Course Syllabus

English 102: College Composition II (Online)

Spring Quarter 2021

Instructor: Erik Jaccard, PhD (FTF, English)

Student Support Hours (Via Zoom): T/TH 4:30 – 5:30 pm/ WED 8 am – 9 am

Instructor Email: erik.jaccard@seattlecolleges.edu

 

Course Description:

English 102 introduces students to the basics of college level research, argumentation, and persuasive writing. In the course we will read and write about a variety of texts, both academic and non-academic, by way of understanding how complex arguments are made, how we can generate and support them, how they are strengthened by rhetorical awareness of audience, style, and purpose, and why, ultimately, such arguments matter. In addition, in the course you will practice: assessing, critically reading, and synthesizing primary and secondary sources; generating and refining a research question; using the university library to perform research; and identifying and intervening in scholarly debates.

In addition to these skills, the course is also about supporting your long-term success as students, professionals, and human beings. This means we will think critically and reflect on our progress as we make it, looking routinely looking backward at what we’ve achieved and taking stock of how we can continue to grow and apply our learning not only across the broad spectrum of educational experience, but also to your personal and professional lives.

In the first three weeks, we’ll get our bearings and then dive right into the topic of rhetoric and rhetorical analysis (something many may have encountered in English 101), and also the course theme that will take us through the first two-thirds of the quarter: sustainability (and its discontents). What I mean by this theme (and how it’s worded) will become clearer after the first few weeks of class, but in general it refers to how the concept and practice of sustainability intersects with our lives as individuals, community members, consumers, and citizens, how and why we embrace the concept and integrate some of its associated principles into our lives, and how, when, and why we might resist it, and to what ends. 

For those first six-seven weeks, we’ll think through what the complex and sometimes definition-defying term “sustainability” means, explore related issues such as “environmentalism” and “environmental justice”, and also think through the connections between sustainability goals/policies and how we operate as consumers in a capitalist society. The two assignments which emerge from this line of inquiry will help you hone your persuasive writing abilities and grow into a stronger argumentative writer. Our first assignment will be a rhetorical analysis of a written argument for or against “sustainability,” and our second, larger assignment asks you to consider how consumerism affects food and resource sustainability as you create a multi-modal project (part poster presentation, part essay) in which you argue either for why we should prohibit a certain product or incentivize people not to use it.

The last 5 weeks of the course are devoted to an introduction to academic inquiry and argumentation—the basis of student labor and life at the university level. During this time, we will slowly work our way through a long sequence of planning, research, writing, and revision, the culmination of which will be a 6-8page original research paper following a line of inquiry of your own choosing.

 

Course outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

1. Use writing for creation, inquiry, learning, thinking, and communication

2. Read for comprehension and appreciation

3. Analyze and synthesize diverse texts

4. Understand and implement writing as a process

5. Write clearly and effectively

6. Demonstrate audience awareness in writing

7. Engage in self-reflection

8. Identify and evaluate rhetorical strategies

 

Required Course Texts, Capabilities, and Materials:

Readings

There will be no official textbooks for this course; all readings and handouts will be provided for you on our course canvas page, either as hyperlinks, pdf files, or docx files.  When it comes to our course readings, you can either 1) print them out (Preferred) or 2) read them on a laptop or tablet. However you choose to read our materials, it is extremely important that you be able to mark, annotate, and ‘talk back’ to the texts we’re reading. This practice—a key feature of critical close reading—will be one of the fundamental habits that you develop during our time together. If, for whatever reason, you have problems downloading the readings, please let me know, and I will work out alternate access for you.

Capabilities

In this class, we will do everything online using the Canvas learning management system. You will get your readings online, you will submit your written work online, and you will interact with your peers and myself online. It is extremely important that you have access to canvas and that you check your canvas message inbox daily. I frequently message the class with reminders and any other important changes, so don’t forget to check your inbox at least once a day, preferably in the evening!

Costs:

There are no costs for the course beyond your tuition and anything associated with your own technology.

 

Coursework:

English 102 includes three primary assignment sequences:

Assignment #1: “Framing Sustainability”: A rhetorical analysis

3-4 page essay in which you analyze a written argument for or against “sustainability” and argue for whether your chosen uses rhetoric effectively to achieve its goals.

Assignment #2: The Ban-It! Project

The Ban-It! Project is a multi-modal composition which requires that you research a material product which is part of our consumer landscape and develop an argument as to why the product should be banned, regulated, or deincentivized. The argument you create will be presented in two forms:

1. A digital (since we don’t have a physical classroom) poster made using PowerPoint or Google Docs.

2. A 5-page persuasive essay

Assignment #3: Final Research Paper

8-page research paper that generates and argues a complex claim in response to a line of academic inquiry you create and develop through independent, original research.

Submitting Coursework

All work in this course should be submitted:

• Electronically, to canvas,

• Using MLA style and format. We will go over MLA style and formatting no later than week 2

• As a Microsoft Word document (if at all possible). I do all my commenting in Word and, therefore, I prefer that you use that program. The Microsoft Office software package is expensive, but your tuition includes free use of Office 365 Online (including Microsoft Word). You can learn more about how to use this free resource here: https://itservices.seattlecolleges.edu/email-office-365-software. There is also a link to the page where Office 365 can be downloaded in our “Start Here!” module, under “Student Services”. If you choose to compose using Google Docs, you should opt to download your finished product as a Word Document and submit that copy. I will not accept work ‘shared’ with me via the Google ‘share’ function. While I agree they look neat, please do not submit Adobe Pdf files, as I do not have access the Adobe Acrobat program, and thus cannot comment on them.

 

Course Logistics:

• Each weekly module will be active and ready to go by 9 am on Monday mornings

• Work for each weekly module should be completed by 11:59 pm on Sundays. There will be some exceptions to this, mainly in weeks when we are doing peer review activities. During these weeks, you will be expected to submit work earlier than Sunday so that everyone can peer review simultaneously and return peer commentary in a timely manner.

• You will need to be very organized with your time and work this quarter. Assess each week’s workload and then create a plan for how you will manage it.

• Let me know ASAP if you encounter any trouble with my canvas design, assignments, etc. Problems happen, and I’ll do my best to fix them if they do.

 

Evaluation:

We find ourselves in uncertain times when it comes to grading. Many instructors have been forced by current circumstances to teach fully online for the first time (not me, but still, many). Moreover, we find ourselves isolated at home, with far less contact with our department, division, and campus colleagues than we normally have. We don’t know if or when we’re going to get sick, if or when we’ll see our students (if we ever do), and if or when “normal” conditions will return. For students, things are no less uncertain. Many find themselves suddenly taking online classes for the first time, and many do so without easy access to the resources (libraries, student services, tutoring) with which they are able to make attending college possible. Furthermore, many must contend with extreme volatility in their personal and/or professional lives. Some are out of work or have had their work lives made unpredictable or uncertain; some are now caring for small children, whose school year has been cancelled, or for older parents or family members, who must now stay inside for their own health; most are equally as isolated as their teachers, unsure of whether they’ll get sick and what will happen if they do.

Given these conditions, how do we assess student success? As a teacher, how can I be sure all my students have equal access to the technology, resources, spare time, and simple energy needed to complete a term of college courses with “good grades”? As a teacher, how can I be sure I’ll be able to give each of my students as much support as they need? Can my grading be fair or equitable when I can’t ensure my students encounter the class and its grading standards with the same tech, resources, time, and energy? For its part, the college has done a fantastic job getting faculty prepared to teach online using canvas and other distance-learning technologies like Panopto and Zoom. However, my concerns remain, and I feel confident in saying that this current moment has been be like no other I’ve ever experienced.  

Given everything outlined above, I’m operating differently for the time being, and the main difference is that your grade this quarter will be based on a contract, rather than a series of percentages tallied up at the end of the quarter. What’s a grading contract, you might ask?

A grading contract is a grading option form that lays out conditions that a student must meet in order to receive the grade they have chosen. For example, in “normal” times, instructors will divide possible course grades into a hierarchy of criteria, which students then choose from. If a student chooses to receive a B+ for the quarter, they then must do all the work/tasks listed under the B+ contract. If they do all those things, they get their B+. The same goes for an A grade or a C grade. Students choose how much—and how hard—they want to work, and they get the grade they’ve chosen if they do that work.

Why Contract Grading:

• It’s more equitable

  • Assesses growth and learning over the course of the quarter, not how strong someone is already.

  • Makes it so that everyone can succeed if they put in the time and effort.

• It motivates learning over grade chasing

• Studies show it leads to more-–and deeper—critical thinking (https://www.alfiekohn.org/article/trouble-rubrics/)

• It encourages collaboration over competition

• It allows me to engage more deeply with your work, rather than justifying why I’m giving you this or that grade.

• It puts the grade in students’ hands, rather than that of the instructor.

Contract grades in English 102 for Winter Quarter, 2021

At the beginning of our first week of class, I will present you with a contract grade form that you need to sign and return to me. This form will stipulate that, if you fulfill all of the conditions it sets forth, you will receive a “passing” grade for winter quarter. Because I don’t trust other institutions to respect a “Pass” grade on your transcript, however, a “pass” for winter quarter 2021 = a 4.0. Again, if you “pass” my class, you will receive a 4.0. If you fail, you’ll receive a 0.0.

“Wow, will it really be that easy to get a 4.0??”

Yes. And no. It will be easy in the sense that you will do the work required and will then receive your chosen grade. While you will receive feedback from me on your writing, that feedback won’t determine your grade, freeing you to actually focus on whatever learning, growth, and improvement means for you. In that sense, it will be easier than non-contract grading.

However, “Passing” English 102 this quarter will involve every bit as much work as any other class you take and succeed in, and you will earn the 4.0 not by conforming to some abstract standard of what is “excellent” work, but rather by working your tail off. To pass this course, you’ll need to be on time with your work, or to have communicated with me in advance if you can’t. You’ll need to have completed most assignments, and to have participated in all required discussions, peer reviews, and activities. You will, in other words, need to be fully engaged and invested. In this sense, you will, I suppose, be graded less on your “quality” as a writer and more on your dedication as a student. You will be assessed on your ability to manage your time, to consequently get work done, to take that work seriously, and to proactively seek help if you need it. If these skills—skills incredibly important in the actual working world, I might add—are ones you need to work on anyway, this will be the quarter to begin making that progress. 

See the week 1 module for the grading contract, which will outline all the conditions you must follow to get your pass grade for the quarter! See the grading contract in the Week 1 module for more on late work guidelines. 

 

Policies:

Extra help
If you find yourself struggling with anything in this course, please contact me through email or canvas and/or make an appointment to chat with me online. If I notice that you are struggling, I will try to check in with you, but I may not notice if you don’t let me know. If you are struggling, you must take the initiative and ask for assistance.

Late assignments:

For winter 2021, late work policies will be covered under the grading contract. See the week 1 module for more on this.

Keeping copies of your work

Please keep all your work, in a digital folder, until the end of the quarter. When you turn in a paper, be sure you save a file, preferably on a cloud backup like Microsoft Office 365 Online or Google Docs. You don’t want to lose something that you realize later you need. Always keep copies of your drafts!! You’ll thank me later.

Use of your work

I may keep copies of your assignments for use in future classes unless you register your objection in writing

Writing Center

During the NSC campus closure, Page One Writing Center tutoring will only be available online through the Zoom videoconferencing app (free download). More information on how to access tutoring resources can be found at the website for the Student Learning Center.

Ethics

The worst academic offenses in the U.S. are cheating and plagiarism. For this class, that means:

1. Don’t turn in an assignment someone else wrote

2. Don’t let someone else (your best friend, your mom, etc.) do a lot of rewriting or proofreading for you, although it’s certainly acceptable to get general feedback

3. Don’t copy phrases or sentences from books, articles, or the Internet into your papers without proper attribution.

4. If I discover you have copied phrases or sentences from another source, the paper could earn a 0, with no possibilities for revision. If you are caught doing this a second time, you will be reported to Student Services, and the incident could be recorded on your permanent record.

We’ll talk about how to use sources ethically; if you find yourself wanting to use a source before we cover it in class, come talk to me.

Reasonable Accommodations for Religion/Conscience:

Students who will be absent from course activities due to reasons of faith or conscience may seek reasonable accommodations so that grades are not impacted. Such requests must be made in writing within the first two weeks of the quarter (Seattle Colleges Policy 336).

Statement on diversity

I recognize and respect diversity of ethnicity and race, gender, sexual identity, class, age, and disability. Differences provide us with opportunities to learn new things, compare experiences, test our assertions, understand ourselves better, and find common ground. Differences also sometimes engender conflict. In the midst of that conflict, I ask everyone to maintain a language and an attitude of respect.

Ground Rules for (Online) Discussion in “Class”

During the course of the quarter, we may engage topics and themes that are difficult or uncomfortable to discuss.  There will undoubtedly be differences in opinions, beliefs, and interpretations.  While it is important that you challenge each other as well as the readings, it is equally important that you treat your peers with respect and consideration.  You are never required to agree with each other, the arguments in the texts we read, or with me.  Rather, the goal is to better understand your positions / beliefs / assumptions / experiences, and develop your skills in effectively explaining and advocating those positions, etc.  At the same time as you come to better understand and articulate your own points of view, however, it is important to keep in mind that the class is composed of individuals from various backgrounds with various opinions, histories, and ideas.  Respect for diversity of all kinds – in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, age, sex and gender, sexual orientation, ability / disability, political and ideological belief, and so on – is vital to creating a respectful, safe and interesting intellectual environment.  When you disagree or debate a point, please remember to listen fully first, and then respond in a calm and reasonable manner.  If you feel unsafe or harassed in any way, please contact me immediately so that we can discuss how best to address the situation.

Title IX Policy

Seattle College District has a zero-tolerance policy on sexual harassment, discrimination, sexual violence, rape, bullying, or hazing. Please see District Policy and Procedure 419 for our process on investigating and responding to reports of sexual harassment and sexual discrimination. If you have experienced sexual harassment or discrimination, sexual violence, or bullying, or are aware of an incident involving these violations, report it immediately to NSC’s HR director at 206-934-7792 or to the District Compliance Officer (Jennie Chen at 206-934-3873, jennie.chen@seattlecolleges.edu).  All Seattle Colleges faculty are required by the District to report incidents of sexual misconduct to the Title IX Coordinator.

Accommodations

Students who believe that they may need accommodations in this class are encouraged to contact Disability Services as soon as possible to ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion.  If you believe you qualify for course adaptations or special accommodations under the Americans With Disabilities Act, it is your responsibility to contact the Disability Support Services Coordinator.  You can reach them by phone at 934-3697 or in person at CC 2346A.  If you have already documented a disability or other condition through the NSC Disability Support Services Office, which would qualify you for special accommodations, or if you have emergency medical information or special needs I should know about, please notify me during the first week of class, or as soon as the accommodations are formalized.  It is your responsibility to contact me as soon as possible regarding any accommodations you may need this quarter.  Accommodations must be discussed well before the accommodation is needed to ensure alternate methods can be applied.  Please visit the website at Disability Services for more information. 

Disclaimer

This syllabus is subject to change at any time at the instructor’s discretion.  You will be notified of any changes.