Getting in Touch
E-mail: melissas@stanford.edu
Office Phone: 724-6278
Home Phone (10am-10pm only): 707-889-0424
Mailbox: IHUM front office, Bldg. 250
Online
http://www.stanford.edu/~melissas/techvisions/index.html
Facebook Groups
LiveJournal Communities
Welcome
Section is your chance to let the rest of the world (within our small
confine) know how you feel and what you think about the works we are
reading and watching. It’s a chance to share excitement, delight,
disgust, brilliance, and confusion, to disagree and to learn from each
other
General Course Requirements
First paper 20% (200 points)
Second paper 25% (250 points)
Final exam 30% (300 points)
Section participation/attendance 25% (250 Points)
Section Guidelines
Section Participation Breakdown
Participation in Classroom Community: 10% (100 points)
Participation in Online Community: 5% (50 points)
Discussion seed questions and class leadership: 5% (50 points)
Utopian Project: 5% (50 points)
In-Class Participation (100 points)
Participation in each class session is essential. You should each come
to class prepared to actively engage one another and the course materials
on the critical issues we will be addressing. I anticipate that the
focus of this section will be discussion and not lecture, so its quality
depends upon your willingness to participate. If you come to class
unprepared, or unwilling to actively participate in section discussion,
you might as well be absent and I will count you as such. Be sure to
bring the relevant texts every week so you’re armed for battle.
Attendance is mandatory and more than two absences will substantially
lower your final course grade. I will be keeping track of both the
quality and quantity of your contribution to class discussion. If you
are particularly shy, you may partially compensate for your reticence
by writing responses to class discussion in our online community (at
least 200 words). Please contact me if you intend to take this route.
Participation in On-Line Community (50 points)
This class is designed to be highly interactive, both in terms of class
discussion and in terms of media. To this end, each class section has
a dedicated Facebook community in which each student must take part.
By midnight the day before section, you will need to reply to one of
the discussion seed questions posted by that day’s class discussion
leaders. Your response should be critically considered, show an engagement
with the class texts and topics, and be at least 125 words in length.
You must post at least 10 responses in the course of the quarter, but
may post more if desired.
I also encourage everyone to use this forum to continue discussion outside
of section, to pose questions, raise concerns, or point out particularly
interesting quotations or topics. Such contributions will be considered
a form of class participation.
Discussion Seed Questions & Class
Leadership (50 points)
Twice during the semester you will be asked to lead class discussion
(usually with one other student). This will entail presenting your
own thoughts on the day’s topic, asking questions of your classmates,
and facilitating discussion. You will sign up for your discussion days
on the first day of class.
In preparation for your class leadership days, you will be responsible
for posting a discussion seed question on the class forum by 5PM the
night before your discussion day. Questions should reflect analysis of
the readings for that week and/or critical response to the lecture. They
should include a pertinent quotation or concept from the text, and be
developed out to at least 100 words.
Utopian Group Project (50 points)
Details to Follow.
Late Work
Late assignments will not be accepted except in very special circumstances.
If you feel that your situation qualifies, contact me as soon as possible
and certainly before the assignment is due.
Final Word
Welcome! I hope that you enjoy this course and that we can work together
to make it a positive experience for all of us. Feel free to contact
me (as above) if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about
the works we are reading/viewing, or class in general. |
