SP20 Yanders

English 1115: Digital Writing, “#Justice”

Prof: Dr. Jacinta Yanders (aka Dr. J) | Pronouns: She/Her | Email:
yandersj@cod.edu

IAI Number: IAI C1 901R | Class Time/Rooms: MWF (BIC 1H09), 10-10:50am |

Student Hours: MW,12-3:30pm & F, 12-1:30pm (BIC 2444E)

Who is this space made

for?
We all have different learning
needs. In designing this class,
I've tried to account for many of
those needs. We’ll complete a
variety of activities and
assignments, for example,
because people thrive in different
areas. Similarly, we'll consume
information in various modes to
increase our collective
comprehension. Feel free to
stretch if you need to, stim, move
“If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess
around, doodle, etc. If there's to favor freedom yet deprecate agitation are men who want
some way in which your access crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without
and ability in this course could thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful
additionally be supported, please roar of its many waters . . . Power concedes nothing without a
let me know. demand. It never did and it never will.” Frederick Douglass

In order to receive
accommodations from COD’s
Center for Access and
Accommodations, you should
visit them in the SSC 3249. You
can also call them at
630-942-2154 or email them at
access@cod.edu. If you’d like to
learn more about what the
Center does, check out their
website: www.cod.edu/access.  experiment or a vague abstraction. Instead, think about the justice
The year is 2020. We don't have the hoverboards that once bore Marty
McFly – those segway things don't count – but we are living in a world
radically changed by digital and technological shifts. In this class, we'll
explore the impacts of these developments via various lenses, such as
digital culture, digital rhetoric, digital identity, and digital literacy. Our
main hub of focus throughout will be digital justice. Think about the
prominent hashtags you've seen cross your screens over the past several
years (#BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, #NoDAPL, #WhyIStayed, etc).
Despite the presumed ephemerality of hashtags, they've often sent
shockwaves through culture. So, how do they happen? Why do they
happen? How do they function? What do they represent? What can
they actually accomplish? This isn't simply meant to be a thought
issues that speak to you personally. Why do those issues matter?

In this class, we'll read and watch and listen to A LOT of stuff. Some of
the material is going to be tough and challenging, but we're going to

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“Words mean things. Language
constructs reality.
Communication is political.
Word choice reflects intent.
Language defines social problems
& imagined solutions. In sum,
words mean things. Don’t let
anyone tell you words don’t mean
things.” - Sarah J. Jackson
How do we treat one
another in this space?
We may encounter content in this
class that strikes you emotionally.
Some of the beliefs expressed may
challenge your views and/or be
contrary to your experiences. I
expect you to enter our discussions
with respect and generosity. Doing
so enables our classroom to be the
brave space we need it to be. Listen.
Try not to jump to conclusions. Ask
clarifying questions. Try to
understand what's being said before
responding. If you’re concerned
about types of content potentially
preventing you from engaging
healthily, please speak with me.
How we address one another
conveys respect. In addition to
abstaining from using slurs and
other forms of derogatory language
in this class, I expect you to refer to
one another by the correct names,
with the correct pronunciations,
and with the correct pronouns.
P.S. The devil does not need an
advocate.
Yanders
work with it together. We'll stretch our collective ability to think
creatively and critically. This is not a course in which you simply learn
how to use digital tools, nor is it one in which passive engagement will
be productive. We want to actively work toward understanding
how we consume, critique, and contribute to digital spaces.
Here's the deal: if you put in the work, everything will make more sense.
If you don't, you can expect your life in this class to be #TheStruggle.
I believe in the values of creativity and persona. In crafting this syllabus,
I try to show you glimpses of who I am. Whether or not I've fully
achieved those goals may be up for debate. Nevertheless, I want you to
be creative and interesting and daring and unique and clever with the
work you compose for this class. You know how on cooking shows the
judges always tell contestants, "I want to see you on a plate"? The same
logic applies here. I want to see you in each assignment you complete.
You are real people. Rather than eschewing your own identities and
experiences, I want you to tap into them.
By and large, this is not a lecture class. Our class meetings will rely
heavily on discussion, in-class writing, and in-class activities/application.
I'm of the opinion that this class is not hard by traditional standards,
but it is challenging in every other way. It's a class that demands
curiosity, deep thinking, communication, collaboration, and a
willingness be uncomfortable and uncertain. If you bring those
elements to the table, you'll do well.
Digital media is a HUGE topic. We won't come close to addressing
everything in a single semester. But I invite you all to bring your
knowledge to our discussions and activities as well as your compositions.
If you see connections or questions that we aren't addressing in class,
bring 'em up!
“Always ally yourself with those on the bottom, on the margins,
and at the periphery of the centers of power. And in doing so,
you will land yourself at the very center of some of the most
important struggles of our society and our history.” - Keeanga-
Yamahtta Taylor
What's the philosophy of this class?
In the words of Clint Smith III, "read critically, write consciously,
speak clearly, tell your truth."
How does this class work?
Given the course title, my hope is that you enrolled in this class with no
expectation of writing "traditional academic essays." What we're going
to do is going to be as far removed from that work as possible. You'll
definitely still write (often), but how and what you write will vary. In this
class, we think of writing not just as working with alphanumeric text,
but also as working with images, audio, video, etc. You do not need to
be a tech wiz in order to do this work, but you do need to be willing to
(a) work with new and perhaps unfamiliar technology, (b) fail/break
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something when using the new and perhaps unfamiliar technology, and (c) try
again. I will always provide resources to help you with the work we're doing, and
you can always, ALWAYS ask me questions. That being said, being able to live with
frustration is one of the top attributes to have as a digital composer. You need to
be able to not completely shut down when a program or tool doesn't work the way
you want it to. Instead, use your resources, especially search engines. Odds are that
simple searches (such as "How to embed Youtube videos in Wordpress") will
provide you with a bevy of responses from people who have done whatever it is
you're trying to do. You just have to be willing to find the answer. As the semester
progresses, if you're willing to try, you'll add numerous skills to your digital
toolbox.  I believe in the value of community for any learning space, but
particularly in this class, get to know one another and support your classmates
through the learning curve. Odds are that most of you are more skilled with some
components of digital media than others. Use your varied skillsets to help one
another. You all are really smart. You can do this!

Sidebar: If you're a person who has regularly used a mobile device and/or computer and/or some manner of social
media in the past 5 years, you probably already have some of the skills needed for this class. The trick is to take
those skills and apply them in the classroom.

I recognize that not everyone likes to speak in front of the entire class for various reasons. Bearing this in mind, I've
compiled an assortment of different activities that will provide opportunities to participate beyond large group
discussion. That being said, I encourage reluctant speakers to challenge themselves to voluntarily speak out at least
once a week. Speaking out doesn't have to be providing an answer. In fact, I would love it if speaking out involved
posing questions to the class. We always need more questions. I also may call on you sometimes, even if your
hand isn't raised. This isn't to trip you up, and it's ok if you don't always have the "right" answer or a fully coherent
answer. We still want to hear from you. For my talkers, you already know how to speak up, but I'm going to
challenge you to help me out and pay extra attention to how our discussions are going. If you're constantly
responding and other people aren't, consider pulling back a little bit. You might also help me to with encouraging
your classmates to join us in conversation. Ideally, I do not want our discussions to be between me and individual
students. Instead, I want us to truly engage in discussion as a class with the understanding that we're in this space to
learn and grow together. That doesn't mean we always agree, but it does mean that we listen and respond with
generosity, grace, and care.

"We don’t come together to perform what we When you get to the schedule below, you'll notice
already know how to do. We come together to be that it doesn't include day-to-day homework. Instead,
it only lists major submission due dates. Does this
unlovely and take ourselves apart, in order to
mean you don't have any homework in this
mutually construct even more difficult ideas. It’s class? Nah. However, I've come to the conclusion
not supposed to be easy. The labor is what makes it that laying out a full schedule at the start of the
beautiful." - Kyla Wazana Tompkins semester is probably not the most productive
approach. As such, each day, I will post an agenda for
that day's class on Blackboard. The agenda will
include the work we completed in class on that day, any slides that were used, and any homework that needs to be
completed. Approaching our work this way will allow me to easily shift gears if needed, depending on how our
classroom interests unfold. If you have to be absent for any reason, you'll be able to easily sign into Blackboard and
review the agenda to see what you missed without having to ask anyone. Though I do always encourage exchanging
contact info with at least a couple of classmates. In addition to reading the agenda on Blackboard, I also expect you
to regularly check your COD email. I acknowledge that email is almost nobody's favorite form of communication,
but it's what we have. If I need to make significant schedule changes or cancel class or anything like that, I'm going
to send an email.

I know and respect that most of you live really complex lives. In putting together the day-to-day work of this class, I
always try to be mindful of that. However, I do expect you to come to the majority of our class meetings having
done the designated homework. You should have access to assigned materials and all your notes in every class

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meeting . I don't suspect that most people want or are able to print out all of the readings, so that's not necessary.
However, you should be able to access them in some capacity. In fact, the first thing you should do when you come
to our class meetings is take out/pull up your notes and readings. Odds are that you will do some kind of writing in
each class meeting, often at the beginning. Try to use such moments as opportunities to jumpstart your thinking and
prepare you for the activities and discussions we will have in class.

What's Dr J's approach to teaching?

I put a lot of thought into planning out a somewhat loose trajectory of where I think we'll go in a given semester.
That being said, I believe that both teaching and learning are collaborative. We all have something (plenty of
somethings, in fact) to bring to our classroom space, and by the end of the semester, we'll also have taken away quite
a bit. What else should you know about me? I'm a nerd (especially when it come TV, film, and pop culture), I can be
silly, I can be sarcastic, and I can be cheesy as all get out. Like all of you, I'm teeming with life experiences, values,
and beliefs, especially about human rights. This means you should not expect me to be neutral, just like I don't
expect you to be neutral. We can disagree and debate, but keep in mind that this is a research class. I expect you to
support your claims, and you should expect the same from me. Please don't hesitate to ask questions or to reach out
if you want to chat.

How should we write for this class?

You'll find that I'm not extremely contrarian about most things, but I am
“Gmorning. about this:

In Spanish There's no such thing as “correct” or “proper” English.

The word coraje can mean anger There is a thing that can be referred to as standardized English, which has
OR courage been designed and propagated by the powers that be, but that isn't the only
English or the “right” one.
That being said
As far as I can tell, the Conference on College Composition and
I wish you calm Communication had it right in 1972 when they declared that students
have a right to their own language. They noted that "Language scholars
I wish you focus long ago denied that the myth of a standard American dialect has any
validity" and "The claim that any one dialect is unacceptable amounts to an
& attempt of one social group to exert its dominance over another. Such a
claim leads to false advice for speakers and writers, and immoral advice for
May your coraje bring you humans" and most importantly " A nation proud of its diverse heritage and
coraje.” - Lin-Manuel Miranda its cultural and racial variety will preserve its heritage of dialects." I don't
know you all that well yet, but I do know that as a group, you likely bring
an assortment of dialects and languages – including variations of English – to our class. I welcome the deliberate
usage of language variation in our work. Also, in this class, you can use "I." You can use personal narrative. You won't
necessarily do all of these things in every composition (and we'll talk about why you might want to avoid certain
approaches in particular instances), but we also don't need to avoid them just for the sake of avoiding them. You
don't need to give up your identity, your voice, or your persona to be in this class. Instead, we'll talk about when and
how to use different approaches and how those choices might impact the audience experience. FWIW I tend to
think the best writing combines the critical and the creative. It tells a story, even when it's incorporating research
and other seemingly formal writing components. I challenge you to always strive to make your compositions
interesting and alive. You have stories in you that only you can tell. So tell them.

How do we put our work and ourselves into the world?

Have you ever heard the term "public intellectual"? It's what we call someone in the academia (or someone who has
a fairly academic background/career) who also regularly communicates to audiences outside the somewhat rigid
confines of higher education. For this class, you're all public intellectuals. This means that some of the work you
complete for this class will primarily circulate within our class, but a significant portion will also be posted publicly.

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Importantly, and perhaps contrary to most other class experiences you've had, this means that I am not your only
audience. As such, you'll need to consider how to take your voice outside of our classroom. None of this is arbitrary.
Instead, it reflects the reality of our digital world. To be digital is in 2020, by design, to be public. Of course, you can
and should be thoughtful about the specifics of what you include in the material that we share publicly. At the same
time, inasmuch as possible, I encourage you to not hide who you are.

What assignments will we have in this class?

• Digital Justice Essay

• Technological Literacy Narrative

• Podcast Anthem

• 5-Image Story

• Infographic

• Concept in 60

• Digital Justice Mixtape

• Website

• 3 Self-Assessments

• 2 Student Hours Visits

• 1 End-of-Semester Conference

• You will also be tasked with completing homework assignments in your notebook. I will collect some, but not all
of these assignments. You should have them in class during each class meeting.

“Labor is work the body does over time. Labor in the writing
classroom is the experience of languaging. No matter what our
pedagogical assumptions are about learning or literacy, about
grades or how to evaluate student writing, we all take for granted
that our students must labor in order to learn. They must read or
write, take notes or discuss. All pedagogies ask students to labor,
to do something in order to gain something else. However, typical
grading systems rarely account for students’ labor in any
way...Because labor is neglected in such conventional grading
systems, they often are unfair to diverse groups of students.
They [labor-based grading contracts] open a space for practices
that can fail or miss the mark, allowing students the freedom to
take risks, and try new things in their writing without the fear of
losing points or failing the course.” - Asao Inoue
final grades reflect what you do in a class or what you already knew and were able to do before the class?
How do I get an “A”?
Let's say we have two students who come
into a writing class, and one has usually
gotten good grades in writing while the
other has struggled to maintain a C average.
After 16 weeks in the same class, the first
student hasn't changed their writing very
much at all, but they've been able to
maintain the same quality of work that they
had before they started the class.
Meanwhile, the second student still
struggles somewhat with writing, but has
put in full effort and shown tremendous
growth throughout the semester. Even
though they may not yet have the same
writing quality as the first student, should
the second student receive a lower final
grade simply because they started the
semester with a different experience? Should

What if I told you that letter grades actually do much more to hinder learning than to support it and that there's
actual research to support this claim?

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(True story: https://www.alfiekohn.org/article/

degrading-de-grading/)

There are many problems with grades (see the slide to

the left from Jesse Stommel for a short list). Thus, you
won't get letter grades on individual assignments you
submit for this class. Work that meets the
requirements laid out in assignment prompts will be
marked as complete. Anything that doesn't meet the
requirements as well as any assignments that aren't
submitted at all will be considered incomplete until the
necessary requirements are met. Throughout the
semester, you will receive feedback on your work from
both myself and your classmates. Feedback is a much
more critical component of the learning process, and as
such, we will dedicate significant attention to it. I
won't always give you easy answers because I think it's
important for you to understand how to find some
answers for yourself, but I do spend a lot of time considering my feedback. I'll ask you questions, provide resources
when relevant, and tell you what I enjoy about your submissions. From there, it's your responsibility to assess the
feedback, determine what revisions you want to make, and continue to develop throughout the semester. Please ask
questions whenever you're unsure about feedback you've received and/or need some clarification.

Because the college does require me to submit final grades

at the end of the semester, we do have to have a way to
determine final grades. We'll utilize a labor agreement to
achieve this goal. While I will be observing and assessing
your in-class labor and submissions throughout the
semester, you will also have the opportunity to assess
yourselves and make your labor known to me. In this way,
you and I will be collaborating on your final grade. Part of
the goal of a labor agreement like this one is to make the
often unclear mechanics behind grading transparent.
Hopefully, this reduces stress and enables you to take more
risks in your work. Writing is a process, and it's often not
linear. We start, stop, circle back, move laterally,
recalibrate, etc. Your earliest iterations should be messy
and explorative. Embrace the mess.

We'll talk more about how all of this will work in class, but the gist is that your final grade will be determined by
how many points you accumulate throughout the semester. You might be wondering here how this differs from
other point systems you've encountered previously, and the answer is that you will receive points based upon
completion of whole labor tasks rather than individual assignments. There are 300 labor points available, and your
final grade will correspond with the following scale based on the points you've collected:

• 300 labor points = A

• 250-299 labor points = B

• 200-249 labor points = C

• 150-199 labor points = D

• 149 or less labor points = F

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You can earn points in the following ways:

• 150 labor points: Submitting all course work and receiving a completion marker from Dr. J on everything

• This refers to drafts, revisions, proposals, and anything else you're asked to submit as part of course
assignments. If you're missing a draft, for example, you will not earn these points at the end of the semester.

• 50 labor points: Active participation

• This refers to contributing to in-class activities, completing homework tasks such that you are prepared to
discuss the material in class, being actively involved in peer review and revision activities, etc. Simply being in
the room will not be enough to earn these points.

• 50 labor points: Completing all self-assessments, student hours visits, and conference

• To earn these points, you must complete three self-assessments, two students hours visits, and the end-of-
semester conference. More information will be given in class about the expectations and timing of each of
these items.

• 25 labor points: Applying feedback and revising

• Throughout the semester, you will receive feedback on your ideas and drafts. If it's evident that you're
reading, listening to, and working with the feedback you're receiving while attempting to revise your work,
you will receive these points. If not, you won't.

• 25 labor points: Timeliness and Attendance

• To earn these points, you must be present and on-time (in the room within the first three minutes of class)
for at least 80% of our class meetings. Put another way, if you want these points, you should not be absent or
late more than 6 times. It's your responsibility to keep track of your absences for your own knowledge.

What do I need for this class?

• No textbooks…
“I tell my students, ‘When you get these jobs that
• ...But there will be materials posted on Blackboard you have been so brilliantly trained for, just
regularly that you are expected to read/watch/listen
to and take notes on remember that your real job is that if you are free,
you need to free somebody else. If you have some
• To that end, you need a dedicated notebook for this
class. I don't particularly care whether it's digital or power, then your job is to empower somebody
analog. Use whatever suits you. At any rate, make else.’” - Toni Morrison
sure you're taking notes and completing homework
in your notebook unless specifically told to do
otherwise. Also, make sure you bring your notebook to each class. (Note: even if you primarily use a digital
notebook, there may be times in class where I ask you to write on paper, so it's a good idea to always have paper
and pens/pencils on hand)

• Storage. Again, I don't particularly care what you use, but I recommend having at least one type of physical
storage (flash drive, portable hard drive, etc) and one type of cloud storage (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc). Device
failures are inevitable. They come for all of us eventually. Save your work early, often, and in multiple places.

• Sometimes we may be listening to audio or watching video individually in class, so if possible, it's a good idea to
have basic earbuds/headphones on hand. Remember that if we're working in the lab, wireless headphones may not
be compatible with the computers.

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Can we use technology in this class?

It would be very strange if I didn’t let you use technology in this class. That being said, in the often (mis)quoted
words of Uncle Ben, “With great power comes great responsibility.” While I do not believe 100% undivided
attention is a realistic goal, it’s important to be thoughtful about when and how you use technology in class. After
all, a good deal of research indicates that none of us are as good at multitasking as we think we are. Please be
respectful of the people around you, some of whom may become distracted by what’s on your screen.

What are Student Hours aka The Artist Formerly Known as Office Hours?
It's evident to me that there are barriers that prevent students from coming to see professors. Those particular
barriers may vary from student to student, but what I'm hoping to convey with this name change is that these hours
are times I've set aside each week when you all are more than welcome to come see me in my office. These hours are
**for you**. They don't require an appointment. They don't require a draft. They can be about anything. You can
come in with ideas, questions, confusion, or even just to chat. Also, sometimes I have snacks. Come see me.

What do we do about sources?

At this point in your academic careers, you all probably have some sense that plagiarism is wrong. That being said,
you might not be entirely sure about what plagiarism is. That's completely understandable. In the simplest terms,
plagiarism is deliberately taking someone else's ideas, words, and/or materials without giving proper credit. Any time
you take from someone else, it should be cited in some way. This is certainly true when directly quoting, but also
when summarizing and paraphrasing info, borrowing video and/or audio, etc. It's never ever cool to just straight up
take someone else's work without acknowledgement, but it is cool to build upon and remix the work of other people
(with credit). Remember that citation is an act of both power and respect. This applies to both the literal act of
including citations as well as selecting the sources we want to use. In the words of Dan Martin (Assistant Professor
and Director of Composition and Writing in the Disciplines at Central Washington University), citations are
"textual DNA." They show us where you've been, where you're going, and who helped you to get there. By acting
intentionally in our citation practices, we can help to promote marginalized communities who are always already
speaking out and doing the work but likely have a hard time getting their voices heard by dominant structures.

What happens if I can't turn in an assignment on time?

Our assignments will have due dates, and you should aim to submit your work in accordance with those due dates.
Your assignments will build upon one another, so you’ll want to have feedback sooner rather than later. Also, I
typically provide less feedback for work that’s significantly late because we’ve moved on to new work. I’m amenable
to extensions, but (a) you need to discuss the possibility with me as soon as you think
you might not need it and (b) you should know that the closer we get to the end of the
semester, the less wiggle room will be available. Try not to fall behind, but ALWAYS
reach out if you do.

Do we really have to be here?

Being present in class improves your grasp on the material, increases the likelihood
that you will be able to apply your learning to your work, and allows me to observe and
provide feedback on your growth, development, and participation in the course.
Sometimes life gets in the way, but aim to be in our classroom as much as you can be.

What if my basic needs aren't being met?

If you're in this class and you're hungry or worried about where you're going to sleep tonight, it's probably going to
be difficult to even begin thinking about school work. I do not expect you to leave your humanity at the door. If you
find yourself faced with life challenges, please do know that you can talk to me, and we can work together to find
helpful resources. On our course Resources page on Blackboard, I'll provide information about resources that I

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think could be potentially useful for a variety of circumstances. I also want to note here that COD does require me
(as well as the rest of your professors) to report disclosures of sexual violence to our Title IX office (https://
www.cod.edu/dean-of-students/title-ix.aspx). I want to be upfront about that because while I absolutely do want to
provide support in such instances, I also know that a student may not wish to trigger an automatic report for various
reasons, and I believe it's important for you all to have that information before making the decision to disclose.

Course Description and Objectives

Description: 

Concentrates on writing techniques that combine elements of digital composition, accessible grammar, and
appropriate prose to develop an effective style suitable for various modes of digital communication. This course
explores the ever-evolving landscape of digital rhetoric, preparing students for delivering content fitting for a range
of audiences, from individuals to the global stage. 

Objectives: Upon successful completion of the course the student should be able to do the following: 

• Use writing strategies to develop clear, concise text for digital communication

• Determine language usage that is appropriate for a global audience of readers/viewers

• Apply principles of technical writing to digital and web writing projects

• Use proofreading skills to edit and polish written communications

• Evaluate how visuals and multimedia can be combined with text to generate effective digital communication

• Organize content appropriate for online delivery

• Identify issues of ethics, law, plagiarism, and copyright related to digital documentation

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Assignment Schedule: The agenda for each class meeting and homework tasks will be
posted on Blackboard.
Due Date Assignment Due

Friday, January 31 Preliminary Website URL

Friday, February 7 Digital Justice Essay Draft

Monday, February 10 Student Hours Visit #1 & Self-Assessment #1

Friday, February 14 Digital Justice Essay

Friday, February 21 Technological Literacy Narrative

Friday, February 28 Podcast Anthem Draft

Friday, March 6 Podcast Anthem

Monday, March 9 - Student Hours Visit #2 & Self-Assessment #2

March 27

Friday, March 13 5-Image Story

Friday, March 20 Infographic Draft

Friday, March 27 Infographic

Friday, April 24 Concept in 60 Draft

Wednesday, May 6 - Conferences & Self-Assessment #3

Friday, May 8

Friday, May 8 Concept in 60

Monday, May 11 Website, Reflection, & Mixtape

"Critical media studies centers on the critical analysis of texts – not texts in isolation, but as they are
produced by industries and institutions, and received by audiences and societies." - Michele Hilmes

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