assignments

assignment overview:

There are various kinds of assignments you will complete throughout the course. Some will be short daily assignments while others will require more time, energy and research. I will refer to the large-scale assignments as projects and the shorter requirements as assignments. I encourage you to bring your unique perspectives, questions and ideas to each assignment and project. While some projects offer more structure and requirements than others, I hope you still find ways to infuse your projects with creativity and personality. All work completed in this course is intended to help you develop critical thinking about technology, about the digital lifestyles we lead in the 21st century.

weekly requirements

Journals (200 points): Over the course of the semester, all of you will keep a journal. You can keep a handwritten journal, an electronic journal, an audio journal, a blog, whatever media you decide will work best for you. The journal will give you the opportunity to critically assess the theories and concepts discussed in class meetings and course readings, and to record things you experience in your daily life.

There are numerous approaches to journal entries. At different points through the semester you will be asked to respond to readings and discussion via your journal. We will write in the journals at least once a week in class. Additionally, you will fill your journals with things you notice every day. You should be writing weekly unprompted entries in addition to the more structured prompted entries. I will provide some prompts for your journal and you will create unprompted entries, as well. At the end of the semester you should have 40-50 journal entries. Every few weeks, I will post a journal entry checklist so that you will always be aware of what should be included.

Your journal may take a variety of forms. You might consider structuring journal entries based on a series of statements: What I did. What I learned. How I can use it. You might also use a journal entry to discuss a particular quote you find compelling. You can use your artistic talents to create images or other media. Finally, I encourage you to think of your journal as a scrapbook that might include written and visual artifacts from popular culture. I don’t expect you to cover each of the readings from class, but I do expect that you will react to most of them, particularly when prompted. It might be easy to forget these journal entries but do not neglect them. This journal is a significant part of your grade. It could be the difference between an A and B.

Discussion Policies: I recognize that not everyone feels comfortable sharing their opinions or thoughts in a group. However, it is expected that you will participate in discussions in whatever manner you can. Be prepared for discussions; this may mean you need to read an article ahead of time, visit a website or view a film, or simply show up for class and share your ideas on a daily assignment.

Collaborative Work: You will be asked to collaborate in various ways throughout the semester. In a sense, you’re always collaborating with me and with your classmates in both small and significant ways. When working collaboratively on major projects, I encourage you to assign roles to one another. This way, when asked to evaluate one another there are specific contributions you can measure.