Current Courses
Spring 2024
Computers and Writing
ENGLISH 5317
Synchronous - Wednesdays
Instructor: Dr. Balzhizer
Description/Goals:
Computers and writing (C&W) is a sub discipline of composition, which is a sub discipline of English. Early C&W scholars often started by thinking about textuality as it relates to books and writing. Additionally, C&W scholars sometimes also work in the sub discipline of English “technical communication” (which started as a sub discipline of engineering). In our class, we draw on these backgrounds and connections by focusing on textuality, McLuhan’s idea of “the medium is the message” and effects given ways a medium or platform and its design, management, terms of service and such interacts with users, contexts, and rhetorical situations. We might ask, for instance, how does an upvote/downvote feature might effect the communication that happens, there. We might look at how company policies and practices effect the medium and its users.
Starting from historical works that ground us in foundational C&W concepts, the course moves to a deeper understanding of ecologies of media and people; technocultural change related to human-to-human interactions via mediated texts; and, then it moves to analyses, evaluations, and speculations about participating in and shaping technology and culture in meaningful ways. Through a survey of technologies, readings, discussions, texts, and hands-on experience, we ask what it means to read, write, interact, and participate with, through, and in mediated environments. We’ll end with critical examinations of media and their ecologies.
Throughout the course, we apply social, political, epistemological, pragmatic, creative, critical, or other lenses, and we use a variety of technologies. Ideally students apply course material to their own interests and degree plans so long as they still address the course questions and assignment requirements.
Books:
- Walter J. Ong's Orality and Literacy 30th Anniversary Edition
- Marshal McLuhan's The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects
- Richard Miller’s On the End of Privacy: Dissolving Boundaries in a Screen-Centric World (currently on JSTOR through Alkek)
- Selected materials from journals and other mediated works available online
- Supplemental materials (provided or as you gather from libraries or other available sources)
Evaluation: Homework & Reading Responses (20%); Peer Responses (5%); Self Evaluations (5%); Technology Microhistory (10%); Critical Analysis (10%); Media Ecology “Map” (10%); 2 Short Texts (20%); Presence (10%); Seminar Text (10%)
Discourse Analysis
English 5340
Asynchronous Online
Instructor: Dr. Dayley
Description/Goals:
Discourse Analysis (DA) is an interdisciplinary branch of communication /linguistics which investigates forms of language beyond the sentence level (in both spoken and written communication). DA also views language as 'social practice'. This course aims to introduce students to the main theories, ideas, notions, terms and practices in Discourse Analysis. Students are expected to think deeply about language and textual phenomenon and use that knowledge creatively to help them analyze texts and various other communication events/encounters.
This course will focus on the real world application of discourse analysis. Students will learn the qualitative practice of analyzing discourse and practice workplace applications of this type of analysis.
By the end of this course, students will:
1. Grasp the key ideas, concepts, issues, theories and approaches of Discourse Analysis and Discourse Studies.
2. Show understanding of the complexity and multi-layeredness of Discourse (the influence inherent role of power, ideology, culture, bias, etc., in shaping spoken and written discourse).
3. Gain a deep insight into the relationships between Discourse and Gender, Discourse and Identity, Discourse and Communication, Discourse and Pragmatics, etc.(be able to outline and discuss the tenets of these relationships)
4. Discuss the strong, dynamic and dialectical relationship between language and society (i.e. language it as social practice).
5. Reflect on the role of Schema (Background Knowledge Structures) in understanding and interacting with Language/Discourse.
6. Discuss the dynamics of Intertextuality in shaping and reshaping text and discourse.
Evaluation:
Quizzes/Exercises 100
Midterm 100
Research Summary or Response Paper 100
Class Participation(discussions boards, etc.) 200
Term Project 500
Total: 1000
Technical Editing
English 5335
Asynchronous Online
Instructor: Dr. Mogull
Description/Goals: This class covers the theory and practice of editing with a particular focuson on the role of professional editors working in the field of technical communication. In this class, we will learn and practice reader-focused editing, effective author-editor relationships, and software tools used for editing. As a result of taking this class, students will be prepared to guide authors through the planning and development of written communications, perform a comprehensive copyedit of professional and technical communications, and oversee the online or print publishing process as an editor-manager.
Books: No required textbook. Readings are from multiple authors and will be provided to students through Canvas.
Evaluation: TBA. Typically, this course includes a combination of class discussions and reflections; quizzes/exams based on readings, lectures, and editing practice assignments; and a research paper/presentation on a current topic in editing.
Internship
English 5312
Asynchronous Online
Instructor: Dr. Williams
This is the MATC internship course. The course is required for MATC students on the internship track. In this course students will provide professional editing, design, video production, and technical writing services for actual clients. (Note: The instructor will assign clients the first week of class.)
Goals: The course will give students the opportunity to:
· participate in an applied learning experience,
· provide a useful service to others while gaining professional technical communication experience,
· conduct qualitative research and negotiate user/client needs,
· write, edit, and design print, video, and web content in collaborative online environments, and
· write, edit, and design print and web content for personal or MATC exam portfolios.
Required Books: Keywords in Design Thinking: A Lexical Primer for Technical Communicators & Designers Edited by Jason C. K. Tham https://wac.colostate.edu/books/tpc/design/ and Keywords in Technical and Professional Communication Edited by Han Yu and Jonathan Buehl https://wac.colostate.edu/books/tpc/tpc/
Format: Completely online in Canvas.
Evaluation:
Editing and Design Project Proposal (Group Assessment) = 20 percent
Audience Analysis (Group Assessment) = 20 percent
Midterm Status Report (Individual Assessment) = 10 percent
Large-scale Editing Project (Group Assessment) = 20 percent
Design and Production Project (Group Assessment) = 20 percent
Reflection Essay (Individual Assessment) =10 percent
For more information: Contact Dr. Miriam F. Williams at mfw@txstate.edu
Document Design
English 5336
Instructor: Dr. Robblee
Asynchronous Online
Course Description: As a mode of visual rhetoric, document design impacts every genre of writing. Technical communicators can help their users by designing documents that utilize principles of design to maximize the effects of layout, style, color, information architecture, typography, and accessibility as they coordinate with content for information messaging. This course will explore these topics from a rhetorical perspective, as we view documents as active, response-invoking artifacts in a variety of media. We will also analyze and evaluate real-world documentation from ethical perspectives and the societal and cultural impacts of design, incorporating the use of technologies as we both examine existing documents and design our own for real-world clients.
Required Text: Kimball, M. A., & Hawkins, A. R. (2007). Document Design: A Guide for Technical Communicators. Bedford/St. Martin’s. ISBN 13: 9780312436995.
MATC courses are open to MATC students, on a first-come, first-served basis. Register on CatsWeb as soon as registration opens to secure your spot. Contact Dr. Chris Dayley (c_d470@txstate.edu) with advising/degree audit questions. Instructions for non-MATC students: Contact Taylor Cortesi (tc1224@txstate.edu) to be authorized to add an MATC course. To allow new MATC students to enroll in courses, non-MATC students will be informed of the possibility to take MATC courses a month prior to classes starting in the Spring. Note: MATC courses wait lists are not managed on CatsWeb—they are managed by the MATC Program director and Taylor Cortesi.