SUMMER 2009
ONLINE COURSE
ENG 121, Section W: WORLD LITERATURE II

Summer Term 2
Monday, July 13-Thursday, August 13, 2009

NOTE:
This course will be conducted entirely ONLINE IN THE BLUELINE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
(Log on using your Creigthton NetID and Password)

Professor: Fidel Fajardo-Acosta

Course Time:
Monday through Friday. Students will be able to choose the specific time to post comments and participate in online discussion within each 24 hour period of the course dates.

Course Work:

Classroom: ONLINE, LOG ON TO BLUELINE USING YOUR CREIGHTON NET ID AND CORRESPONDING PASSWORD

Course Dates:
Summer Term 2, Monday, July 13-Thursday, August 13, 2009

Instructor's email:
fajardo@creighton.edu [email communication should be used only for questions concerning an individual student -- all questions regarding the course and its contents must be posted to the online discussion]

COURSE DESCRIPTION

A study of representative works of world literature from the seventeenth century to the present. The course emphasizes the study and consideration of the literary, cultural, and human significance of selected great works of the Western and non-Western literary traditions, including women's, minority, and ethnic literature from around the world. An important goal of the class is to promote an understanding of the works in their cultural/historical contexts and of the enduring human values which unite the different literary traditions. The course's pedagogy gives special attention to critical thinking and writing within a framework of cultural diversity as well as comparative and interdisciplinary analysis.

TEXTBOOK AND OTHER MATERIALS:


COURSE REQUIREMENTS


1) Weekly Essays (40%)

The essay assignments will ask students to read closely, analyze, and interpret a particular passage from one of the texts studied and/or develop a theme/issue related to the readings or class discussions. For essay grading criteria see "Grading of Essays and Other Written Work". Essay length: about 2-3 pages (approx. 250 words per page). Students must follow the guidelines provided by the instructor (click here for details). For further information on the writing and grading of papers see Grading Policies and Standards and Grading of Essays and Other Written Work. Essays will be graded and returned to students with comments and feedback within 72 hours of submission.

2) Quizzes (20%)

A number of interactive quizzes will be administered asking multiple choice and short answer questions on dates, names, literary terminology, historical anc cultural context, and characters, plots, formal features, or other elements of the texts read. Make sure to read the assigned text as well as all other materials with information on the author, text, literary terminology, and historical and cultural background. Multiple choice questions will be graded automatically. Short answer questions will be graded manually by the instructor. You will only get one chance to complete and submit the quiz -- no retakes allowed. QUIZZES MAY BE COMPLETED ANYTIME ON THE DAY WHEN THEY ARE ASSIGNED BUT PRIOR TO 9 AM ON THE FOLLOWING DAY. THE QUIZ WILL BE AVAILABLE 24 HOURSE PRIOR TO THE DEADLINE. ONCE YOU BEGIN IT YOU WILL BE ALLOWED ONLY 20 MINUTES TO COMPLETE IT.

3) Participation and Contributions to Class Discussions (40%)

In addition to other grades, the instructor will assess and grade each student's participation and contributions to class discussions. This grade will take into account quality and regularity of participation, including quality and quantity of postings to daily discussions. Every student must contribute to daily class discussion in the form of answers to selected study questions, comments on or answers to other students' or the instructor's postings, or other comments or questions. Discussion boards will remain open for 24 hours starting at 9 AM on the day when a topic is scheduled (48 hours for topics scheduled for two days of discussion). No contributions to a discussion will be allowed after that time. THE INSTRUCTOR WILL INITIATE THE DISCUSSION EVERY MORNING BY POSTING QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS AND WILL PROMPT STUDENTS, REPLY TO QUESTIONS, AND MONITOR DISCUSSION ACTIVITY THROUGHOUT THE DAY. THE INSTRUCTOR WILL SPEND A MINIMUM OF 2 HOURS EACH DAY -- DISTRIBUTED OVER THE MORNING, AFTERNOON, AND EVENING -- ENGAGED IN DISCUSSION WITH STUDENTS. MINIMUM PARTICIPATION REQUIRED OF ALL STUDENTS: ONE POST AND ONE REPLY TO SOMEONE ELSE'S POST BY 12 NOON AND AN ADDITIONAL POST AND REPLY TO ANOTHER POST BY 5 PM EACH DAY OF CLASS. FOR STUDENTS WHOSE SCHEDULES DO NOT ALLOW DAYTIME CLASS PARTICIPATION, THE FOUR REQUIRED POSTS MUST BE COMPLETED BY 9 PM. Participation in daily discussions is mandatory and graded.

4) Other Policies

Deadlines: Make-ups/extensions for a missed deadline will only be given in cases of documented serious illness or other valid, non-frivolous excuse such as documented participation in official University academic or service events (it will be up to the instructor to determine and decide on the acceptability of an excuse). Otherwise, students must meet all deadlines specified in this syllabus.

Attendance Policy: Students are obligated to participate and make contributions to class discussion every day of the course dates (participation can take place anytime within the given 24-hour period). Failure to make contributions on a given day will be considered an "absence." An attendance measurement will be calculated equal to the percentage of days of participation. The course grade may not exceed that percentage (i.e. if a student participated in class discussions only 75% of the total of class dates, the course grade may not be higher than 75 or C). Notice also that, at the discretion of the instructor, any student failing to participate in more than 30% of the total of class days may fail the course. All "absences," regardless of the reason, are taken into account in the calculation of the attendance percentage.

Academic Honesty and Class Conduct Policy: All students in the class are expected to observe the University's guidelines on student conduct as described in the Code of Conduct and Creighton University's Student Handbook (especially the section on "Academic Honesty Policy" dealing with problems of plagiarism, cheating, etc.). All work turned in for credit in this course must be personal and original, produced during the course of the semester and for the specific purposes and according to the guidelines of the given assignments. Any misrepresentations, concealments, or distortions of source, origin, collaboration or authorship of such materials will be considered forms of academic dishonesty and will result in failing the given assignment or, at the discretion of the instructor, the entire course. Problems such as failure to contribute to class discussions, unresponsiveness to prompts and questions, use of inappropriate or offensive language, or disruptive/disrespectful behavior will adversely affect the course grade. Problematic behavior can also result, at the discretion of the instructor, in more severe penalties, including failing the entire course.

Email Communication: The University considers a student's Creighton email address the official means of communication with faculty and administrators. All students are responsible for checking their email messages as they might contain important and time-sensitive information relevant to the course, including notifications on changes to reading and other assignments, deadlines, class cancellations or reschedulings, etc. A student who prefers to receive email at a different address must inform the instructor.

Special Needs or Accommodations: Any student requiring special arrangements or other accommodations, due to disabilities and/or other special circumstances, is encouraged to request such arrangements from the Office of Disability Accommodations and also to inform the instructor.

Grading
All aspects of the course will be graded on a 100-point scale defined as follows:

For further information and details on grading see documents "Grading Policies and Standards" and "Criteria for Grading of Essays" (look for them in Blueline under Lessons in the folder titled "Course Documents"). At the discretion of the instructor, a normative curve may be applied to the grades at the end of the term. The course grade will be calculated according to the following formula:

Weekly essays

40 %

Quizzes 20 %

Class Participation

40 %

Total

100 %

 

SCHEDULE

All reading is due on the date indicated. Read the literary works and corresponding introductions in the anthology, as well as all study questions and outlines specified for each reading.

Reading materials can be found at one or more of the following locations:

1) in the textbook

2) by clicking on the links below

3) in Blueline Lessons

 

WEEK 1

Introduce yourself! See the folder titled "Introduce Yourself" in Blueline Lessons and post a message with information you'd like to share about yourself. Also attach a picture!

Mon July 13

Tue July 14

Wed Jul 15

Thu Jul 16

Fri Jul 17


WEEKLY ESSAY 1

Write an essay according to the instructions provided by the instructor (the assignment will be posted by 5 PM Friday):

 

WEEK 2

Mon Jul 20

Tue Jul 21

Wed Jul 22

Thu Jul 23

Fri Jul 24

WEEKLY ESSAY 2

Write an essay according to the instructions provided by the instructor:

 

WEEK 3

Mon Jul 27

Tue Jul 28

Wed Jul 29

Thu Jul 30

Fri Jul 31

 

WEEKLY ESSAY 3

Write an essay according to the instructions provided by the instructor:

 

WEEK 4

Mon Aug 03

Tue Aug 04

Wed Aug 05

Thu Aug 06

Fri Aug 07


WEEKLY ESSAY 4

Write an essay according to the instructions provided by the instructor:

 

WEEK 5

Mon Aug 10

Tue Aug 11


Wed Aug 12


WEEKLY ESSAY 5

Write an essay according to the instructions provided by the instructor:

 

last updated: 10/04/2009