**IN PROGRESS**
Northeastern State University
College of Liberal Arts
Summer 2010 syllabus for
COMM 4623/5623 Computer Mediated Communication
(last updated 12.23.09)
Professor: Amy
Aldridge Sanford, PhD
E-mail: aldridga@nsuok.edu
Office Hours: Face-to-face meetings are by
appointment. Please do not hesitate to
email me with questions; I will respond within 24 hours.
Your
professor’s philosophy of education: I am
a facilitator of learning. The participants in any given classroom enter
with different paradigms and truths. I aid in the exploration of those
truths. I do NOT believe that the instructor is THE holder of Truth;
therefore we must all participate to co-construct knowledge and create
synergy. When a student starts to feel uncomfortable in his/her existing
paradigm that means s/he is growing as a scholar. My desire is that
all of my students feel the joy of discomfort from time to time.
Your
professor’s grading philosophy: I
prefer intrinsic motivations, and therefore, am NOT a fan of letter
grades. I believe this extrinsic reward is too often the only motivation
for students to complete assignments. A college education should be viewed
as a privilege and an opportunity to become learned and scholarly.
However, until there is a better system, grades will be assigned in this
class. Work that meets the minimum requirements of an assignment,
is completed on time and displays average involvement with the course content
is deserving of a “C.” Higher grades are awarded to work that goes above
and beyond the minimum standards to produce papers and presentations that
reflect superior intellectual effort, excellence in critical analysis and overall
creativity in the approach towards any given assignment. In other words,
grades are earned in this class. An “A” is attainable but will require far
more than minimal effort.
Required
Texts:
Barnes,
S.B. (2003). Computer-mediated
communication: Human-to-human
communication across the internet. Boston: Allyn &
Bacon. ISBN: 0-205-32145-3.
Publication
Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA).
(6th ed.) (2009).
American
Psychological Association. ISBN:
9781433805615
Description
of Course: This course introduces
students to theories, practices and evaluations, resulting from the study and
use of technology in communication.
Pre-requisites:
none
Learning
Outcomes:
•
Identify and define basic views,
theories, and contemporary issues concerning computer-mediated communication.
•
Explore the evolution of
computer-mediated communication.
•
Identify, explain, and use
several technologies used to facilitate communication.
•
Evaluate various forms of
mediated communication and their effective uses.
•
Identify and define processes,
problems, and advantages associated with the use of communication technology.
•
Apply the information learned in
this course in a research paper that can be submitted to an academic
conference.
Technical Support: If you are having difficulties
accessing Blackboard or your student email, call the NET helpdesk at
918-444-5678 or email help@nsuok.edu
.
Missed/Late
Assignments: Your classmates are counting on you to get your work
done on time. In many ways, their grades
depend on it. Therefore, Reading
Responses and Participation in Blackboard Discussion will NOT be accepted
late. No matter the reason. If you don’t get those done by the deadline,
the grade is a zero. In other words,
work ahead.
For all other assignments, one letter grade will be deducted for every
day (including weekends) that the assignment is late. After four days, the assignment will not be
accepted for credit.
Outline
of Course: Please
keep in mind that every session is the equivalent of two full weeks in a
regular 16-week course. The workload is
reflective of that. Please manage your
time well and try to work ahead. Take
note of the dates of the readings; they will help you understand the evolution
of CMC.
Session 1 (week
beginning 6/7):
What to do?
What’s due?
Session 2 (week
beginning 6/14):
What to do?
What’s due?
Session 3 (week
beginning 6/21):
What to do?
What’s due?
Session 4 (week
beginning 6/28):
What to do?
What’s due?
Session 5 (week
beginning 7/5):
What to do?
What’s due?
Session 6 (week
beginning 7/12):
What to do?
What’s due?
Session 7 (week
beginning 7/19):
What to do?
What’s due?
Session 8 (week
beginning 7/26):
What to do?
What’s due?
Grading:
Discussion
Starters/Reading Responses (30%): Reading responses are
reflections you have on the reading. They should be posted on the
discussion board by the deadlines listed in this syllabus. The RR should be at least 500
words and thoroughly thought out. You are to include
information from the session’s assigned readings in ONE reading response.
Mark up your book/articles while you are reading and discuss the items that got
your attention. Reading responses should include brief summaries of the text (be sure to
use page numbers when directly quoting from the readings), your analysis of the
material, and examples when appropriate. This will add depth to your
responses. At the end of your response, write some possible discussion
questions.
Participation in
Blackboard Discussion (20%): Every student needs to respond
to the posted Discussion Starters/Reading Responses by the deadlines listed in
this syllabus. This will facilitate a computer-mediated
dialogue with your classmates and instructor. This interaction is crucial to
building an online learning community.
Here are some general guidelines:
·
When you reply to a Reading
Response, don't just say "I agree." Give the name or names of
person(s) with whom you are agreeing, a brief, sentence or two summary of what
they said you are agreeing with, and then your views. Please make sure you post
this as a response rather than a new discussion thread.
·
Weekly reading assignments need
to be read prior to discussion. Please come to the discussion forum with an
understanding of the required material. Your understanding should become
clarified through discussion, not to be based on discussion.
·
Responses should be at least 100 words.
·
You must reply to at least three Reading Responses every week. Please don’t wait to do all of them on the
last day they are due. It will really
help everybody if you will participate throughout the week.
·
When you express an opinion, be
sure and support it with material from our readings or from other sources that
are available to the class. When you quote or paraphrase from the text be sure
to give the page number(s).
·
You’re encouraged to post links
to external material that help illustrate and strengthen your arguments.
·
While there will no doubt be
disagreements, I expect the members of this community (including myself) to
challenge ideas in a manner that reflects respect and recognition of opposing
viewpoints without attacking individuals.
Research
Proposal and Outline of Final Paper (10%):
Select an area from CMC that you would like to study farther. Conduct
preliminary research on the topic and prepare a research proposal in which you
explain your general topic. The research proposal should be a minimum of
3 FULL pages (Times New Roman, double spaced, 1” margins) and should include an
extensive literature review and your research design. The following areas
should be addressed in the research proposal: What is your motivation for
choosing this topic? What research has already been done on this
topic? What are you hoping to learn from the research? What
is/are your main research question(s)? (Keep these narrow). What one
population will you study? What is your proposed methodology? The Research Proposal should be emailed to me
by 6/25 at 11:59 p.m. The outline for
the final paper should be emailed to me by 7/9 at 11:59 p.m. It should be formally outlines with an
introduction, body, and conclusion, and should give me a good idea about how
much work you have put into the final paper and what direction you plan to take
with the final paper.
PowerPoint Presentation
of Final Paper (10%):
Create a PowerPoint Presentation of your final paper and respond to at
least three other presentations. Your presentation should be thorough enough
that one of your classmates could present it if asked. Don’t overdo the text on the slides, but
utilize the notes section well. You are
not required to record yourself giving the presentation, but it would be really
cool if you did. The PowerPoint is due
by 7/23 and the responses are due by 7/26.
Final Paper
(30%): For
this paper I want you to focus on an area of CMC that you think needs further
study. Write an extensive literature
review building an argument for why the research needs to be done. Additionally, share your proposed
methodology. DO NOT DO ANY OF THE
RESEARCH UNLESS YOU GET IRB APPROVAL.
Undergraduates must have a
minimum of 8 pages (not including the cover page, abstract, appendix, or
references) and graduates must have a minimum of 14 pages (not including the
cover page, abstract, appendix, or references). Papers much conform to
APA standards. Remember,
EBSCO Host is your friend. I would like to see papers from
this class sent to an academic conference. Students from our communication
graduate classes have presented at state, regional and national conferences in
the last couple of years, and you should strive to have the same scholarly
experience. The Final Paper should be emailed to me by 7/29 at 11:59
p.m. I will confirm receipt.
Class
Grievances:
I am willing to
meet with you face to face to discuss our class and/or particular
assignments. I ask that you please wait 24 hours after you have received
a graded assignment to come see me in a face-to-face meeting. Before we
discuss your work, you are required to type out a document detailing what
particular elements of your work you feel merit discussion.
Students
with Disabilities: If any member of the class feels
that he or she has a disability and requires special accommodations, of any
nature whatsoever, I will work with you to ensure that you have a fair
opportunity to perform in this class. Please advise me of such disability
and the desired accommodations at the close of the first class period.
Students with disabilities who need accommodations to achieve course objectives
should visit the Office of Student Affairs, Ext. 2120.
Plagiarism:
According
to Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary (1983, 2nd Ed.), to
plagiarize is “to steal or pass of ideas or words of another as one’s own…to
use created productions without crediting the source…to commit literary
theft…to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an
existing source” (p.1371). Students in this course will be responsible
for authenticating any assignment submitted to the instructor. If asked,
you must be able to produce proof that the assignment you submitted is in fact
your own work. Therefore, it is recommended that you engage in a
verifiable working process on assignments. Keep copies of all drafts of
your work, make photocopies of research materials, write summaries of research
materials, keep logs or journals of your work on assignments and papers, learn
to save drafts or versions of assignments under individual file names on
computer diskettes, etc. In addition to requiring a student to
authenticate his/her work, the instructor may employ various other means of
ascertaining authenticity—such as engaging in internet searches, creating
quizzes based on student work, requiring students to explain their work and/or
process orally, etc.
NSU’s
policy on Academic Misconduct (from http://www.nsuok.edu/policies/academic/misconduct.html): Academic misconduct includes
cheating (using unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any
academic exercise), plagiarism, falsification of records, unauthorized
possession of examinations, intimidation, and any and all other actions that
may improperly affect the evaluation of a student’s academic performance or
achievement, or assisting others in any such act or attempts to engage in such
acts. Academic misconduct in any form is inimical to the purposes and functions
of the University and therefore is unacceptable and prohibited. Any
faculty member, administrator or staff member may identify an act of academic
misconduct and should report that act to the department head/college dean, Vice
President for Academic Affairs or administrative supervisor. Students
violating the standards of academic honesty are subject to disciplinary action
including reduction of a grade(s) in a specific course, assignment, paper, or
project; a formal or informal reprimand at the professorial, dean, or academic
vice president level; expulsion from the class in which the violation occurred;
expulsion from a program; or expulsion from the University.