English 101C

Course Policies

Class Schedule

Readings

Course Readings

Issue Questions

Writing Assignments

Online Community Essay

Home Page Project

Group Web Page Project

Annotated Bibliography

Self Evaluation Memo

Class Resources

Resource Page

Class Listserv

Email Instructor

Why do you think that Purdue would offer sections of English composition in a computer classroom? What do you think is valuable or "good" about having composition in a computer-mediated space, and what do you think is less valuable or "bad" about composition in a computer-mediated space?

Issue Question Two (Due Friday, January 28th):

How do you think the Internet is changing the way people write? Has the Internet changed the way you write? What do you think about these changes?

Issue Question Three (Due Friday, February 4th):

Sherry Turkle says that the computer is becoming an "object to think with." What do you think she means by that? Do you see evidence of this in the way you use computers? 

Issue Question Four (Due Friday, February 11th):

What are two things which have surprised you the most about the online community you have been observing? How and why were these things surprising?

Issue Question Five (Due Friday, February 18th):

How is making a home page (or any kind of web page) different from writing a personal essay or a "traditional" act of writing? How is it similar?

Issue Question Six (Due Friday, February 25th):

In "Confessions at Twilight", Johndan Johnson-Eilola states the following things about his experiences with a hypertext story:

• I have not finished reading. 
• This is not a story anymore.
• I do not understand.
• I do not know how to end. 

Besides the obvious, what do you think he means by each of these themes? 

Issue Question Seven (Due Friday, March 3rd):

Why do you think that making home pages has become popular? Do you think this popularity will continue? What do you think this popularity will do to other forms of writing, like the essay?

Issue Question Eight (Due Friday, March 10th):

Thinking ahead to the coming project: what are some of the biggest problems or concerns that you have about the roles which computers and other forms of technology play in our lives? 

Issue Question Nine (Due Friday, March 24th):

How much experience have you had doing research? What kinds of research have you done? What kinds of research are you most comfortable doing? What do you think about Internet research? 

Issue Question Ten (Due Friday, March 31st):

How do you know when a source of information is trustworthy and reliable? What criteria do you use for judging sources? Do these criteria change depending on what kind of a source it is? 

Issue Question Eleven (Due Friday, April 7th):

Group work: horror inflicted on the unwilling by those in power, necessary evil, or great good fun? Discuss. 

Issue Question Twelve (Due Friday, April 14th):

How will designing a web page that will make a proposal argument be different from designing a web page that talks about yourself? 

Some people see publishing of any kind as a form of "social action" -- in other words, they see it as writing to effect some kind of change in
people's lives, whether that be through providing a product or service, or attempting to persuade people to do things differently.  Do you and your group members see yourself as publishers? Should you? Why or why not? 

The last one -- and it asks you to reconsider the first one. After having
taken a section of computer classroom composition, why do you think Purdue (and other universities) are moving towards offering sections of
composition in spaces like these?