Course Information

Course Meeting Times and Place

During face-to-face sessions (noted on course schedule) this course will meet in the Design Center (located in the northside basement of Milton Hall) on Tuesdays 5:00-7:30. Online sessions will meet in WebCT unless other technologies are assigned.

Instructor:

Dr. Jennifer Sheppard
Office: CBW Hall 226
Phone: 646-2341
Email: jasheppa@nmsu.edu

Office Hours:

Tuesdays 2:00-4:00
and by appointment

Required Course Texts:

Palloff, Rena M. and Keith Pratt. Building Online Learning Communities: Effective Strategies for the Virtual Classroom (2nd ed). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-0787988258

Hewett, Beth L. and Christa Ehmann. Preparing Educators For Online Writing Instruction: Principles And Processes. Urbana: IL: NCTE, 2004. ISBN-13: 978-0814136652

Cargile Cook, Kelli and Keith Grant-Davi (eds). Online Education: Global Questions, Local Answers. Amityville, NY: Baywood, 2005. ISBN13: 978-0895032959

Course Description:

This course will explore key issues related to teaching and learning in online environments, with a special emphasis on writing and communication pedagogy. Our readings and discussions will examine digital classroom practices and the theories that inform them. Course assignments will engage scholarship from relevant disciplines (including computers and composition, rhetoric, technical/professional communication, and educational technology), investigate a variety of pedagogical approaches, and evaluate current technological possibilities. Students will also have an opportunity to create or supplement curricular materials for current or future online teaching.

Course Goals

By the end of the semester, you will:

• be familiar with the key theoretical issues related to online teaching and learning
  
  
• understand the fundamental differences between face-to-face and online teaching, including the affordances and challenges of each context
  
  
• be familiar with how to shape pedagogical approaches for online and technology-rich courses so that learning experiences are as rigorous as face-to-face courses
  
  
• learn how to develop pedagogical strategies for building community in the online classroom and facilitating the social construction of knowledge among students
  
  
• understand the primary concerns specific to writing and professional communication studies in online environments
  
  
• gain practical experience in developing and facilitating an online learning activity and reflecting on its outcome