course information
office hours: W 9-10, 1-3, and by appt.
office location: Education Hall 3075
contact: wolffw@rowan.edu
printable version of the syllabus (15kb pdf, requires adobe reader)
required texts
All texts are available at the Rowan Boosktore shelf 123, unless otherwise noted.
Bolter, Jay David. Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001.
Brecht, Bertolt. Galileo. New York: Grove P, 1947; 1966.
Sante, Luc. Evidence: NYPD Crime Scene Photographs: 1914-1918. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006.
Tufte, Edward. Beautiful Evidence. Cheshire, CT: Graphics P, 2006.
Various photocopies and online readings.
required materials
Computer with Internet access
Microsoft Word (not Word Perfect)
Digital Camera (disposable or owned, though not a camera phone)
Other materials as needed
course strands
Rhetoric
Students will develop their ability to look critically at the way text and images are represented in various media, and will gain the tools necessarily to discuss what they observe in rhetorical terms.
Research
Students will develop their ability to conduct research in both the library and on the Internet. They will learn the importance of in-depth research that uses a variety of sources.
Critical Thinking, Writing, and Reading
Students will develop their ability to analyze events in the media and in the texts they read. Students will learn to write academic expository texts in which they uses sources-both scholarly and primary-to support and further their own ideas on a subject.
Technology
Students develop their ability to read web pages rhetorically, which allows students to consider not only what gets said, but also how it gets said. They will also learn how to use various tools, which can help them develop their abilities in the other course objectives.
Collaboration
Students will develop the ability to work collaboratively in activities that range from online discussion postings to peer reviews to in-class discussion.
projects
Unit I: Technology and Remediation
In this unit we will be considering how, as Bolter describes it, "our culture is . . . redefining the visual and conceptual space of writing" (12). We will begin thinking about the technologies of writing: blogs, chat, text messaging, video blogs, podcasts, and so forth. You will write a hypertextual essay in which you analyze a technology of your choosing in terms of Bolter's arguments on remediation, spatiality, and change.
Unit II: Evidence and Visual Rhetoric
We are inundated with images: TV news and sports shows with multiple windows, 
YouTube and iFilm videos, IM avatars, video games, photographs, and so forth. What are these images doing? What are they evidence of? How does the context impact how we read them and how they read us? You will write an essay in which you discuss a series of images and what they are giving evidence to.
Unit III: On Beautiful Evidence
This unit will take up the second half of the semester. In it we will explore the intimate relationship between texts and images. We will consider how to best present together images and text so as to create what Edward Tufte calls Beautiful Evidence.We will begin by reading Bertolt Brecht's epic play Galileo and will discuss the relationship between technology, politics, religion, and society. We will then move on to Edward Tufte's complex, beautiful, and engaging book. Tufte argues that "making an evidence presentation is a moral act as well as an intellectual activity.
To maintain standards of quality, relevance, and integrity for evidence, consumers of presentations should insist that presenters be held intellectually and ethically responsible for what they show and tell" (9). We will attempt to do just that by completing a multi-media research project in which Tufte's, Bolter's, and Sante's ideas are fully incorporated.
attendance
Much of your time in class will be spent in activities, not in lectures. Therefore, it is more than usually important that you come to class faithfully and that you participate in the activities planned. If genuine disaster should befall you and you must miss a class, please check with other students and the course web site to find out what you have missed.
After FOUR absences for any reason you will fail the course. After ONE absence your final grade will drop one full grade for every absence. For example, if a student has 2 absences, they will receive no higher than a B in the course; 3 absences no higher than C; 4 absences no higher than a D. A student is considered late if they arrive after the sign-up sheet has gone around the room; lateness equals .5 absences.
office hours
Office hours are designed for you, giving you a more private environment in which we may talk about your work, your performance in class, etc. If you are unable to see me during my office hours, do not hesitate to make an appointment to see me at a different time. We will have at least one required conference during the second half of the semester.Office hours for this semester are: Wednesday, 9:00 - 10:00 and 1:00 - 3:00, & by appt.
students with disabilities
Your academic success is important. If you have a documented disability that may have an impact upon your work in this class, please contact me. Students must provide documentation of their disability to the Academic Success Center in order to receive official University services and accommodations. The Academic Success Center can be reached at 856.256.4234. The Center is located on the 3rd Floor of Savitz Hall. The staff is available to answer questions regarding accommodations or assist you in your pursuit of accommodations. We look forward to working with you to meet your learning goals.
grading
Grades in this course are determined on the basis of a Learning Record, which accompanies a portfolio of work presented both at the midterm and at end of term. These portfolios present a selection of your work, both formal and informal, plus ongoing observations about your learning, plus an analysis of your work development across five dimensions of learning: confidence and independence, knowledge and understanding, skills and strategies, use of prior and emerging experience, and reflectiveness. This development centers on the major strands of work in the course: rhetoric and composition, research, technology, critical thinking, and collaboration.
Late coursework will be factored into your final grade in the following way: for every 3 late assignments, your final grade will be lowered by one full letter grade.