Tuesdays,
10:15 am-1:05 pm
BA210
Jennifer
Goodall, PhD
jjpowers@uamail.albany.edu, professorgoodall (AIM), 956-8245
Office hours: Mondays, 2-4 in Draper 118A and by appointment
This course fulfills the writing and oral discourse requirements through exploration of various topics related to information science for information science majors. The course description states:
Development of professional skills in information science. This course includes development of student presentation skills including interviewing, web development, the resume, and oral presentation skills.
Each week we will research and discuss a specific topic related to information science. Teams of students will take turns researching topics, providing readings and discussion questions and leading the class discussion. Within the context of learning about these topics, we will also focus on how the way we obtain information can affect the information itself.
In addition, this class will introduce:
Topics we may cover in class include:
Required:
Sara Baase, A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing and the Internet, 3rd edition, ISBN: 0-13-601918-8 This book should be available in the University Bookstore by January 30.
Recommended:
Lynne Truss, Eats Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
Strunk and White's The Elements of Style
Richard Fein, Cover Letters! Cover Letters! Cover Letters!, 2nd edition
Ron Fry, 101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions, 4th edition
Ron Fry, 101 Great Resumes, revised edition
Becker and Becker, Powerful Presentation Skills
Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll
Attendance: You are expected to attend every class. You have up to 1 unexcused absence during the semester. Beyond that, 2 points will be deducted from your final grade for each class missed without an official university note and 1 point will be deducted for late arrival or early departure. Attendance on the evening of your team presentation is mandatory.
Homework: You are expected to turn in your homework before the class it is due (email it to me) or at the start of class (on paper). This means that the current class is not the time to do today's homework.
Writing Intensive and Oral discourse requirements: (from the Undergraduate Bulletin)
WRITTEN DISCOURSE: Students must satisfactorily complete with grades of C or higher or S a lower division Writing Intensive course, which is expected to be completed within the freshman or sophomore year, and a Writing Intensive course at or above the 300 level, normally completed within the student’s major. These courses use writing as an important tool in the discipline studied and are not designed primarily to teach the technical aspects of writing. The emphasis is on using writing as a means of sharpening critical thinking in and understanding of the subject.
Approved courses must meet each of the following four criteria:
1. A Substantial Body of Finished Work: This is generally expected to be a total of 20+ double-spaced pages in at least two, preferably more, submissions. It may be in a variety of forms—journal, reports, essays, research papers, etc.—not all of which need to be graded.
2. Opportunity for Students to Receive Assistance in Progress: Such assistance may take several forms, from visits to the Writing Center (HU-140) to conferences with the instructor.
3. Opportunity to Revise Some Pieces: As revision is an essential characteristic of good writing, students should be able to revise some portion of their work.
4. Response to Student Writing: Such response may take several forms—from extended comments from the instructor to peer evaluation in student groups. It is expected, however, that the instructor will respond in detail to some extended work of the student.
Note: Transfer students who enter the University with credit for an “English Composition” course or a two-semester combined literature and writing course will be considered to have completed the lower-level writing intensive requirement at this University.
ORAL DISCOURSE: Approved courses provide opportunities for students to develop the oral communication skills they need to participate more effectively in public and academic debates and discussions. Courses offer opportunities to participate in a variety of communication contexts and to reflect on the principles and theory relevant to specific oral communication activities. Approved courses include instruction on presentation, as well as feedback and evaluation of oral performance. Feedback can occur in various forms, including peer evaluation in student groups, but it is expected that the instructor will also provide feedback to students on their performance. To fulfill both the spirit and the letter of this requirement, wherever possible courses should have no more than 25 students enrolled.
Approved courses generally have a minimum of two exercises in which oral performance is required and graded. An oral performance exercise can be accomplished in any of the following activities, either live or in a crafted recording:
A discussion within a group, where each member will be required to make 3-5 “paragraph-length” contributions in the course of the discussion.A discussion within a group, where each member will be required to make 3-5 “paragraph-length” contributions in the course of the discussion
A question and answer dialogic process where the student fields a succession of questions or asks a succession of questions that build on and comment upon prior answers
A rehearsal theatrical presentation or interpretive reading
A stand-up monologue presentation of a minimum of 3-5 minutes
Students will be made aware of the criteria that will be used for evaluation of their oral performances Examples of criteria that may be used include persuasiveness, organization, presentation of evidence, validity of argument, contact with the audience, vocal punctuation and expressiveness, oral language style suited to the exercise, appropriate volume and pace of speech, poise and comfort, vocal fluency, eye contact, and active listening. The final grade in oral intensive courses will include the grade for oral performance as a key component.
Standards of Academic Integrity (from the Undergraduate Bulletin)
Throughout their history, institutions of higher learning have viewed themselves and have been viewed by society as a community of persons not only seeking truth and knowledge, but seeking them in a truthful and ethical fashion. Indeed, the institution traditionally trusted by the public and the one to which it most often turns when unbiased, factual information is needed is the university. Thus, how a university behaves is as important as what it explores and learns.
The University at Albany expects all members of its community to conduct themselves in a manner befitting this tradition of honor and integrity. They are expected to assist the University by reporting suspected violations of academic integrity to appropriate faculty and/or administration offices. Behavior that is detrimental to the University’s role as an educational institution is unacceptable and requires attention by all citizens of its community.
These guidelines, designed especially for students, define a context of values within which individual and institutional decisions on academic integrity can be made.
It is every student’s responsibility to become familiar with the standards of academic integrity at the University. Claims of ignorance, of unintentional error, or of academic or personal pressures are not sufficient reasons for violations of academic integrity. The following information, supplied by University Libraries ,provides additional information.If you are found to violate academic integrity in any way, you will get a 0 on the assignment and be reported to the Dean of Undergraduate Studies. If you violate academic integrity twice during the course, you will FAIL the entire course.
Responsible Computing: Students are required to read the "University at Albany Policy for the Responsible Use of Information Technology" available at the Academic Computing Web Site. Students are also required to read: "Appendix I: Policies Governing Student Use of Computing and Networking Facilities at the University at Albany." Students will be expected to apply the policies discussed in these two documents to all computing and electronic communications in the course.
Failure to comply with these policies will result in a failing grade for this course.
Last updated Tuesday, January 29, 2008