Other Information
Conway Center Statement
Students with disabilities are requested to present their Columbia
accommodation letters to their instructor at the beginning of the
semester so that accommodations can be arranged in a timely manner by
the College, the department, or the faculty member as appropriate.
Students with disabilities who do not have accommodation letters
should visit the office of Services for Students with Disabilities in
room 520 of the Congress building (312.344.8134/V or
312.360.0767/TTY). It is incumbent upon the students to know their
responsibilities in this regard.
Useful Information
- How to succeed in this course:
- There are no simple rules for how to succeed in this course, but I
can give you a few tips that seem to have helped my students in the
past.
Be prepared for class. You should bring your folder with
handouts and other class materials every day; you should also bring
your course textbooks every day. Don't forget to bring paper and
something to write with.
Do your homework. If you look at the grading policies and
breakdown, you'll see that 40% of your grade comes from small
assignments and participatory activities rather than the “big”
projects. Students who keep up with the daily assignments usually do
very well in my classes. (Also, since the daily assignments help
prepare you for the big projects, you'll do better on those too.)
Come to class. Each semester I have one or more students drop
or fail because they missed too many classes. Make the most of your
time here.
Participate actively in the collaborative work. You'll get
more from your peers when they are getting more from you.
Don't cheat. Passing off someone else's work as your own is
just about the most insulting thing you can do in this course. It
does a disservice to your classmates who are working hard and it
defeats the purpose of taking this class.
Keep in touch. If you keep in contact with me, we can work
together to help you keep up if life gets in the way of your studies.
If you drop out of touch for a while, it will be much harder to catch
up later.
- Feedback:
- Teaching is very important to me. I work hard at it and hearing
about your experience helps me grow as an instructor. In the
"handouts" section of OASIS, you'll find a feedback form you can use
to give me input.
Just fill out the form and turn it in to my campus mailbox in
the English Department.
Remember that constructive criticism is the most useful kind.
If something in the course didn't work for you, please be specific
about how it didn't work and what you think might work better.
- Computer skill assumptions and suggestions:
- I make frequent use of computers and the internet in my courses.
As you already know from the syllabus above, the schedule for the
course is posted on the web, as are all the other relevant details.
The best way to contact me is by email—I usually respond to
any email you send within 24 hours. I do accept assignments by email.
See the caveats above for more details.
Some aspects of this course will be managed through OASIS. We
will cover some aspects of OASIS in class, but you may need to explore
it a bit on your own. If you have any questions about how it works,
please ask me.
I assume that you know how to use word processors and email.
If you find that you are not as computer-savvy as I seem to expect,
speak to me about it and we'll work something out.
I do not assume that you are familiar with HTML, Javascript,
image-editing programs, or other such stuff. I do expect that you will
engage with any such technologies energetically and enthusiastically; you
can expect that I will make significant effort to insure that you have the
tools to do the work I have asked of you.
