Learning Objectives
English 209 is a skills course, but its purpose is not to teach specific software applications. Instead, we will focus on the design and rhetoric of electronic documents. You will learn to write and critique in an electronic environment incorporating links, targets, images and other types of media. You will use hypertext and multimedia as tools for conducting close reading through textual annotation. You will explore the similarities as well as the differences between print and electronic documents, analyze the rhetoric of the web, and consider the relationship between verbal, visual, and associative structures in electronic documents.
Skills: Technical
- set up your server space on the Mason server
- create directories and set permissions on the server
- upload files and manage your site
- create HTML pages using Netscape Composer (or another editing tool of your choice)
- find appropriate content using search engines and library databases
- add links and targets using web authoring tools
- save and insert images using web authoring tools
- use links to create a sequence of pages on
your site
Skills: Critical
- critique web pages and other hypertexts based on usability and other criteria
- learn about site design including ordering of pages and use of appropriate navigational aids
- work on design issues, including color, aesthetics, and readability
- learn how to present your text for an online audience
Requirements
This class meets for four weeks only. Although the syllabus and assignments are on-line, English 209 is not a distance-learning class. You must come to class prepared, and do all of the assigned reading, in-class projects, and homework assignments. Your work must be turned in on time. If you do not hand in all assignments, you cannot pass the course.
Grading
Your final grade will be determined as follows
- Homepage and class site: 15%
- Web page critique: 20%
- Image Capture: 15%
- Hypertext Annotation: 15%
- Final Project: 25%
- Participation and demonstration: 10%
Plagiarism
see the GMU Honor Code
