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.