Dr. Mark W. Jordan ENGL 1301 Composition and Rhetoric

"I have learned to have very modest goals for society and myself, things like clean air, green grass, children with bright eyes, not being pushed around, useful work that suits one's abilities, plain tasty food . . . "

--Paul Goodman

Welcome!   . . . to an online, web-based course in composition and rhetoric offered by Odessa College: English 1301.Web - Composition and Rhetoric, a three credit-hour course. Prerequisite: Engl 0370 passed with a "C" or better or a satisfactory placement score.  You must also formally register for the course via the Registrar's Office here at Odessa College. This course uses the resources of the Internet and World Wide Web to present a freshman-level college composition and rhetoric class. For example, There is no classroom, no traditional attendance, and no campus visit required. Surfing the World Wide Web and experiencing its use of multimedia will be part of the course requirements. Students may at times work collaboratively on topics and papers. There is an asynchronous chatroom (Nicenet) which we may use for relevant discussions of assignments and topics. Papers will be submitted by email attachment.  If you have technical problems, I will temporarily accept assignments via surface mail, fax, or hardcopy brought to my office (for local students). Note: please realize that in order to complete this course with a passing grade, you will almost certainly need the following items and skills: Daily uninterrupted access to a computer--preferably at home A full-capability word processor such as Microsoft Word or Wordperfect (not Notepad, Wordpad, etc.) Internet access A web browser and some experience using it A personal email account and experience with email Enough time to check for email and new assignments at least every other weekday, and enough time to write five or six major writing assignments, revise them, and proof them (along with additional lesser assignments) Knowledge of how to attach a file Knowledge of how to save files under certain filenames and in certain required formats Awareness that a web course is not less work than a traditional course Willingness to ask questions!

Further Notes, Advice, and Recommendations Optional Textbook My website, consisting of some 30 separate links, is your primary textbook, supplemented by the enormous resources of the Web itself. However, a grammar handbook such as the one below may be helpful for some students. It is not required. The Brief Harcourt Handbook (or any other standard grammar handbook) This textbook or a similar one may be found at the OC bookstore. If you are enrolled in my course from a distance and do not live in Odessa or nearby, email me and I will tell you how to get these books by surface mail. The Internet also contains numerous sites relating to grammar and writing; some of these may be found in the "Links" section of this website. I encourage each of you to suggest additions to this section for all of us to use. Not Self-Paced nor Less Work! It is absolutely imperative for all my students to realize that taking this course is not a way to complete freshman composition with less work or effort. You will simply be working in different ways, at times of your own choosing. Furthermore, while you have unusual freedom in this course to the extent that you don't travel to campus and that you can work at times of your own convenience, this is not a self-paced course in the sense of moving faster or slower through the whole list of assignments. There will be weekly deadlines for work to be turned in. You will be involved with various types of assignments, including essays, short paragraphs, and critiques of student writing. Because some of the course is based on student collaboration, it is essential that you keep up with all assignments and meet all deadlines. Keep in mind that habitual late work will be penalized (see Policies page on late work). Student Communication In my experience with Web-based coursework, there is a strong tendency for a pattern to develop wherein individual students communicate closely with me, but less well with each other. This pattern is good in that it encourages a strong rapport between myself as instructor and each student individually, but it is counterproductive in that it discourages cooperation among students. This is poor training for most professions, which more and more require close cooperation with fellow workers, many times through this very medium. To help build a more participatory community in our course, you should feel free to send and accept email from members of the class. I encourage communication and collaboration (and sometimes require it). You may help each other with Web surfing, read each others' writing, or even give advice or technological help if you can. Our class really forms a cyber community and I would like you to feel that you are a member of it. With that in mind, please realize that you have to take greater care with email than you would with oral communication because of the absence of paralinguistic clues (such as facial expressions or tone of voice) which, for example, can indicate whether a listener should interpret a comment as ironically humorous or as derogatory. Please read my comments on email etiquette on the Email page.  You must also be careful to know where collaboration ends and plagiarism begins.  For more on this issue, please see my Policies and Syllabus links. Web Site Changes I may make occasional changes to the Web site. Some could be major, like altering a due date or deleting a paper assignment; other might be minor, such as recommending a new Web site for a particular assignment or such as cosmetic changes (the look of linked pages, etc.). I will notify you via email of any major changes, but it is your responsibility to be aware of any other changes. You may choose to print the entire Web site, but keep in mind that it may evolve even as the course progresses. The most frequent changes to my website will be the posting of new assignments. These will be posted in two places: on my Assignments link, for one; and I will also create a course Listserv, so that you will receive reminders from me.   But the assignments can only be accessed by clicking the links found in my Assignments Calendar.  So checking regularly--at least three times per week--for new assignments and announcements is one of a student's expected course obligations.  Visit or Email Me Regularly If you live close enough, I encourage you to visit me on campus during my office hours (which I will post later). I will be happy to provide face-to-face, personalized instruction. If you can't come in, please email me regularly; even if you don't have any problems, I like to hear from all my students at least weekly. In essence, this email link between us is how I judge your "attendance"; if I don't hear from you at all in a given week, then you have been absent that week. Even if you have no questions, this email can take the form of brief progress reports ("Doing fine on this assignment; no questions"), of requests for feedback from me on partial drafts, or of suggestions of any kind.

Now that you have read these notes, your next move is to click the live, underlined link below or in the navigation bar and Go to the "Getting Started" page and begin working.

mjordan@odessa.edu work: 432.335.6549 home: 432.332.5847 fax: 432.335.6559 surface mail c/o Odessa College, 201 W. University, Odessa TX 79764

This site last modified 08/21/07