Syllabus (PDF)
WTNG 321: Multimodal Writing in Public Spheres
Fall 2016
Contact Information
Instructor: Dr. Dahliani Reynolds | Email: dreynolds@rwu.edu | Phone: 401.254.3839 | Office: Global Heritage Hall 230 | Class Meetings: M/TH 2:00-3:20 & 3:30-4:50 | Class Location: Gabelli School of Business 329 | Office Hours: M/T 12:30-1:30, W 11:00-12:00, & by apt.
Course Description
This course challenges traditional conceptions of what a writing class looks like. Through using a variety of media for rhetorical expression—including text, image, and sound—the course aims to teach students how to teach themselves the multimodal tools to more effectively communicate to a broad spectrum of public audiences. Writers write for public audiences for a number of reasons: to advance the work of the nonprofit sector, to inform a public audience about a communal issue, to prompt others to take action or effect change, and to educate an audience about public policy. In this course, we will focus on what it means to tell someone else’s story about their quest for refuge. We will be interviewing community members from Rhode Island who are themselves refugees (or children of refugees). Drawing on these interviews, we will compose audio and visual essays to share their stories with the Roger Williams University community (through a curated exhibit at the library) and other public audiences in order to draw awareness to what it means to search for—and to find—refuge.
Whatever the motivation, writing for the public demands an awareness of audience needs, an understanding of the rhetorical situation, and a fluent command of appropriate writing conventions across a variety of media platforms. Our work in this project-based class, then, will be to explore the theoretical, rhetorical, and ethical considerations of writing in public spheres by composing and revising multimodal writing projects that speak to public audiences about refuge. You should expect a heavy—but rewarding—workload. Note: previous experience with digital and multimodal composing not required.
Through collaborative learning, you will learn to teach yourself and each other what you need to know in order to move forward. Learning to find and evaluate information for yourself is a key part of information literacy. Because media formats and software change so fast, teaching you step-by-step instructions is an unproductive process. While you will be provided with the necessary resources, it is your responsibility to learn how to use the technologies themselves. By essentially teaching yourself how to learn, then, you will cultivate particular practices and habits that you will be able to repeat and adapt during your interactions with digital media—and, more generally, information literacy—outside of this class. Note: it will help if you learn to embrace productive failure. I expect students to fail in this class. A lot. It means you are learning what doesn’t work, which is in part how you figure out what does work. Rather than being paralyzed by failure, then, we will be treating failure as a valuable learning opportunity.
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