Week

Monday

Wednesday

Friday

1. Aug. 26-30

Registration

Class introduction:

Technology and literacy: what’s the connection?

What’s your background--let’s get to know each other. I’ll hand out a short survey.

What are we going to do in this class?

Writing assignment for Friday:

What are you doing here: college, NDSU, this class? Classic 5 paragraph theme, please. Set up a Weblog (Blogger.com or other host) and post the essay there.

Computer Classroom Library 14A

In class, we will do any weblog trouble shooting necessary, and begin sharing weblogs. Bring your file on disk, or send it to yourself via email if you are having trouble posting.

I will introduce Levinson’s essay, "Needed: A New Literacy." (Online:Library:EbscoHost:AcademicSearchElite)

Find a guide to writing summaries online: you will need to post a summary of Levinson’s essay to your blog by next class.

2. Sept. 2-6

Labor Day–no class.

Send me an email in which you give me the URL for your weblog, and you tell me what you think you need to do during the first unit of the course. Also schedule a visit with me for some time during my office hours (MWF 9-12) in the next two weeks. . I would simply like to get to know you a little bit, find out about some of your interests, answer any questions about this course and your new literacy needs.

Please post your summary of Levinson’s essay to your weblog before class.

I will ask small groups to reports on sections of the essay: what challenges are there in reading an essay like this one? What strategies do you have for meeting those challenges?

We will also discuss Levinson’s essay as a model for writing your Unit 1 essay, and as a possible set of criteria for assessing new skills and mediums like weblogs.

I will use one of Levinson’s suggestions (that we think visually and metaphorically) and introduce PC-Rats as a metaphor for thinking about students of the 21st century.

What metaphor(s) might work for you? How do you see yourself?

Please read and write a blog entry for Rebecca Blood’s, "Weblogs: a history and perspective." We are going to be asking the question: "Weblogs: What’s the Use?" How does Blood answer the question?

What do you know about weblogs and weblogging? What kind of research are you going to do in order to find out how they are, or could be used, in education? We will do some brainstorming in class in order to help everyone start their research.

3. Sept. 9-13

Computer Classroom: IACC 150C!! (New room!)

Read "Power Searching for Anyone" and "Search Engine Math."

Also new: Find a weblog, an article, and a website that interest you (and are related to our topic--weblogs, what's the use?)

 Look at what we are doing on Wed. and Friday. Be prepared! Volunteers for Wed. are welcome.

Presentations by half of the class:

What makes for a good or bad notebook or filter weblog entry? What do you see as the educational potential in the weblogs you read?

What can we learn from these examples?

Use a visual aid (overhead slide or handout–show at least one entry, probably more than one).

After-class writing: write a notebook entry in your blog that sums up or lists what you consider the most important characteristics of notebook/filter entries.

Presentations by the other half of the class:

What makes for a good or bad blog journal? Is there a place for personal weblogs in education?

What can we learn from these examples Use a visual aid (overhead slide or handout–show at least one entry, probably more than one).

After-class writing: write a notebook entry in your blog that sums up or lists what you consider the most important characteristics of a personal blog entry.

Schedule a visit with me sometime before this date.

4. Sept. 16-20

Everybody bring a hard copy of a summary of one article on Weblogs you found (you can also filter this article in your weblog). We will compile a list and sort out the views available.

Think particularly about how the article you summarize compares to Rebecca Blood’s essay. Also pay attention to whether the article sees blogging as part of Levison’s "new literacy."

Where are we now? Bring notes that answer the following questions:

What do you know about weblogging?

What do you know about its uses in education? What do we know about the goals of higher education?

Do weblogs seem like useful tools for learning?

What additional research would be helpful?

Can weblogging meet some of Levinson’s goals for a new literacy?

Read and write a blog entry for Oravec, Jo Ann. "Bookmarking the world: weblog applications in education." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, v45 i7 (April 2002) 616-22. InfoTrac. Choose "Expanded Academic ASAP.

In what ways is this essay a "model" proposal or recommendation? In what ways might you extend the work done by Oravec?

New: Find an online source that will help you write an "evaluation and proposal" essay. Bring a copy of that source, or some notes about it, to class.

5. Sept. 23-27

What’s the place of personal experience in a proposal? How would you use others’ experiences as well?

Post a "personal" reflection to your blog and bring a hard copy to class. We’ll see how personal experiences fit on the "map" we developed last week.

Stay at home and write day.

Blog an online resources for writing that you think is helpful. Be aware of campus resources for feedback.

Read my notes online about "sideshadowing."

Peer review day. Bring a full draft (at least 5 pages, typed, doubled spaced) of your paper.

Sideshadow your draft before you bring it to class.