ATEC 2321: Writing and Research for Emerging Media
Fall 2014
Descriptions and timelines are subject to change at the discretion of the instructor.
Additional readings assigned at instructor discretion.
Section 001: Tues/Thurs 10:00-11:15
Section 002: Tues/Thurs 11:30-12:45
ATC 2.918
Contact Information
Barbara Vance
Twitter: @brvance
Gmail: [email protected]
UTD email: [email protected]
Office Hours: TBA
Contact Policies:
Unless indicated, use my UTDallas address.
***I will not reply to emails that ask for information found on the syllabus or assignment
pages.***
If you ask questions over twitter, please DM me. Do not ask them publicly on Social Media
Course tag: #V2321
Course Goals
In this course, students will:
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Become comfortable with the Wordpress platform
Acquire basic technical skills in a variety of new media formats
Become comfortable blogging regularly, giving thought to audience and a schedule
Work collaboratively to study new media’s affects on society and
Work in teams to create two portfolio-piece works that challenge them analytically and
creatively
Readings
A list of the topics the course will cover, along with readings, can be found in the course
schedule below. There are no assigned textbooks for students to purchase.
Additional course requirements
Please expect to purchase website necessities such as a domain name, hosting and a theme as the
course progresses.
You will need:
★ Access to a computer (recommended you bring to class)
★ An email account which is checked regularly
★ A Twitter Account – if you do not have one, you must make one by the second day of class
and follow me: @brvance.
Course Policies Attendance: Some of the most valuable take-away from this course will come out of our class
discussions. We have only 14 meetings for this class. Each counts. Your must participate to
succeed in this course. This means coming on time and prepared. This means engaging with
the discussion and bringing any homework. If you are unable to do so for some reason, it will
affect your grade. Bring questions, comments, observations, disagreements, examples, etc.
Because your presence in class is important, If you need to miss class for religious reasons, please
speak to me ahead of time. Absences for religious purposes do not count against the permitted
number (as long as prior notification is given).
Lateness is unacceptable; if you arrive more than thirty minutes late to class you will be
marked as absent. If you leave more than 30 minutes early, you will be marked absent. In
addition, please try to be as fully present and engaged as possible – silence cell phones, don’t send
or receive texts or emails, etc. Excessive distraction may be counted as an absence.
Accommodation: If you would like to request accommodation due to a disability, please let me
know as soon as possible. The disability must be documented with the Office of Student
Accessability at UTD.
Academic Honesty: From the UT-D Handbook of Operating Procedures: “The university expects
from its students a high level of responsibility with respect to academic honesty. Because the
value of an academic degree depends on the absolute integrity of the work done by the student
for that degree, it is imperative that a student maintain a high standard of individual honor in his
or her scholastic work. The dean may initiate disciplinary proceedings under subchapter C
against a student accused of scholastic dishonesty upon complaint by a faculty member or a
student.” (http://www.utdallas.edu/dept/graddean/gsPolDishonesty.htm) Plagiarism will be
referred to the Dean of Students and may result in a failing grade on the plagiarized assignment
and/or possible disciplinary action by the university. If you have any questions regarding the
proper use of outside sources or the distinction between sampling and plagiarism, I encourage
you to meet with me.
University Policies: Please visit http://go.utdallas.edu/syllabus-policies for the University’s
policies regarding all courses.
Assignments
**ALL DOCUMENTS PLACED IN GOOGLE MUST NOT BE WORD ATTACHMENTS. i.e. we must
be able to see them in google. Any documents that I have to open in a text editor will not
be read and will therefore not count.**
Evaluation
Course grades will be based on the following factors:
Attendance, participation, and short assignments (15%): This course is designed to be a
participatory learning experience. As such, each class meeting will build on and extend the skills
and concepts introduced in previous meetings. For this reason, it is important that students
attend class, arrive on time, bring with them any assigned work, and otherwise participate in all
in-class activities. If a student misses three (3) class meetings, these absences will affect
the student's grade. If a student misses more than five (5) class meetings—excused or
unexcused— this could result in the student failing the course. This includes absences for
illnesses and other emergencies. For this reason, students should reserve their absences for
truly unavoidable emergencies. Because we have a limited number of class meetings, it is
important that students be in class on time and stay for the entire period. If a student is late or
leaves class before it is dismissed, he or she will be counted absent. If a student finds that any
other unavoidable conflict prevents him or her from attending class or being on time, that
student should discuss this conflict with the instructor prior to the absence (if possible).
Otherwise, the student should contact the instructor about the absence as soon as possible.
Students should plan to spend 3 hours a week in class as well as 3–6 hours a week preparing for
class meetings.
Occasionally, students may be given in-class and homework assignments as well as short
quizzes on the material covered in class.
Website & Weekly Blogs (35%): Students will create blogs which they will update weekly.
Occasionally, specific prompts will be provided for these weekly posts, but, in most instances,
students will be free to reflect on in-class discussions, technology assignments, or other topics
related to the course. These posts should be substantive, exploring new ideas, continuing
conversations begun in class or in our readings, and/or, in general, be the result of the student's
active engagement with the content and themes of the course. Students should plan on
spending at least one hour a week on these posts.
Mission 1 (25%): It’s a surprise. Revel in the expectation.
Mission 2 (25%): See Mission 1
Late work
If a student cannot attend class on the date an assignment is due, he or she should discuss a
make-up date with me before the absence. If the student does not contact me before the time
an assignment is due, the assignment will be considered late. I am generally flexible when I am
kept informed of absences, but I am generally not flexible when a student skips multiple classes
without contacting me, then shows up wanting to make up missed work.
If a student fails to attend class on the day he or she is scheduled to lead a class discussion or
give a presentation, that student should expect to receive a zero for the assignment. I will not
accept any project or assignment that is more than a week late unless the student makes an
appointment with me to discuss his or her reason for turning in the work after the deadline.
Blog posts cannot be done late. They must be consistently created throughout the course of the
semester….no writing a flurry of posts at the very end.
Research and scholastic honesty
If a student turns in work that is not her or his own, in whole or in part, without adequate
attribution to the original author, or if he or she any commits any other form of scholastic
dishonesty, these actions will result in either a major course penalty or, depending on the
severity of the violation, failure for the course. If a students have any questions about the use
they are making of sources for an assignment, they should see me before the assignment is no
in. See the UT Dallas Syllabus Policies and Procedures for a more detailed description of what
constitutes scholastic dishonesty.
Technology policy
We will use technology frequently in this class. Occasionally, students will be introduced to
new technologies that they may be unfamiliar with. When this happens, these new
technologies will be explained in class. If students are confused by something presented in
the course or don't understand how to use a particular technology, they should ask for help.
However, if students are familiar with the technology being taught, they should be patient
with others and lend a helping hand to their classmates when possible.
Classroom technology use
Students are welcome to use the lab computers during class for note-taking and relevant
research or to bring laptops or other portable computing devices for that purpose. In general,
most technology is welcome in class as long as it is used to aid student learning; technology
that doesn't serve this purpose—or actively distracts from the student's own or others'
learning—is not welcome.
UT Dallas Syllabus Policies and Procedures
Carefully review the policies described at http://provost.utdallas.edu/syllabus-policies/
Miscellaneous notes
Please keep the following in mind:
★ Bring all materials to each session. This includes all course texts as well as printouts
of any additional reading, assignment drafts and research sources, lecture notes, and
a writing implement.
★ Make an effort to check the online schedule often. Any updates to the course schedule,
additional assignment information, or new reading material will be posted on this site.
Students are responsible for all assignments posted on the schedule, so they should be
sure to check for updated assignments before each class meeting.
★ Follow me on twitter and check my feed regularly for class updates or additional reading
articles. This class frequently reads current articles, which means you cannot get them
unless you see what I am tweeting.
Schedule
1-12
● Course Intro
1-14
● Introduction to blogging: Choosing a topic, what makes a good blog?
● How to think about the blog
● http://www.copyblogger.com/niche-keyword-research/
● http://www.copyblogger.com/brainstorm-blog-topics/
● http://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/09/03/52­types­of­blog­posts­that­are­prov
en­to­work/ ● http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/10206­the­34­types­of­blog­post­that­work­wonders
­for­econsultancy ● Blog Buddies Assigned
1-19
HOLIDAY
1-21
● Introduction to Wordpress
● http://codex.wordpress.org/Posts
● http://codex.wordpress.org/Pages
● http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Lessons
○ Read all the “wordpress for beginners” pages
1-26
● BLOG TOPIC DUE
● Setting up your website: Domains, Hosting, Themes
● http://websitesetup.org/
● http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/best-web-hosting-companies/#!7QOOD
● http://themeforest.net/
● http://whois.net/
1-28
● Anatomy of a Good Blog Post
● http://help.outbrain.com/customer/portal/articles/1515140-what-makes-agood-blog-learn-how-to-blog-like-a-rockstar
● http://www.copyblogger.com/ingredients/
● http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/09/writing-great-post-titles/
2-2
● BEGIN BLOGGING
● Blogging & Wordpress continued: Tags, categories, etc.
● http://www.woothemes.com/2013/11/wordpress-tags/
● http://kevin.lexblog.com/2013/08/17/how-to-use-categories-and-tags-on-yo
ur-blog/
2-4
● Mission One Assigned
● Google Trends and Analytics
● http://www.google.com/trends/
● http://www.google.com/analytics/
2-9
● About Me page due
● Building Audience/Strategic Social Networking
● http://www.quicksprout.com/the-complete-guide-to-building-your-blog-audi
ence-chapter-5/
● http://www.briansolis.com/2014/01/audience-as-the-new-currency-youtube
-and-its-impact-on-hollywood-and-social-media/
2-11
● Blog Buddy Meetings
2-16
● In-Class Mission Studio Day
2-18
● Social networks and society
● http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/04/16/-social-media-causing-a-distan
cing-phenomena-to-take-place/
● http://socialnetworking.procon.org
● http://www.forbes.com/sites/jmaureenhenderson/2012/12/29/3-reasons-y
ou-should-quit-social-media-in-2013/
2-23
● Intro to coding
● http://www.w3schools.com/
● http://www.codecademy.com/
● Building a Personal Brand
● http://www.forbes.com/sites/dailymuse/2012/02/14/the­first­step­to­building­your­pe
rsonal­brand/ ● http://www.inc.com/laura­garnett/how­to­build­a­great­personal­brand.html ● http://www.brandchannel.com/images/Paper/401_Personal_Branding_Online_org.p
df ● http://ahadaily.com/personal­portfolio.html
2-25
● Blog Buddy meetings
● Sharing, Tagging, and Social Media
● http://youtu.be/B98KWh-2Kp4
● Browse through the following sharing websites to get a feel for them:
● http://delicious.com/ ● http://delicious.com/help/learn ● http://pinterest.com/ ● http://www.inspirationbit.com/digg­reddit­stumbleupon­delicious/ ● http://www.stumbleupon.com/ ● http://www.elirose.com/2012/01/4­popular­social­bookmarking­websites/ 3-2
● MISSION ONE DUE (all groups)
● Presentations
3-4
● Mission One Presentations
3-9
● Blog Buddy Meeting
3-11
● Education and Technology
● http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_European_research_universities
● http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Education_in_the_United_States
● http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_United_States#Higher_educati
on
(university section)
● https://www.khanacademy.org/
http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%
2FEducation_in_the_United_States%23Higher_education&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=
AFQjCNFEYy0W42V776vISkCp1WBqHeohaQ
● http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/education/technology-is-changing-ho
w-students-learn-teachers-say.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
3-16 & 3-18 SPRING BREAK
3-23
● Social Media, the Web, and the Brain
● http://blogs.hbr.org/2011/11/the-myth-of-monotasking/
● https://soundcloud.com/hbrideacast/276-the-myth-of-monotasking
(optional)
● http://lifehacker.com/5922453/what-multitasking-does-to-our-brains
● http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/is-multitasking-bad.html
● http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-u
s-stupid/306868/
3-25
● Mission Two Assigned
3-30
● OUTSIDE CLASS Mission Two Work Day. No formal class
4-1
● Blog Buddy Meeting
Tues., November 11
● Creative Commons
● https://creativecommons.org/about
● read the creative commons about page and everything under the “licences”
tab at the top
4-6
● News and Social Networks
● http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/feb/20/what-effect-interneton-journalism
● http://www.economist.com/node/15108618
● http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/02/the-facebook-effecton-the-news/283746/
● http://www.socialmediafrontiers.com/2013/09/social-medias-impact-on-jou
rnalism.html#.U9_ofUgu_QI
● http://www.ing.com/Newsroom/All-news/NW/2014-Study-impact-of-SocialMedia-on-News-more-crowdchecking-less-factchecking.htm
4-8
● Blog Buddy Meeting
4-13 & 4-15
● OUTSIDE CLASS Mission Two Work Day. Work in labs or go to writing center
4-20
· TBA
4-22
· TBA
Thurs., November 6
THANKSGIVING BREAK - NO CLASS
4-20
● MISSION TWO DUE (all groups)
● presentations
4-22
● Mission Two Presentations
●