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Course Syllabus
| Instructor |
Bridget K. O'Rourke, Ph.D. |
| E-mail |
bridgeto@elmhurst.edu
I will respond the same day to messages received before 11 a.m. |
| Office location |
222 Hammerschmidt Chapel |
| Office phone |
630-617-3233 |
| Office hours |
I am usually in my office weekdays from 10:30 to
noon. I'm not usually in my office in the evening, though I'm happy to arrange to
meet with you before or after class, or at other times, by appointment. E-mail is
the best way to reach me to set up an appointment. |
Required Texts and
Materials
(available at Elmhurst College Book Cellar) |
Schriver, Karen. Dynamics of Document
Design. John Wiley: New York, 1997. Sullivan, Patricia and Jennie Dauterman. Electronic
Literacies in the Workplace: Technologies of Writing. NCTE: Urbana, 1996.
Any FrontPage 98 user's guide.
Two 3.5" computer disks
An Elmhurst College e-mail account (free to all EC students. See the EC Academic
Computing Homepage at www.elmhurst.edu/~acadcswm
for more information.) |
| Course Structure |
English 521 is organized in a two-part format:
the first eight weeks will focus on foundational principles for the study of technology
and workplace writing, and the second half will emphasize practical application of these
principles. Expect the reading load in the course to be heavier before midterm; after
that, there will be fewer readings and more class time devoted to work on the web-based
team project. The workshop approach in the second half will be enhanced by in-class
consultation with World Wide Web development professionals. Throughout the semester, I
urge you to consider connections between the online writing practices we’re exploring
in English 521 and the diverse stories you’re reading in English 522. Cultural
change will be a common theme in both courses, and one which we’ll explore in a
joint electronic forum, the English 521/522 bulletin board. |
| Assignments |
Course grades will be based on the following
assignments and points: Participation in WebBoard
electronic discussion group (50 points)
Weekly assignments, including short papers and reflective writing,
informal presentations, web site critiques, personal web page, e-mail project proposal,
and progress report (150 points)
- Unless otherwise noted, weekly assignments should be submitted via email
(preferable as an attachment) by midnight the evening before class meets.
Web portfolio, including project (online Web site or Web usability
report), documentation, and project assessment memo (200 points)
Documentation may include:
- project planning materials
- correspondence with Web "client" or organization
- printouts of initial drafts/versions
- checklists or observation sheets for evaluating and user testing the Web site
- user test report
- project assessment memo, which summarizes team or individual progress toward project
goals and learning objectives through the course of the semester
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| Grading Scale |
A=350-400; B=300-349; C=250-299; D=200-249;
F<200 |
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Graduate