The Story of Writing

Course Outline

 This is a dynamic document. Any printed copy may be obsolete. Check the online version regularly.

Overview

This is a course in the art of exploraton - a drive to discover new things, creating new realities and building new connections. It's a course where suprises abound, where "explorers" thrive on knowing that just around the corner is something new that they are going to have to learn and react to. The ultimate effect is not just a matter of recombination, which often happens within a single field, but of creative encounters, of one discipline fertilizing another, one thought triggering another.

Students love schedules, love knowing the order of subjects and the satisfaction of ticking off one line after the another, one chapter after another, class after class, week after week. Exploration and learning happends best, conversely, by accident, serendipitiously (even the word has a carefree lilt about it) not by following a rigid schedule down a track.

Learning to look around sparks curiosity, encourages serendipity. Amazing connections get made that way, questions are reaised - and sometimes answered that would never be otherwise. Any explorer sees things that reward not just a bit of scrutiny but a bit of thought over the years. Put things in spatial context or arrange them in time, and they acquire value immediately

Australopithecus afarensis figures. Could they write? Did they? When did we start writing and why?

During the semester, you will explore the history of human communication, in particular, the history and story of writing. You will look at the changes resulting from scientific and technological advances in communication with particular emphasis on writing. You will also research the cultural, social, political, literary, literacy and economic changes that have resulted from any increase/decrease in our ability to communicate (write). Because this course is being offered only on-line, it will take place in Cyberspace, where, throughout the semester, you will work both alone and with your peers (asynchronously ) to enhance your understanding of the topics and experience a glorious explosion of newly recognized meanings.

You will, in the spirit of open-ended play, be able to experiment, to try new combinations and to take risks often not available in print culture. This will generate some surprisingly new, complex intellectual combinations. We need to learn, to challenge ourselves, to invent new patterns. The fun of creating and using the web to create our image text will give you the opportunity to change work into play. Play is what we do for our own sake, yet it is a spur to our most creative, most significant work.

Because this course will be conducted with no face-to-face contact, you will work on developing, enhancing, and learning new computer skills: web page design, FTP, telnet, e-mail etiquette. Lecture-type reading material will be read either from your computer monitor or downloaded from the class website, printed, and read as hardcopy. A bibliography is also provided and perusal is highly recommended. In fact, probably the best approach to your learning might be accessing a combination of web sites ( Links ) and printed material provided in the bibliography. Threaded class discussions and exercises will take place regularly using Suny Learning Network threaded e-mail--attendance and participation are required. Peer evaluations will take place using e-mail to swap URLs and provide feedback. You will post your work weekly (chapters) to your webfolio and evaluated with comments via e-mail. Most individual questions will be handled using E-mail, but when a question's response applies to others, the class listserv will be used. In addition, I will be available by e-mail most days.

The course is only accessible through the Suny Learning Network. All threaded e-mail discussions will take place on the SLN portal.

The course is writing intensive, as are all the English courses at Suffolk County Community College. The required writing component will take various forms: