing: Precarious Affordances for the “Prosumer”.”
WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly 37.1-2 (2009): 303-312.
Brody, Roberta. “The problem of information naiveté.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science
and Technology 59.7 (May 2008): 1124-1127. Print.
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Choate, Pat. Hot Property: The Stealing of Ideas in an Age of Globalization. New York: Knopf, 2005 (selected
readings).
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Cohn, Noam. “Wikipedia to Limit Changes to Articles on People.” New York Times 25 August 2009. Nytimes.
com. Web. 25 August 2009.
Considine, David, Julie Horton, and Moorman, Gary. “Teaching and Reading the Millennial Generation
Through Media Literacy.” Journal of Adolescents and Adult Literacy; 52.6 (March, 2009). Academic OneFile.
Web. 12 July 2009
Deresiewicz, William. “The End of Solitude”. The Chronicle of Higher Education 55.21 (Jan 30, 2009). Academic
OneFile. Web. 2 July 2009
Evans, Donna and David C. Yen. “E-Government: Evolving Relationship of Citizens and Government, Domestic,
and International Development.” Government Information Quarterly, 23.2, 2006, 207-235.
Ghost in the Shell. Dirs. Oshi�, Mamoru, and Toshihiko Nishikubo.. Lincolnshire, IL: Manga Entertainment,
1997.
Global Integrity: http://www.globalintegrity.org
Global Journalist: http://www.globaljournalist.org
Global Politics.Biz: http://www.globalpolitics.biz/countries.html
Global Pulse: http://www.linktv.org/globalpulse
Grossman, Lev. “Iran’s Protests: Twitter, the Medium of the Movement.” Time Magazine, 17 June 2009.
Halbert, Debora J. Resisting Intellectual Property Law. New York: Routledge, 2005.
New York Times Magazine: 18.
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Heffernan, Virginia. “Comment Is King.” New York Times 26 April 2009,
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How To Write Great Blog Content: http://www.problogger.net/how-to-write-great-blog-content/
InfoSkills: Information Literacy and Academic Integrity Tutorial. (2009) Australia: University of Newcastle.
http://www.newcastle.edu.au/service/library/tutorials/infoskills/index.html.
The Institute for Public Relations: http://www.instituteforpr.org/
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International Federation of Journalists: http://www.ifj.org
Good Copy Bad Copy, A Documentary About the Current State of Copyright and Culture. Dirs. Johnsen, Andreas, Christensen, Ralf, and Moltke, Henrik. Rosforth, 2007.
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Journalsim Ethics for the Global Citizen: http://www.journalismethics.ca/global_journalism_ethics/index.htm
Kho, Nancy Davis. “Know your rights: keeping up with copyright in the digital age.” EContent 30.7 Sept 2007:
26-32
Know the News: http://www.linktv.org/knowthenews
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Lessig, Lawrence. Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity. New York: Penguin Press, 2004.
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Markoff, John. “You’re Leaving a Digital Trail. What About Privacy?” The New York Times; Nov 30, 2008.
McLuhan, Marshall. “The Medium is Message.” Understanding Media: The Extension of Man. New York, Signet,
1964.
The Rhetorical Triangle http://www.english.uga.edu/writingcenter/writing/triangle.html
Sievert, Holger and Stefan Porter. “An Expanded View from the Corner Office – Further Discussions and Research on the Global Navigation of International Corporate Communications.” Institute for Public Relations.
http://www.instituteforpr.org/files/uploads/Sievert_Porter.pdf
World Federation of Advertisers: http://www.wfanet.org/
Writing a Rhetorical Analysis: http://www.writingcentre.ubc.ca/workshop/tools/rhet1.htm