About Homework Assignments
The assignments that are listed on this page are to be completed before class starts the day they are due. The latest assignment will be placed at the top to reduce scrolling.
For Tuesday, April 29
Please complete a full rough draft of your final project Prezi, including the background audio version of your narrative.
I will also be collecting your Information Ecology handout, which I’ll photocopy during class and return to you. So, please bring it with you to class.
Email BW with any questions you have.
For Thursday, April 24
Please set up your Dropbox portfolio as described in the Portfolio Assignment. At the start of class on Thursday all students will share their portfolios with me.
Please watch the TED talk by Deb Roy, paying special attention to the stuff about data and less about his stuff with his son, and the article by Dihigg.
Please complete the rough draft of just your narrative for your final project. The narrative will be 3 – 5 minutes when read aloud, which equals 2 – 2.5 pages. Bring digital version with you to class.
For Thursday, April 17
Please watch the videos by Gaylor; Ferguson (all four videos); and Faden. We’ll discuss these in relation to our prior discussions on new forms of literacy as a result of Web 2.0. Gaylor is a feature-length documentary and Ferguson has four videos of about 15 minutes each. Please plan accordingly.
Continue live-tweeting the readings and the #tfebt tweets. Continue blogging and setting up your group’s blog. Experiment with the spaces we’ve set up in your information ecology: Feedly, Pocket, Zite or Prismatic. The more you engage with each of these spaces the more enriching your learning experience will be and the more you will be able to see their potential for enhancing writing, reading, and archiving practices.
If you have any questions, tweet or email me.
For Tuesday, April 15
Please articles by Selfe (pages 10 – 15 only), Kelly (2008), and watch the video by Wesch (55 minutes, but it goes fast). These texts touch on the question of how literacy is evolving as a result of new media technologies.
Please read the Designing an Online Information Ecology assignment. Spend some time with it, noting questions and areas of interest. We’ll be spending time with it on Thursday. I’ll be handing out the Connecting Your Information Ecology Spaces document on Tuesday, as well.
In class on Tuesday, we’ll be discussing the Read it Later app, Pocket, and the RSS Feed Reader, Feedly. Please sign up for a free account on both sites and if you have them, install their apps on your phones and tablets. Go through their tutorials and start experimenting with them.
You can learn about RSS Feed Readers on this video, RSS in Plain English. It discusses GoogleReader, which is no longer in existence; Feedly works in a very similar way.
Please also spend some time working on these requirements from the blogging assignment:
- choose a layout theme for your blog
- choose a hashtag for your blog
- learn several WordPress blog features (how to create posts, add links, add widgets, add images, and so forth)
- write an about page that describes each author of the blog professionally and the kinds of posts that readers can expect
- create a blogroll that links to each of the other course module blogs and no fewer than 5 influential blogs on a similar topic as your own (this will take doing some research, and I suggest using some of the blog search engines listed on this Mashable post).
- add the Twitter feeds for your hashtag using the Twitter widget creator, found on Twitter.com under Settings.
Keep experimenting with and building your Zite or Prismatic space, blogging, and tweeting!
For Thursday, April 10
Please read Axelrod and Cooper’s short piece on annotating complex texts. Then, read Nardi and O’Day, Kelly (2005), and Wolff using the annotation techniques advocated by Axelrod and Cooper. You may complete your annotations digitally or print the articles out and do them on paper. After you’ve completed, choose and few annotated pages that you particularly like and tweet them. That is, take a photo of the page or a scan of the page and tweet it. Be sure to use the #tfws14 hashtag. We’ll discuss these annotations in class on Thursday.
Please also begin the blogging and tweeting assignments. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email or tweet me.
For Tuesday, April 8
Updated because we didn’t create the blogs in class.
Please read both Bolter articles (see the Readings page for all readings), VanFlossen’s post on the difference between categories and tags, and Atwood’s article and Silver’s post on Twitter. If you have yet to set up your Twitter account as described below, please do.
Log in to the WordPress blog from home by doing the following:
Go to wordpress.comSign inClick on My Blogs at the topFind your collaborative blog and click on Dashboard just below the blow name
When there, explore the Dashboard area, and
Compose a 400 – 500 word post in response to Bolter in which you quote the text and connect Bolter’s ideas on writing and writing technologies to something in your own lives. Be sure to write it with an audience of the entire English-reading world in mind. That is, do not assume the reader will know about the class, who Bolter is, etc. Add links and upload media (images, etc.) as needed. We’ll discuss the posts in class. This post is in addition to your 6 required in the Blogging assignment, as it is practice to get you started.
Bring a digital copy of your response to class (email a copy to yourself, have it on a USB drive, etc.). We’ll go through posting it in class ofter we set up the blogs.
In class, we’ll also discuss Zite and Prismatic. If you have a smartphone, please download the Zite app, install, and set up a Zite account. If you do not, go to Prismatic and set up an account there.
You might also re-read the blogging assignment and read the Twitter assignment and if you’re up for it, start tweeting. Email and/or tweet me any questions you may have.
For Thursday, April 3 — First Assignment for Module 3
The assignment for the first meeting of the module will start us thinking about topics that are important for writers today. Please read Neil Postman’s Informing Ourselves to Death, which is a talk he gave in 1990. Then, please watch this video:
Michael Wesch, The Machine is Us/Using Us
After watching the video, go back to the last few seconds where Wesch lists many social-cultural issues that we’ll need to reconsider. Thinking of Postman’s talk, the video, and your own relationships with new media technologies, I’d like you to come up with a list of 7 – 10 other issues that you think we need to also reconsider and write a few sentences on why. Bring this to class so it can be discussed.
If you do not yet have a Twitter account, please sign up for one at http://twitter.com. Twitter works best (especially for our purposes) when the username is professional and you are authentic. For example, my username is: billwolff (http://twitter.com/billwolff), and I use my full name to show who I am. My account is unlocked. Please sign up with a professional username, use your real name, and keep your account unlocked. We’ll be using Twitter in a professional way so there is no need to keep anything private. Make sure you have your username with you for the first day.
If you do not have a WordPress account, I’d like you to sign up for one at: https://signup.wordpress.com/signup/?user=1. You must use this address; if you are asked to create a blog URL you are in the wrong place. Do NOT click the sign up for a blog link. After you sign up and you’ll be asked to verify your email address (I suggest using your Rowan email); please do that. Have your username and the email address you used to create the account with you on the first day.
If you are new to blogging, please read What is a blog? (pdf) by Jill Walker-Rettberg.
Also, please read the syllabus and module description.
For Tuesday, April 1
Please set up your Dropbox portfolio as described in the Portfolio Assignment. At the start of class on Tuesday all students will share their portfolios with BW. Do not share it ahead of time.
Please complete a full rough draft of your final project Prezi, including the background audio version of your narrative.
I will also be collecting your Information Ecology handout, which I’ll photocopy during class and return to you. So, please bring it with you to class.
Email BW with any questions you have.
For Thursday, March 13
Please watch the videos by Gaylor; Ferguson (all four videos); and Faden. We’ll discuss these in relation to our prior discussions on new forms of literacy as a result of Web 2.0. Gaylor is a feature-length documentary and Ferguson has four videos of about 15 minutes each. Please plan accordingly.
Continue live-tweeting the readings and the #tfebt tweets. Continue blogging and setting up your group’s blog. Experiment with the spaces we’ve set up in your information ecology: Feedly, Pocket, Zite or Prismatic. The more you engage with each of these spaces the more enriching your learning experience will be and the more you will be able to see their potential for enhancing writing, reading, and archiving practices.
If you have any questions, tweet or email me.
For Tuesday, March 11
Please articles by Selfe (pages 10 – 15 only), Kelly (2008), and watch the video by Wesch (55 minutes, but it goes fast). These texts touch on the question of how literacy is evolving as a result of new media technologies.
Please read the Designing an Online Information Ecology assignment. Spend some time with it, noting questions and areas of interest. We’ll be spending time with it on Thursday. I’ll be handing out the Connecting Your Information Ecology Spaces document on Tuesday, as well.
In class on Thursday, we’ll be discussing the Read it Later app, Pocket, and the RSS Feed Reader, Feedly. Please sign up for a free account on both sites and if you have them, install their apps on your phones and tablets. Go through their tutorials and start experimenting with them.
You can learn about RSS Feed Readers on this video, RSS in Plain English. It discusses GoogleReader, which is no longer in existence; Feedly works in a very similar way.
Please also spend some time working on these requirements from the blogging assignment:
- choose a layout theme for your blog
- choose a hashtag for your blog
- learn several WordPress blog features (how to create posts, add links, add widgets, add images, and so forth)
- write an about page that describes each author of the blog professionally and the kinds of posts that readers can expect
- create a blogroll that links to each of the other course module blogs and no fewer than 5 influential blogs on a similar topic as your own (this will take doing some research, and I suggest using some of the blog search engines listed on this Mashable post).
- add the Twitter feeds for your hashtag using the Twitter widget creator, found on Twitter.com under Settings.
Keep experimenting with and building your Zite or Prismatic space, blogging, and tweeting!
For Thursday, March 6
Please read Axelrod and Cooper’s short piece on annotating complex texts. Then, read Nardi and O’Day, Kelly (2005), and Wolff using the annotation techniques advocated by Axelrod and Cooper. You may complete your annotations digitally or print the articles out and do them on paper. After you’ve completed, choose and few annotated pages that you particularly like and tweet them. That is, take a photo of the page or a scan of the page and tweet it. Be sure to use the #tfws14 hashtag. We’ll discuss these annotations in class on Thursday.
Please also begin the blogging and tweeting assignments. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email or tweet me.
For Tuesday, March 4
Updated because we didn’t create the blogs in class.
Please read both Bolter articles (see the Readings page for all readings), VanFlossen’s post on the difference between categories and tags, and Atwood’s article and Silver’s post on Twitter. If you have yet to set up your Twitter account as described below, please do.
Log in to the WordPress blog from home by doing the following:
Go to wordpress.comSign inClick on My Blogs at the topFind your collaborative blog and click on Dashboard just below the blow name
When there, explore the Dashboard area, and
Compose a 400 – 500 word post in response to Bolter in which you quote the text and connect Bolter’s ideas on writing and writing technologies to something in your own lives. Be sure to write it with an audience of the entire English-reading world in mind. That is, do not assume the reader will know about the class, who Bolter is, etc. Add links and upload media (images, etc.) as needed. We’ll discuss the posts in class. This post is in addition to your 6 required in the Blogging assignment, as it is practice to get you started.
Bring a digital copy of your response to class (email a copy to yourself, have it on a USB drive, etc.). We’ll go through posting it in class ofter we set up the blogs.
In class, we’ll also discuss Zite and Prismatic. If you have a smartphone, please download the Zite app, install, and set up a Zite account. If you do not, go to Prismatic and set up an account there.
You might also re-read the blogging assignment and read the Twitter assignment and if you’re up for it, start tweeting. Email and/or tweet me any questions you may have.
For Thursday, February 27 — First Assignment for Module 2
The assignment for the first meeting of the module will start us thinking about topics that are important for writers today. Please read Neil Postman’s Informing Ourselves to Death, which is a talk he gave in 1990. Then, please watch this video:
Michael Wesch, The Machine is Us/Using Us
After watching the video, go back to the last few seconds where Wesch lists many social-cultural issues that we’ll need to reconsider. Thinking of Postman’s talk, the video, and your own relationships with new media technologies, I’d like you to come up with a list of 7 – 10 other issues that you think we need to also reconsider and write a few sentences on why. Bring this to class so it can be discussed.
If you do not yet have a Twitter account, please sign up for one at http://twitter.com. Twitter works best (especially for our purposes) when the username is professional and you are authentic. For example, my username is: billwolff (http://twitter.com/billwolff), and I use my full name to show who I am. My account is unlocked. Please sign up with a professional username, use your real name, and keep your account unlocked. We’ll be using Twitter in a professional way so there is no need to keep anything private. Make sure you have your username with you for the first day.
If you do not have a WordPress account, I’d like you to sign up for one at: https://signup.wordpress.com/signup/?user=1. You must use this address; if you are asked to create a blog URL you are in the wrong place. Do NOT click the sign up for a blog link. After you sign up and you’ll be asked to verify your email address (I suggest using your Rowan email); please do that. Have your username and the email address you used to create the account with you on the first day.
If you are new to blogging, please read What is a blog? (pdf) by Jill Walker-Rettberg.
Also, please read the syllabus and module description.
For Thursday, February 20
Please set up your Dropbox portfolio as described in the Portfolio Assignment. At the start of class on Thursday all students will share their portfolios with me.
Please watch the TED talk by Deb Roy, paying special attention to the stuff about data and less about his stuff with his son, and the article by Dihigg.
Set up Zotero, which is one of those apps that just make you a happy researcher. It affords the ability to create an organized scholarly library of texts found online on the web and in subscription databases, such as JStor and Academic Search Premier, as well as Amazon and other sites. With the click of a mouse you can store all citation information and even download PDFs of articles when they are available. It works as both a browser plugin and a desktop app. It will also insert citations in Word and create a bibliography in a variety of citation formats. See the quick start video guide and when you have a few minutes, watch this excellent overview:
For Thursday, find 2 scholarly articles relating to your blog topic and store them to your Zotero Library. Then, connect the RSS feed of your library to your RSS Reader, Feedly. Tweet your library from Feedly using the #tfws14 and #tfebt hashtags. (This will most likely be started in class.)
For Tuesday, February 11
Please read Kelly (2008) and watch videos by Wesch (2008); Gaylor; Ferguson (all four videos); and Faden. We’ll discuss these in relation to our prior discussions on new forms of literacy as a result of Web 2.0.
Continue live-tweeting the readings and the #tfebt tweets. Continue blogging and setting up your group’s blog. Experiment with the spaces we’ve set up in your information ecology: Feedly, Pocket, Zite or Prismatic. The more you engage with each of these spaces the more enriching your learning experience will be and the more you will be able to see their potential for enhancing writing, reading, and archiving practices.
If you have any questions, tweet or email me.
Have a good weekend.
For Thursday, February 6
Please read the Designing an Online Information Ecology assignment. Spend some time with you, noting questions and areas of interest. We’ll be spending time with it on Thursday. I’ll be handing out the Connecting Your Information Ecology Spaces on Thursday, as well.
In class on Thursday, we’ll be discussing the Read it Later app, Pocket, and the RSS Feed Reader, Feedly. Please sign up for a free account on both sites and if you have them, install their apps on your phones and tablets. Go through their tutorials and start experimenting with them.
You can learn about RSS Feed Readers on this video, RSS in Plain English. It discusses GoogleReader, which is no longer in existence; Feedly works in a very similar way.
Please also spend some time working on these requirements from the blogging assignment:
- choose a layout theme for your blog
- choose a hashtag for your blog
- learn several WordPress blog features (how to create posts, add links, add widgets, add images, and so forth)
- write an about page that describes each author of the blog professionally and the kinds of posts that readers can expect
- create a blogroll that links to each of the other course module blogs and no fewer than 5 influential blogs on a similar topic as your own (this will take doing some research, and I suggest using some of the blog search engines listed on this Mashable post).
- add the Twitter feeds for your hashtag using the Twitter widget creator, found on Twitter.com under Settings.
Keep experimenting with and building your Zite site, blogging, and tweeting!
For Tuesday, February 4
Please read Axelrod and Cooper’s short piece on annotating complex texts. Then, read Nardi and O’Day, Kelly (2005), and Wolff using the annotation techniques advocated by Axelrod and Cooper. You may complete your annotations digitally or print the articles out and do them on paper. After you’ve completed, choose and few annotated pages that you particularly like and tweet them. That is, take a photo of the page or a scan of the page and tweet it. Be sure to use the #tfws14 hashtag. We’ll discuss these annotations in class on Tuesday.
Please also begin the blogging and tweeting assignments. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email or tweet me.
Have a great weekend. I’ll see you online!
For Thursday, January 30
Updated because we didn’t create the blogs in class.
Please read both Bolter articles (see the Readings page for all readings), VanFlossen’s post on the difference between categories and tags, and Atwood’s article and Silver’s post on Twitter. If you have yet to set up your Twitter account as described below, please do.
Log in to the WordPress blog from home by doing the following:
Go to wordpress.comSign inClick on My Blogs at the topFind your collaborative blog and click on Dashboard just below the blow name
When there, explore the Dashboard area, and
Compose a 400 – 500 word post in response to Bolter in which you quote the text and connect Bolter’s ideas on writing and writing technologies to something in your own lives. Be sure to write it with an audience of the entire English-reading world in mind. That is, do not assume the reader will know about the class, who Bolter is, etc. Add links and upload media (images, etc.) as needed. We’ll discuss the posts in class. This post is in addition to your 6 required in the Blogging assignment, as it is practice to get you started.
Bring a digital copy of your response to class (email a copy to yourself, have it on a USB drive, etc.). We’ll go through posting it in class ofter we set up the blogs.
In class, we’ll also discuss Zite and Prismatic. If you have a smartphone, please download the Zite app, install, and set up a Zite account. If you do not, go to Prismatic and set up an account there.
You might also re-read the blogging assignment and read the Twitter assignment and if you’re up for it, start tweeting. Email and/or tweet me any questions you may have.
For Tuesday, January 28 — First Assignment for Module 1
The assignment for the first meeting of the module will start us thinking about topics that are important for writers today. Please read Neil Postman’s Informing Ourselves to Death, which is a talk he gave in 1990. Then, please watch this video:
Michael Wesch, The Machine is Us/Using Us
After watching the video, go back to the last few seconds where Wesch lists many social-cultural issues that we’ll need to reconsider. Thinking of Postman’s talk, the video, and your own relationships with new media technologies, I’d like you to come up with a list of 7 – 10 other issues that you think we need to also reconsider and write a few sentences on why. Bring this to class so it can be discussed.
If you do not yet have a Twitter account, please sign up for one at http://twitter.com. Twitter works best (especially for our purposes) when the username is professional and you are authentic. For example, my username is: billwolff (http://twitter.com/billwolff), and I use my full name to show who I am. My account is unlocked. Please sign up with a professional username, use your real name, and keep your account unlocked. We’ll be using Twitter in a professional way so there is no need to keep anything private. Make sure you have your username with you for the first day.
If you do not have a WordPress account, I’d like you to sign up for one at: https://signup.wordpress.com/signup/?user=1. You must use this address; if you are asked to create a blog URL you are in the wrong place. Do NOT click the sign up for a blog link. After you sign up and you’ll be asked to verify your email address (I suggest using your Rowan email); please do that. Have your username and the email address you used to create the account with you on the first day.
If you are new to blogging, please read What is a blog? (pdf) by Jill Walker-Rettberg.
Also, please read the syllabus and module description. There may be some minor changes up to classtime on Tuesday.