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Spring 2015 – Georgia Institute of Technology – Writing and Communication Program
English Composition 1102
Section K3: meets Tues. and Thurs. 8:05-9:25 am in Skiles 317
Section N3: meets Tues. and Thurs. 12:05-1:25 pm in Clough 123
Section D2: meets Tues. and Thurs. 1:35-2:55 pm in Clough 127
Syllabus last revised January 3rd, 2015
---Puzzles, Games, Mysteries---
Instructor: Dr. Jonathan Kotchian
My office: Skiles 321
My office hours: Tuesdays 7:30-8:00 am, 9:30-11:00 am, and 3:00-4:00 pm, and by appointment
My e-mail address:
Vital websites associated with this course (use your GT login):
· Our course blog, including calendar, is at http://blogs.iac.gatech.edu/kotchian1102puzz2015. (If you cannot access that site after January 6th, please e-mail Dr. Kotchian.)
· Our T-Square site is accessible via https://t-square.gatech.edu under ENGL-1102-D2,K3,N3.
· You can find our class wiki at http://wikis.iac.gatech.edu/Puzzling2015.
· The Writing and Communication Program Common Policies page for English 1101 and 1102 is at http://b.gatech.edu/1vCZmpl.
Course Overview------
This is a course in multimodal composition. “Multimodal” means that we’ll study and employ several kinds of communication. Use the acronym below to remember the five modes, which are often “woven” together.
Written------Oral------Visual------Electronic------Nonverbal
“Composition” means that in order to get better at communicating, we’ll create new texts and new knowledge. We’ll learn by doing, drawing on the texts of others to create our own interesting and useful rhetorical projects.
The shared theme that will focus our class is puzzles, games, and mysteries. You may have heard the communication maxim “simpler is better.” Often, that’s very good advice. But the subject matter of this class -- texts that challenge us to figure out their puzzles – will show us how communication sometimes depends on difficult and complex processes of investigation and interpretation. Those who play intellectually difficult games, solve challenging puzzles, or untangle fiendish mysteries don’t just passively receive information from authors; they engage with these texts more actively. We’ll study this kind of investigative engagement by experiencing it, analyzing it, and even creating it.
As we consider a variety of artifacts – among them films, short stories, computer games, and logic and math puzzles, including works by Jorge Luis Borges, Michael Frayn, Martin Gardner, China Miéville, and Emily Short – we’ll explore the connections between rhetoric (that is, argument and persuasion) and the special kinds of investigation (e.g., playing, guessing, observing, deducing, re-framing, solving, and winning) provoked by such “puzzling” texts. What does it mean to communicate through a puzzle or game? How can a mystery have an argument? To what extent do readers/viewers/players determine the uses and meanings of these texts? We’ll move from enjoying these artifacts to authoring such texts on our own. Major projects will include shooting a mystery film and developing contest puzzles, and our work will culminate in the production of of several team-authored interactive fiction computer games (no prior coding experience required).
This course is not a lecture. It’s closer to a workshop or a laboratory. Our work will be new, challenging, experimental, rigorous, and often cooperative. I expect spirited participation in that work from each of you.
What can we expect to learn?------
English 1102 is designed to develop and improve your written, oral, visual, electronic, and nonverbal communication and composition. Using the learning outcomes established by the University System Board of Regents and the Council of Writing Program Administrators, Georgia Tech’s Writing and Communication Program has set certain desired learning outcomes for ENGL 1102; you can see these (under “Learning Outcomes”) on the Common Policies page, along with several other program-wide documents and policies. All of our work will move us toward these learning goals.
I chose the particular theme of this course (puzzles, games, and mysteries) because I think paying attention to investigative textual engagement gives us an advantage as we work toward our learning outcomes. By setting up unusual relationships between authors and readers/viewers/players, the texts we’ll study and those we’ll create can highlight the nitty-gritty processes of communication, allowing us to isolate, better analyze, and learn from those processes. Too, we’ll acquire useful lenses and vocabulary for thinking about culture more broadly, at a time when “gamification” is constantly changing how we interact with our world. What is revealed when we look at every text as a game, puzzle, or mystery?
What materials are required?------
There are four required books you must acquire for this course:
· Jorge Luis Borges, Collected Fictions, trans. Hurley, Penguin Books, 1999 (978-0140286809)
· Michael Frayn, Copenhagen, any edition (such as 978-0385720793)
· China Miéville, Embassytown, any edition (such as 978-0345524508)
· WOVENText, the Writing and Communication Program’s e-book (978-0312665562)
You can buy the above texts at the campus bookstore or elsewhere. You’ll need the above print version of the Borges book, but you can get either print or digital copies of Copenhagen and Embassytown.
I’ll put Howard Davies’ film version of Copenhagen on reserve at the library and will screen it for you.
I’ll provide you with free access to a variety of shorter texts in electronic format; see the “Texts” page on the course blog. These texts may include:
Literature:
· Agatha Christie, “The Witness for the Prosecution”
· Arthur Conan Doyle, selections from the Sherlock Holmes stories
· Jonathan Swift, selected riddle-poems
· J. R. R. Tolkien, selection from The Hobbit
· Selections from the Anglo-Saxon riddles of the Exeter Book
· Selections from The Onion
Texts on composition and rhetoric:
· Ian Bogost, selection from “Persuasive Games”
· Mary Hamilton, “My Blogging Principles”
· Joseph Harris, selections from Rewriting
· Robert Lanham, “Internet-Age Writing Syllabus and Course Overview”
· George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language”
· Keith Johnstone, selections from Impro
· Kristin Linklater, selections from Freeing the Natural Voice
· Constantin Stanislavski, selections from An Actor Prepares
Interactive fiction games and commentary:
· Adam Cadre, 9:05
· Jason Devlin, Vespers
· Jeremy Freese, Violet
· Nick Montfort, selections from Twisty Little Passages
· Andrew Plotkin, The Dreamhold and Shade
· Porpentine, Howling Dogs
· Zoe Quinn, Patrick Lindsey, and Isaac Schankler, Depression Quest
· Emily Short, Counterfeit Monkey and Galatea
· Dan Waber, A Kiss
· Matt Wigdahl, Aotearoa
Beyond the expenses for the required books, you should anticipate modest (no more than $20) printing and fabrication expenses related to class projects.
Unless I tell you differently, please bring your laptop or tablet computer (a phone doesn’t count) to every class.
What graded work will we do?------
Projects. During the course, you will create a range of multimodal artifacts: written, oral, visual, digital, and nonverbal. For each project, you will receive a detailed assignment sheet that includes assessment criteria and the steps and tasks you’ll need to complete. Brief descriptions of the projects are below.
Project 1: “Digital Commonplacing and the Blog Essay.” 10% of course grade.
Major artifacts:
-a WordPress blog including commonplace quotations, analyses, and an authorial note
-an exploratory essay in blog format
Project 2: “The Mysteries of Media and Performance.” 15% of grade.
Major artifacts:
-a team video performance of a mystery story you create
-a team-authored movie poster advertising your video
-a team-authored directors’ statement about your video
Project 3: “Building Puzzle Knowledge Collaboratively.” 20% of grade.
Major artifacts:
-a collaboratively built research wiki on puzzles and related topics
-a contest puzzle suitable for members of the Tech community
-an audio/video explanation of your puzzle and its solution
Project 4: “Interactive Fiction Games and Authorship in the Digital Age.” 25% of grade.
Major artifacts:
-a team-authored interactive fiction computer game, written in Inform 7
-a team-authored box cover image advertising your game
-a team-authored artists’ statement about your game
Participation. Some of your required work, both individual and collaborative, will be completed in class or for homework, and will count as part of your participation grade, which will be 15% of your course grade. (Attendance is a separate course requirement and does not count as part of your participation grade.)
This is a class about composition and communication, so your participation is essential. Get involved. Volunteer. Question. Probe. Share relevant ideas and observations. Refer to relevant articles, books, and Web sites. Offer your own experiences. Make connections between what we’re discussing in this class and what you hear elsewhere (in other classes, on websites, on social media, in news media, in conversations, etc.). Active, productive participation is not only worth 15% of your grade, but it will also make the class more interesting and enjoyable.
Reading, viewing, and playing assignments must be completed by the beginning of class on the due date. (The calendar of assignments is kept on our class blog.) Class discussions and activities will be based on or extended from this work, so always come to class having written down at least a few questions and comments about the texts we’re studying. The success and value of our discussions depend on your preparation and engagement.
In addition to the Class Notes assignment mentioned below, these things count for your participation grade:
· Contributing orally to class discussions
· In-class group activities
· Brief informal presentations
· Peer review: providing feedback, in a variety of forms, on your classmates’ work
· Class blog posts and comments (see the requirements for these under “How To Post” on the blog).
· Class wiki additions and edits
· Brief homework tasks
· Professionalism (don’t be late, no looking at your phone in class, etc.)
· Announced or unannounced quizzes (one-third of your total participation grade)
About quizzes:
· Quizzes are likely to be unannounced.
· Quizzes are likely to be given at or near the very beginning of class; this is one reason to show up on time every day!
· Anything you were assigned to read, view, listen to, play, etc. for that day’s class is fair game for a quiz question.
· When answering the quiz question (which will usually be a very simple but specific one), remember that you are trying to convince me that you have done the reading (or playing, etc.), so you should be as specific as possible, noting details that would be missed by someone who only skimmed the reading.
About Class Notes: To enable students to find out easily what they missed if they are absent from class (or simply to help you review a previous class’s work), I’ve made a “Students’ Class Notes” page on the wiki. Each student is responsible for one day of official class notes (see the calendar), and may also contribute unofficially. Please see the wiki for guidelines on writing and submitting these notes. Contributions to the class notes project count toward your class participation grade.
Portfolio. Please see the “Reflective Portfolio” section on the Common Policies page. Your portfolio will count for 15% of the course grade. We’ll work on this assignment periodically throughout the semester.
What tools will we use?------
In addition to T-Square, we will use (at least) the following digital tools to complete work for this course:
· Gargoyle (for playing IF). Click the link at the bottom of the page, and install the appropriate version.
· Google Docs/Drive. Sign up for a Google account (unless you already have one you want to use).
· Inform 7 (for writing IF). Click the “Download” tab, and install the appropriate version.
· MediaWiki. You’ll learn how to edit our class wiki using this documentation.
· Twine (for writing IF). You needn’t download it; just use the most recent version online.
· WordPress. The class blog uses WordPress, and it’s a good choice for your own blog.
These tools are all free to users. I’ll walk you through the basics of each one. However, learning how to use these tools effectively is *your* responsibility. If you have questions not covered in class, then you will need to meet with me or a peer outside of class to discuss them, or use the class blog to get help. You can also consult any of the other IT resources available on campus.
The tools described above are those that you will definitely be required to use. In addition to these tools, you will almost certainly need to make use of others, as appropriate, to complete assigned work. In the event I don't specify a particular tool for a particular project, deciding which tool or tools to use, and acquiring proficiency with it/them, will be your responsibility.
If you ever have questions about what tools you should use for a particular project or how to use them, you can make an appointment to discuss them with me, and you can also get help from a number of IT resources on campus.
Note: Technology use in the classroom should be related to what we are doing in class. No phones. (If you must stay available via phone for emergency purposes – for example, if a relative’s health is failing, and they might need to call you for a ride to the hospital – you can let me know of these circumstances ahead of time.) Do not engage with social media, text, or e-mail unless I specifically request that you do so as part of our in-class work.
Course Policies------
As your instructor, I will abide by my own policies, treat all students fairly and with respect, create a classroom environment conducive to exploratory learning and the creation of new knowledge, and be available during reasonable hours outside of class to answer student questions related to course projects and material.
As students in this class, I expect you to take the class seriously, to comply with my policies, to complete assigned readings/viewings/playings and project work in a timely and professional manner, to create a classroom environment conducive to exploratory learning and the creation of new knowledge, and to work as hard and as sincerely as you can.
Georgia Tech’s Writing and Communication Program has common, program-wide policies regarding these areas:
• General Education Outcomes
• Learning Outcomes
• Evaluation Equivalencies
• Evaluation Rubric
• Course Completion
• Attendance
• Participation in Class
• Non-Discrimination
• Communication Center