THOMAS NELSON COMMUNITY COLLEGE

COURSE SYLLABUS

I. GENERAL COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course covers the literature of the British Isles from the 8^th century through the 18th, from Beowulf, through Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Swift and Johnson, up to the “Age of Sensibility,” the precursor of Romanticism.  In addition to the major authors mentioned above, we will cover minor authors as well, to attempt to get a “feel” for each period in the literature as well as the social and historical situations in which particular texts were produced.

Our objectives are to understand and develop a critical (look the word up: it’s not primarily negative) awareness and appreciation of the works we’ll be studying.  In order to achieve these objectives, we’ll be doing a great deal of reading, writing, and discussing. Because this is an online course, we’ll be doing of our writing in electronic form, and then posting it to Blackboard, and Blackboard (mainly Discussion Board) will be our primary form of communication.

NOTE: This is a cooperative learning course, in which you will work closely with your peers in two primary ways:

Ø  Base Groups, which are responsible for making sure all members post work on time and offering members any advice or support they need in order to succeed. Each Base Group will only have 3 members and will have its own Discussion Board. Base Groups MUST complete the introductory activities in their Discussion Boards, and MUST check their Discussion Boards on a regular basis. Each student in these groups will receive half a grade bonus if every member of her or his Base Group succeeds gets a B or higher in the course).

Ø  Reading Groups, members of which will respond to each others posts on the assigned readings. Reading Groups will work in the main Discussion Board. 60% of the course grade is based on your responses to the readings and replies to others’ posts These groups are responsible for making sure that all members

1) understand and can post INSIGHTFUL responses to the readings (See Reading Responses in the Course Description), and

2) Write or create an excellent Term Project.

[NOTE: Students with disabilities who will be taking this course and may need disability-related accommodations are encouraged to make an appointment with the office of Services for Students with Disabilities to register for support services if you have not already done so (Room #323 Hastings Hall; 825-2833 (V) 825-2853 (TDD)).]

II. TEXTS AND MATERIALS

The primary text for this course is The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volumes I a, b and c, 8^th Edition.  I will supplement these readings with print and audio/visual materials (you should consult these, but you’re not required to respond to them or to use them in any way beyond getting a clear idea of and fuller appreciation of the material) in Discussion Board, which will be our main means of “lecture” and discussion. The Course Description is located in Course Documents (in a version you can and should print out) and in External Links (in a version you can consult from within Blackboard).

You should also have, from ENG 111 or 112, The Little, Brown Handbook or another (perhaps smaller) grammar and style reference.

In addition, I require you to have a good dictionary.  The Oxford English Dictionary, or OED, with its historical definitions and examples, would be most useful for this course, and it comes in a compact form with a magnifying glass. If you can’t afford this, you can consult it in the TNCC library, or online at the Virtual Library of Virginia. Simply go to the TNCC homepage (http://www.tncc.edu). On the main drop-down menu, select Student Resources. From there, select “Library & LRC.” On that page, you’ll find the link to The Oxford English Dictionary. When you click on it from home, you’ll be prompted for your username and password, which will be the same as your MyTNCC username and password.

As for materials, to keep records of your work, you should have floppy disks, writable cds or a flash drive. Save to these, rather than your hard drive, in case of a computer crash.

III. DISTANCE-LEARNING AND BLACKBOARD ISSUES 

E-MAIL

Only e-mail classmates about course work if you’re checking on a member of your Base Group. Contact me by e-mail only to let me know about:

Ø      your inability to post work due to technical problems

Ø      family or other emergencies that will prevent you from posting work on time

Ø      dropping the class [NOTE: The date to drop for a refund is September 4 (NOON); the last date to withdraw with a “W” is October 23 (NOON)].

Only use your VCCS email. Be sure to include your name and course name/section number in any e-mails you send me.

Any questions you have about assignments should go into Discussion Board under QUESTIONS ABOUT COURSE (ASSIGNMENTS, ETC.); chances are that if you have a particular question, others will have the same question.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Be SURE to check Announcements DAILY—I’ll be using it to post supplemental instructions and to direct you to additional materials.

DISCUSSION BOARD

We’ll be using Discussion Board to

Ø      Post Responses to readings, and Replies to other people’s responses

Ø      Post and give/get Feedback to Term Projects (see VI. Below)

Ø      Post to the appropriate forum any additional work I assign

Ø      Post any personal problems, concerns, issues to your Base Group Discussion Board, and check in on that at least twice a week to offer advice, support, and encouragement.

When posting a response to my first message in any discussion thread:

1)     Click on “Add New Thread.” Be sure to change the Subject line to reflect the focus of your post.

2)     Once you’ve typed or inserted your message, click on Submit.

3)     If you want to attach a file, before you click submit, click on Browse, select your file, and click on Open in the Choose File window;

4)     Click submit.

NOTE: Because you cannot reply to my first posts, which contain introductory notes and the prompts, copy the notes and the prompt to which you’re responding into your own message; you can delete this when you’re done responding. Alternately, you can copy the introductory notes and prompts into a document, and print them out. You can also open Blackboard in two browser windows, and go back and forth between them.

NOTE 2: It’s best (most convenient) to leave the Discussion Board in Tree (rather than List) View—that way, you will see all posts (including replies) in the order posted.

When replying to others’ posts in Discussion Board, click on the link for the message (NOT the name of the poster--that will open an e-mail window) to which you're replying, and then click on "Reply." Type your message, and click Submit. Again, if you want, or in the case of Term Project Workshop, need to attach a file, before you click submit, click on Browse, select your file, and click on Open in the Choose File window; then click submit.

When attaching a document to a message in Discussion Board, be SURE to save it first as an .rtf file—otherwise, some will be unable to open it.

ASSIGNMENTS

We’ll only be using Assignments for a part of the Introduction to the course, for our Term Projects (Proposal, draft for my feedback, and final draft), and for the final exam. When using the Assignments feature to submit work, click on the View/Complete Assignment link under the particular assignment, type a comment (good time to ask me for SPECIFIC feedback), click on Browse, select your file, and click on Open in the Choose File window; then click submit.

ADOBE CONNECT MEETING ROOM

We’ll be using Adobe Connect for online office hours, which we’ll set early on in the course. YOU ARE REQUIRED TO ATTEND AT LEAST TWO OFFICE HOURS THIS SEMESTER.  To get there, go to http://live.tncc.edu/weiser. If you have a microphone, we can talk live.  If you have a webcam (optional), we can SEE each other, but we’ll all (including me) freeze these during meetings, as they REALLY slow things down (gobble up bandwidth). If you have neither, you and I will have to use a chat board, and I’m a lousy typist!

IV. READINGS & WRITINGS

Reading selections will come from the text. The ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE indicates specific reading selections which we'll be discussing in Discussion Board. I expect you to have Readings & Writings done, and Responses and Replies (see below) on these Readings & Writings posted by the Wednesdays of the weeks they are due, to give everyone time to reply to others’ responses.

Most of what you need to know in order to respond to the readings you can get from the readings themselves, along with the information and material I provide in Discussion Board. There are materials in Course Documents and External Links on responding to poetry and prose, as well as material which can help those of you who need refreshers on literary techniques and terminology. I’ll also give you PLENTY of help in Discussion Board and at Office Hours.  Just remember that we’re all here to learn from each other. Also, READ ALOUD!

For a B, you must submit thoughtful and well-developed responses (see below and the Good Responses item in Course Documents) to 50 of the Discussion Board prompts, as well as 2 substantive replies to others on these (which means 100). For an A, you must submit responses to 70 prompts (your choice—except for those by which I put a double asterisk [**]—but I’ve put an asterisk [*] next to those which I think will prompt most lively discussions), and 120 replies to others. This might sound like a lot, but if you keep up with the readings, responses and replies, it should be quite manageable: for an A, you only need about 5 responses and 8 replies (but see above and below) to others’ responses per week. I’ve also provided, in the Assignment Schedule, estimated times for completion of these each week; the estimates, which are very liberal, cover the reading, as well as the responses and replies.

Example of a Thoughtful and Well-Developed Response

“Mutability” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The speaker’s message in this poem is clear: The only thing constant is change.  Our lives are as flimsy as a cloud, a dream, a thought.

He begins by a comparing us to clouds in the night sky:

We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon:

How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver,

Streaking the darkness radiantly!—yet soon

Night closes round, and they are lost for ever.

Mankind is as beautiful and temporary as the clouds that encircle the moon.  Brilliant in our radiance like a candle flame, but destined to go out, as all lights must.

Continuing in the theme of the passing nature of humans, the speaker then utilizes a comparison with the wind harp:

Or like forgotten lyres, whose dissonant strings

Give various response to each varying blast,

To whose frail frame no second motion brings

One mood or modulation like the last.

It is interesting to note that in comparing mankind to the wind harp, there are two comparisons in one: we are as the wind and the music that a harp brings.

The sound of the following stanza feels linear, cause and effect like, giving power to the argument that all beginnings have an end:

We rest.—A dream has power to poison sleep;

We rise.—One wandering thought pollutes the day;

We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep;

Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away:

No matter what happens in life, no matter the mood, one event or thought has the power to change it all.

Bringing all of his profound insights together, the last stanza says that no matter what happens today, tomorrow will be different:

It is the same!—For, be it joy or sorrow,

The path of its departure still is free:

Man’s yesterday may ne’er be like his morrow;

Nought may endure but Mutability.

“Nought may endure but Mutability,” is profound in recognizing that the only thing mankind can rely upon is change—ironic.

A good (substantive) response to this could either question or affirm (or both) the response, like this:

Jane (DO use the NAMES of the people to whom you respond),

I agree that the poem’s message is that nothing is constant but change, and I like the way you show how it builds up to this. I only think you might say more about the LANGUAGE of the poem—like the “speed, gleam and quiver” and “streaking . . . radiantly” in the first stanza, the “mood or modulation” in the second, “poison” and “pollutes” in the third. Like Mr. Weiser said, we should be looking at the LANGUAGE of the poetry, since poetry is MADE of language.

John (Also SIGN your replies)

V. TERM PROJECT

As I said above, you’ll be doing a Term Project this semester. 

If you choose to do a research paper, it will be a minimum of 7 pages long, typed and double-spaced.  The project, whether or not it’s a paper, must be approved by me before you begin, for which purpose you will submit a Term Project Proposal by November14, which is available to download and print in Course Documents or at:

http://community.tncc.edu/faculty/weiser/ENG243DLtermprojectproposal.rtf

The paper or project will go through at least three versions: a first (which should not be confused with a rough version), which you will share with your group; a second, which will be a revision based on group feedback, which you’ll submit for my feedback; and a “final” (no piece of writing or art is ever finalized; it’s only abandoned), which you’ll revise in response my feedback and turn in at the end for a grade. You can access and print out a list of topics for term papers and projects in Course Documents or at:

http://www.community.edu/faculty/weiser/ENG243DLtermprojects.rtf

While the Proposal is not due until November 14^th, you should look over the above list and start thinking about projects early on, even reading/browsing works we will not cover until later in the course.

VI. PREPARATION AND PARTICIPATION

You are required to access the course at least 4 times per week, though I recommend that you do so at least once every day. If I don’t see something from you for more than 3 days, I’ll send you an email, advising you of this. If you don’t post something to Discussion Board in moré than a week, I’ll send you an email recommending that you drop the course.

If, for any reason, you’re unable to post to Blackboard for more than 3 days, I expect you to contact me--preferably BEFOREHAND--by e-mail. You are responsible for making up all missed work. I do not excuse extended failures to post, except in the case of a) family emergencies, or b) medical emergencies or hospitalization. (If you experience an extended internet outage, I expect you to access the course on another computer—perhaps at your local library.) You must send me an email, as soon as is possible, advising me of such events.

Since the course is cooperative by nature, your individual participation in discussions and group workshops is required--I expect you to share your ideas and your work with your classmates. Much of what you gain from this course depends on your willingness to get involved.

VII. GRADES

Because, as I said above, discussion (responses and replies) takes the place of quizzes in this course, they will account for 60% of your grade.  The paper or project counts 30%.  There will be a final exam, but if you keep up with the readings, responses and replies, it will be quite easy, and it will count 10%.  Remember also that, if your entire Base Group gets a B or better, I’ll add half a grade bonus.

VIII. ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE

This schedule is subject to change, which is why it's important to check Announcements on a regular basis.  In some cases, the page numbers below refer to all the pages on writers of whom we’ll only be covering selected works; while I’d like you to read all of these, see the Discussion Board for REQUIRED readings.

Readings MUST be done BEFORE we discuss the assigned readings in Blackboard; the Term Project must be posted (or otherwise made available) to me and your group mates) when DUE. 

OTHER IMPORTANT DATES