Requirements

VERSION REVISED 29 MARCH 2020

Revised requirements (due to COVID-19 and our pivot to remote learning): 

Class participation 10%

I expect active participation from all students enrolled in the course. This course will require experimentation with new digital environments and a willingness to try, and perhaps sometimes struggle, with new modes of working and studying. In addition, we come to the course with different skills and helping out fellow students and fostering a collaborative spirit in the classroom and in the remote platforms will be rewarded.  Since we are transitioning to a near asynchronous classroom, participation will be assessed based on a “pass” or “fail” (listed as a “1” or “0” in NYU Classes) on the various quick writing assignments or classroom preparation tasks.  Participation can be boosted, by rich engagement in the forums.

Exceptional circumstances portion: 10%

This will be explained in synchronous meeting.

Short assignments 40%

There will be 5 short writing assignments (they are graded on a 10 point scale, no grades are dropped, since the overall number has been reduced). The format for this will be a blog, a key form of 21st-century public writing.  Unless noted, a typical blog will be about 500 words. They will be either reflective pieces on a conceptual issue that has arisen in class or a report or review about a project or experiment carried out. The main issue here is to learn to communicate ideas in an open forum and to develop a voice for research blogging. Students will learn how to install an instance of WordPress.org and to choose a theme appropriate to representing embedded digital materials. (Students who are proficient in other blogging platforms or sustainable web development may opt for those). Students choose at the end of the term if you keep your blog or if you delete it. See http://hosting.nyu.edu for more details. 

Midterm assignment 20%

This midterm assignment is a more in-depth version of an in-class assignment that was carried out with the GutenbergR package.  It is a distant analysis of a 3-text corpus from Project Gutenberg. Detailed instructions are given on the site.

Final assignment 20%

This midterm assignment is a more in-depth version of an asynchronous exercise  working with sentiment.  Detailed instructions will be given on the site.

 

NB: THERE WILL BE NO INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH PROJECT AND NO ZOTERO LIBRARY.

 

 

Students will be assessed according to the following breakdown:

VERSION REVISED 4 MARCH 2020

Class participation 10%

I expect active participation from all participants in the course. This course will require experimentation with new digital environments and a willingness to try and fail. Between the course meetings, students may have to investigate a problem to learn how to do it themselves— taking initiative will be rewarded. In addition, we come to the course with different skills and helping out fellow students and fostering a collaborative spirit in the classroom will be rewarded. A laptop will be essential for almost every session. Participation will be assessed by the extent to which the students have prepared for in-class discussion and are ready to address the thought questions found in this syllabus. Attendance policies are described here.

Short assignments 40%

There will be short writing assignments every three weeks (7 are assigned, I will drop one, they are graded on a 10 point scale). The format for this will be a blog, a key form of 21st-century public writing.  Unless noted, a typical blog will be 500 words. They will be either reflective pieces on a conceptual issue that has arisen in class or a report or review about a project or experiment carried out. The main issue here is to learn to communicate ideas in an open forum and to develop a voice for research blogging. Students will learn how to install an instance of WordPress.org and to choose a theme appropriate to representing embedded digital materials. (Students who are proficient in other blogging platforms or sustainable web development may opt for those). Students choose at the end of the term if you keep your blog or if you delete it. See http://hosting.nyu.edu for more details. 

Lightning Talk 5%

This will be a short, bullet pointed project reporting on some initial results that is a “pitch” for the final project.

Midterm project: 10%

Final project 35%

Over the course of the term, we will engage in project-based learning. Each student will carry out one individual project using the ideas and methods we have covered in class to make a model of a text or a group of texts. The mini projects will be experimental and necessarily small in scope, but will require reflective analysis and contextualization. We will begin to work on these around the midterm and continue through the semester. They will be assembled in a blog portfolio with reflective essays before the last week of the term. They will be presented in blog format online–there should be a total of about 1000-1500 words of writing in addition to 5 clear visuals that help us understand your project. You will be asked to present your project during exam week as well–you can present from your website.  A portion of the grade will reflect your performance on this oral presentation. More instructions will follow.