ENG 239 (F2023) Activities

Mapping Activities & Learning Showcase
1. Weekly community mapping (most Thursdays) will help us all to trace and document the learning that it (or could be) happening in the class. Every member of the class will be asked to make at least ONE contribution to the group map. This could be text-based, images you've drawn, links to something interesting you want to share (or photographs. Your entries should always have a TITLE and at least a little bit of explication.
  1. What is this activity?
    1. Community mapping is an activity where we work in an web-based platform (Patlet) to create a kind of scrapbook that represents our learning for the week. We'll add items that we think might help us remember what we learned, what we did, what we valued about our work and each other.
  2. What tools and knowledge do I need?
    1. You'll definitely need to have some way to take photographs and save them and upload them to Padlet (most of you should be able to use your cell phones).
    2. Ability to search the internet for ideas, images, memes, as well as creating your own. Those of you who like to draw or create your own memes will certainly use these skills and I'll be showing you all how to use the AI program DAL-E to make images as well.
    3. Knowledge of some important terms and concepts, including (but not limited to) Literate activity, semiotic resources, communicative interactions.
    4. You'll need to access The ENG 239 You Are Here Map (in Padlet) and understand how to make entries.
  3. What will I use this knowledge for?
    1. You'll use the collaborative maps we make as one of the CORE TEXTS for the Learning Showcase Activity
    2. You will also use these maps for the Learning Documentation portion of your BIG Artifact.
2. Individual Mapping Activities wiil be your own take on the same kind of activity that we'll all do together in the community mapping.
  1. What is this activity?
    1. You'll be creating and updating a personal map throughout the semester. You can put in the things you contribute to the group map, but you'll also add different materials -- particularly things related to your own individual work in the course and what you're learning.
  2. Tools and knowledge needed?
    1. You can choose your own tools for keeping an ongoing map (see the Learning Maps google doc for ideas) and you'll need to understand how to link your space to the Maps google doc.
    2. The tools you'll need will depend on how you decide to track your learning, but ultimately you need to have some kind of ongoing document (something you can add to easily and regularly). The doc will need to be digitally accessible, and you'll need to link it to the Learning Mapping page.
  3. What will I use this knowledge for?
    1. You will share your maps with others in the class and you'll use your map (and others' maps) in both the Learning Showcase Activity and the Learning Documentation portion of your BIG artifact.
3. QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN DOING MAPPING ACTIVITIES
Terms & Concepts
1. The Terms & Concepts List is a google doc where we'll trace the terms and ideas that we encounter in the course readings, our discussions, and through the process of doing the learning experiments.
  1. What is this Activity?
    1. On most Tuesdays, when we discuss the readings, we'll be adding to a terms and concepts list. You will do some of this work as part of your reading responses, and some of the work we'll do together in class.
  2. Tools and knowledge needed:
    1. To engage in helping to build the terms and concepts list, you'll need to do the readings and complete the reading response activities. So you'll need to be able to open and read websites or .pdf files I share, and have a device you can watch videos on. You'll also need to be able to search the internet for terms and definitions, You'll also need to use (or learn) academic citation skills for this work, but don't worry if this isn't your best skill -- we'll work on it together!
  3. What wil I use this knowledge for?
    1. You'll absolutely use the terms and concepts in the Learning Showcase -- so doing the work as we go will have an impact on your ability to successfully complete that work.
2. QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN DOING TERMS & CONCEPTS ACTIVITIES
Learning Experiments
1. 8 Learning Experiments that will involve using specific kinds of multimodal composing tools to solve a problem, present an idea, or just kind of mess around and see what happens.
  1. What are these activities?
    1. Each Learning experiment will focus on a specific idea that relates to multimodal composing. These experiments are designed to allow you to test various hypotheses about how meaning is communicated, as well as to test out your skill with different kinds of tools and modes of composing,
  2. Tools and knowledge needed?
    1. Each experiment will have its own tools and activities, and many may be unfamiliar. Experiments should be approached with (a) the knowledge that "success" is related to making the effort to "do the thing" rather than doing it in any particular way, and (b) with an understanding that, since learning is the goal, it makes sense to just jump in and do the activity, figuring out things along the way that are funny, frustrating, or interesting enough to share with the rest of us.
  3. What will I use this knowledge for?
    1. Hopefully, each experiment will teach you something -- about tools and modes you might use, about how you can learn new genres and reach different kinds of audiences. You'll also learn about yourself as a writer. But one key way you'll use these experiments is as a way to help you brainstorm an idea for your BIG artifact . So as you're doing each experiment try to jot down ideas for topics, as well as kind of composition activities you enjoy.
2. QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN DOING LEARNING EXPERIMENTS
Reading Activities
1. 10 Writing Activities that will include responses to readings, and working with terms and concepts, as well as reading and commenting on the work of other class participants.
  1. What are these activities?
    1. We'll be doing all kinds of reading activities this semester, and one goal will be to always try to understand what the reading is for, how to approach the activity of reading, and knowing what you're trying to get out of a particular reading. You be reading print texts, but also watching videos, looking at an analyzing images, and connecting information between readings.
  2. Tools and knowledge needed?
    1. You already know how to read, so that's done, right? NOPE. The primary tool you'll need for the readings is the ability to PAY ATTENTION to particular things within the readings, and to understand how to focus on and get information from different kinds of texts. Also, paying attention to what you're most interested in as you read will be useful, since it will help you make decisions about what you'll create for the Learning Showcase and BIG artifact activities.
  3. What will I use this knowledge for?
    1. Readings can be good for all kinds of things -- to learn specific terms and definitions, to learn about the world, to study the different ways people compose, make meaning, and share ideas. In this class, you'll be using readings for all of these things and more. But some specific ways the readings can help you is (1) you'll need to understand certain terms and concepts for the Learning Showcase activity, and (2) you'll also need the readings to help you process and complete the Learning experiments.
2. QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN DOING READING ACTIVITIES
The Knowledge Showcase
1. A set of activities that we will (as a community) develop during the first 10 weeks of the course. The goal of these activities is to allow you to make use new knowledge and ideas in a creative way, and also to challenge yourself to incorporate this new knowledge into your understanding of how you make meaning in the world.
  1. What is this activity?
    1. The Knowledge Showcase fulfills the same role in this class as an EXAM might, except not really. :-) In this activity you'll choose among all the different things we've learned about in the readings, mapping and experimenting we've done, and you'll create several texts that showcase your knowledge. So, what you've learned about composing using different kinds of tools, what you've learned about composing in different modalities, what you've learned about how communicative exchanges do work in the world, and how they are shaped by humans, as well as how they shape us. So rather than me giving you a list of essay questions or a specific task to do, YOU will choose tasks that you think showcase what you've learned.
  2. Tools and knowledge needed?
    1. You will need MANY of the tools you already know how to use, and many that you may have used in the experiments or in the mapping activities. You will need ALL of the knowledge we've built together in the reading responses and Terms and Concepts doc , as well as knowledge from your own readings and notetaking and map making. This is where the "rubber meets the road" in terms of your learning in this class.
  3. What will I use this knowledge for?
    1. SO MANY THINGS. Can't even begin to list them! But you'll definitely use all of this work as you move into the BIG artifact activity, where you get to FOCUS your energy on the specific concepts, tools, and modalities that you think are most interesting, rewarding and potentially useful to you.
2. QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN WORKING ON THE LEARNING SHOWCASE
BIG Artifact Activities
1. 1 larger multimodal project of your choice
  1. What is this activity?
    1. This is the final activity for the course. It's kind of like the work you would do in a course where you wrote a final, long paper for the last project, except different (again). You will get to choose from among all your own ideas and all the things you've learned in the class. You'll create a text that has meaning for you AND POTENTIALLY FOR ANOTHER AUDIENCE besides you. As you compose, you'll trace how you are thinking about the audience, what your goals for the text are, and how you are employing your antecedent knowledge and the things you've learned in the class.
  2. Tools and knowledge needed?
    1. ALL OF IT. But...you get to choose the topic, the tools, and the goals. So you can tailor this project to the things you're most excited about, or the kinds of composing you do best. Or you could throw caution to the wind and try something completely new. Experimentation is still an important part of the BIG artifact, but unlike those activities, for this work you'll want to have goals and you'll be trying to create the BEST text you can, based on those goals.
  3. What will I use this knowledge for?
    1. You could understand this work as just a way to enjoy yourself learning something new, or learning skills you might use for a future job, or for some work you are doing currently at ISU (like clubs you might belong to) or for political or social goals you might have. But the whole point of the BIG ARTIFACT is that it works to achieve goals that YOU have as a student, a writer, a human being.
2. A comprehensive Learning Documentation that articulates how the things you've learned in the class impacted your choices and activities and interacted with your uptake and antecedent knowledge.
  1. What is this activity?
    1. The Learning Documentation for the BIG artifact is really just another kind of "mapping" activity You'll be tracing your activity and learning as you work on the project and you'll turn in these notes with the final version. You'll also be asked to assess your work, by "marking up" a version of the final text with notes about how you applied the things you've learned in class (or elsewhere in the world) to the text, and outllining specific choices you made as you composed.
  2. Tools and knowledge needed?
    1. The learning documentation is a significant part of the points for the BIG artifact, so the primary knowledge you'll need is to KNOW THAT IT MATTERS. You'll need to use the skills you've learned from doing the class and individual mapping work, an apply these to creating a document that accurately represents the work you've done, the choices you've made, and what you've learned
  3. What will I use this knowledge for?
    1. Honestly, you may never be asked again to be so "metacognitive" about your writing process. BUT...learning to do this kind of work really is (really, I promise) valuable to you as a writer. Learning to think about your composing practices as complex and made up of so many more things that just "sitting down to type a paper" is perhaps the single most important new idea you'll gain as a writer in your time at ISU.
3. QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN WORKING ON THE big ARTIFACT
Questions To Ask Yourself When Doing Mapping Activities:
1. What does learning feel like, for me? How do I feel – in my body, in my heart – when I’m learning something and succeeding? When I’m confused? When I’m focused? When I’m anxious? 2. When I look around in my world, where do I see people successfully learning? This might be in any space, online or in the physical world, doing any task, in any sphere of my life – personal, social, school, work, political, etc. 3. When I look around in my world, where can I see evidence of people communicating using different modes and tools and texts? …and can I collect evidence of that activity in some way? 4. Are there moments when I’m doing the work for this class when I think, “Hey! That’s something I haven’t thought of before?” …and how can I make sure I have a space where I can make note of these moments as they happen? 5. How can I learn from what other folks contribute to the community map in my own maps and as I'm working on my own creations?
Questions to ask when working on the Terms & Concepts list:
1. When I’m asked to read something, or watch something, or look at something, how can I mark terms and ideas that I want to remember? Where will I store these notes? 2. Do I know where the Terms and Concepts list is? How do I decide what to add to this list from my own reading and thinking? 3. When thinking about ideas or considering definitions of terms or concepts, how can I connect them to other work in the class? To things I interact with out in my world? 4. How do I decide which terms I find most useful, and where do I keep track of terms I might want to use for the Learning Showcase or for my BIG artifact? 5. Do I have access to useful resources (beyond just doing a google search) for checking and expanding definitions? (For example, the ability to search ISU databases, or do a google scholar search, or use interviews to collect information from other humans) When will I want to do this “extra” work? For which terms? 6. When using the Terms and Concepts list, how can I learn from what others have contributed?
Questions to ask when doing reading activities:
1. Could I reserve a specific time each week (about 2-3 hours) when I can spend time with the assigned material? 2. What tools will I need to read and make notes? For example, If I have a time and place to read that doesn’t have internet, could I download the materials to have offline? If I need to use my phone, how would that work? Where will I put my notes? 3. What are the barriers to my reading? (Examples might be a lack of hours in your schedule, lack of access to the technology you need, difficulty concentrating, difficulty taking effective notes) How might I overcome some of these barriers? Who can help me? 4. As I begin to work with each assigned text, do I understand the goals for my reading? a. Find terms and concepts that might be interesting and understand them. b. Consider, in a more focused way the complicatedness of how humans make meaning through different kinds of texts and interactions. c. Learn something new about a topic. d. Study a text as an example of a particular genre of communication – which can mean analyzing its features and conventions, but also considering HOW it is made, how it used in the world, who uses it, and how the genre changes in different instances of its use (This is PCHAT, but you’ll learn that terms later). 5. Based on my particular goals when reading a text, how do I know if I’ve “read” it successfully? 6. How can I tap into what others have learned from the readings? Especially if my own reading has been hurried or incomplete?
Questions to ask when working on the Learning Showcase
1. How can I (and others in the class) help in the task of creating the Learning Showcase? 2. What elements of that class (what things we’ve done or made) should I review in order to help construct the Learning Showcase? 3. There is a sample activity (which we’ll do as a community) already set up. As we do this activity together, how can I use it to think about other possible activities that might be part of the Learning Showcase? 4. How can I use the assessment criteria for the Learning 5. Showcase to set goals for my work on this assignment? 6. What kinds of additional research (on topics, or for tools I want to use) might I need to do? 7. How will I know if what I’ve done in response to the prompts is “enough”? 8. How might I learn from or work with others in the class as I’m working on the Learning Showcase?
Questions to ask when doing Learning Experiments
1. What is the specific thing I’m being asked to do/make? Do I understand? (if not, ask questions during the Q&A for the experiment, or send a text or email later on). 2. How will I brainstorm (invent, innovate) ideas about what to do for each experiment? Are there others in class who might be willing to work with me on ideas? Folks I know outside of class? 3. How can I try to make each experiment interesting, or valuable for my learning? What are MY goals for completing the experiments? 4. How do I know if what I’ve done is “good” or “enough”? 5. What happens if I miss an experiment? Can I make it up? Are there late penalties? 6. What TOOLS will I need to complete the experiment (Hint: this will be different for each person, and for each experiment, in at least some ways)? 7. How can I make sure I’m learning something NEW (that I can document) as I do each experiment? 8. When discussing the experiments in class, how can I learn from what others have done?
Questions to ask when working on the BIG Artifact
1. OH MY GOD, what am I going to do? (panic ensues) 2. Just kidding. But really, how can I think about ways to use all of the stuff I’ve learned in the course to come up with an idea for the project? Specifically WHAT course activities and materials might be of the most use to me? 3. How can I think about different groups & communities I belong to and consider kinds of text I might create that would be meaningful for me and for others? 4. What kinds of tools and creations did I enjoy the most in the class, and how might I incorporate them into this work? 5. What kinds of tools and creations do I most want to learn more about, and how might I incorporate them into this work? 6. What topics are most relevant to me as a student? As a person in the world? 7. How much is “enough” for this project? How do I decide on the scope? How will I know if I need to expand what I’m doing or cut back on how much I’m trying to do? Who can help me make these decisions? 8. How can I make use of what I’ve learned in the class as I do this work – and how can I make sure to include a discussion of these connections in my learning documentation? 9. How can I make sure that my learning documentation is complete and detailed enough? 10. How can I make sure that the learning documentation provides Joyce with the kind of information she needs to assess not only the production, but my work and thinking as I completed it? 11. How can the assessment criteria for the BIG Artifact help me decide if what I’m doing will be successful (in terms of earning points)? 12 How will the assessment of the Learning Documentation and the BIG Artifact be connected in the points I’m awarded?