|
Course Description: Knowledge Ecologies
In an information-saturated world, we find ourselves scrambling and overwhelmed. Much of the information that washes over us is useless, some of it is dead wrong, and all of it creates the phenomenon known as "information anxiety," the desperate attempt to keep on top of the information flood. Recently, there has been a great deal of discussion about "information design" or "information architecture," the use of careful design to help manage and navigate large complex sets of information. But information design is only a part of the solution. The real issue is how information becomes knowledge, and how it connects with existing knowledge to expand or reorganize what we know and do. Knowledge is information in use, applied in specific contexts for particular purposes. We inhabit various "knowledge ecologies," which range in scale from the culture as a whole, through media such as newspapers and television, to shared friendships, a classroom, a writing desk with all of its tools and resources. Most of these ecosystems involve people; knowledge "artifacts" such as books, web sites, and other media; technologies; social structures; and environmental influences. They are dynamic, constantly changing systems, through which information flows and knowledge is constructed. Knowledge that is constructed is directed back into the system to inform the development of more knowledge; and all of this knowledge is part of how activity gets accomplished in a particular environment, whether it is the operating room of a hospital, a second-grade classroom, a high-tech business, or a government agency. Students in this course will investigate knowledge ecologies, track information flows and activity in these systems, and design projects to help support knowledge construction in knowledge ecosystems.
Please note: This course does not teach fundamental computer skills; students who would like to enroll for the course, but lack computer skills can gain the necessary skills in classes offered by the computation center and the library. Students should be able to handle basic word processing, email, and Web searches. They should be familiar with disk and file management including formatting, copying, and saving files to a disk. Students are required to have a computer account with both email and web posting privileges.
I enjoy meeting with students to discuss concerns and questions about the class. Please feel free to stop by my office during office hours, or email me with questions or suggestions for the class.
Note: When sending email about this class, please put the class number (330) as the first item in the subject line of your message.
Grading Policy: Grades in this course are determined on the basis of an Online Learning Record, which accompanies a portfolio of work presented at the midterm and at the end of the course. These portfolios present a selection of student work, both formal and informal, completed during the semester, ongoing observations about student learning, and analysis of student work and interpretations with respect to the student's development across five dimensions of learning: confidence and independence, knowledge and understanding, skills and strategies, use of prior and emerging experience, and reflectiveness. This development centers around the major strands of work in the course: rhetoric and composition, research, technology, and collaboration. The criteria for grades are posted at www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~syverson/olr/grades.html. Please also notice the policy on absences, which can affect your grade.
Coursework:
Students will work individually and collaboratively in a workshop format. Our goal is not only to study knowledge ecologies, and develop resources to support them, but also to develop our class as a knowledge ecology. Plan on a high level of interaction and participation.
Please note: All assigned work, including informal writing, proposals, rough drafts, finished projects, peer critiques, the midterm OLR and final OLR must be completed and submitted on time to receive a passing grade in this course. Except under extraordinary circumstances, there will be no incompletes in this class.
Please note: The Computer Writing and Research Lab (CWRL) is both a teaching and a research lab. Students in CWRL classes and CWRL instructors have made valuable contributions to research in teaching writing. Some of this work has found its way into research journals and books intended to help improve writing instruction. To continue this research, the CWRL is required to get student signatures on a release form. On the 12th class day, all students taking classes in the CWRL are required to sign a release that states:
"All work that you produce for this class and in online class discussions is public and is archived for future research. Faculty and graduate students who teach in computer classrooms are conducting on-going research to make writing instruction more effective. These and other researchers may read and quote from these archives. If you wish to take a course in the CWRL, you must sign an agreement that your work for the course, including Internet postings, is in the public domain and may be read and reproduced (edited as appropriate) in future publications by researchers.
The CWRL will not assume responsibility for personal views or any offensive material that you may post to a public forum as a result of your work in this class. Neither will the CWRL assume responsibility for further distribution of any work that is posted to a public forum." |
|
