"I think Frank Dobie was one of the greatest teachers the University of Texas ever had, but like very great teacher he could never have been typed. For example, he wasn't and he didn't claim to be technically a folklorist. What he certainly was, and never claimed to be, was one of the truly great natural historians in the tradition of the Greeks, the medievalists, Renaissance men, the eighteenth-century English naturalist Gilbert white, and W. H. Hudson. And this insight into nature, I think, needs to be continued as a Dobie tradition here if the University is really going to realize its own promise."
Harry Ransom, Chancellor, University of Texas
[Winston Bode, A Portrait of Pancho: The Life of a Great Texan, J. Frank Dobie (Austin: Pemberton P, 1965), pp. 27-8
E309K 29560 Nature Writing FAC 10 TTH 2-3:30 Jerome Bump, SWC, Computer Assisted
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email: bump@mail.utexas.edu; Office: Parlin 132, Hours TTh at 11 and before and after class in FAC 10; Office phone: 471-8747, home: 267-7884
Each student will keep a journal of his or her responses to nature, in and out of class, and to the readings. Some class meetings will be outside, devoted to observing and writing about nature at Waller Creek, the Biology Ponds, the courtyard of the Humanities Research Center, the Oriental garden at Zilker Park, etc.; some to discussing famous essays about nature and what we can learn from them; some to reading each other’s nature writing. (One class meeting at Zilker Park is required; transportation will be arranged.) The basic premise of the course will be discovery learning, especially by comparing our point of view with those of other people and other creatures. At times we will use networked computers to achieve more collaborative class discussion and provide more feedback about projects. Students will produce two polished projects commnicating their response to nature: traditional essays or HTML multimedia sites on CDs and/or on the web. Students are encouraged to use multimedia to fulfill all the writing requirements and ultimately hand in everything on one CD which they will retain at the end of the course. As much as possible of the multimedia on that CD, of course, can and should be put on a web site as well. Students will view the first draft of each other's projects and revisions of the projects will be due a few weeks later.
30% of the grade will be determined by the portfolio; 50% by the projects (15% for each first draft, 10% for each revision), and 20% by class participation, which is required, especially on computer days because other people in your group will be depending on you. Class participation includes sharing in class from what you have written about that day's assignment in your journal: one of the goals of the course is better spoken as well as written communication.
Students should be prepared to think for themselves. There will be fewer instructions for subjects of projects than what students may be used to from other courses. Our goal is
discovery learning. This can be frustrating for some, especially those who want a detailed formula which will guarantee them a good grade. Instead I try to give students maximum freedom to be creative, to be individual, and to write about what is important to them. Projects can be written for different audiences and from different points of view, from autobiography to scientific observation.A paper version of the portfolio consists of the journal, clean copies of your essays, and printouts of all your contributions to the sycamore and pine web pages, to the Dobie web page, both Waller Creek web pages, to both Biology Ponds web pages, your comments on projects 1 and 2 of other students, and the road map of your journey. The Journal must include a detailed account of your own personal response to the Oriental Garden. If I were to grade on quantity along, and one page = about 250 words, an A would usually be awarded for 2.5 X 19 reading assignments = 47 pages, a B for 2 X 19 = 38 pages, a C 1.5 X 19 pages = 29 pages. When grading on quality, special attention will be paid to the end of the journal, where you add pages about your response to nature or to nature writing or nature web sites directly, without having to respond to assigned readings (though credit will be given for working in quotes to show assimilation of the assigned reading). If you want your journal to be graded on quality alone, turn it early and often to get feedback. A multimedia version of the portfolio will be graded on the basis of the effort put into learning HTML as well as the result.
Class participation consists of showing up in class on time, having read the material assigned for that day, being prepared to talk about it, and handing in your journal pages about the readings assigned in the syllabus for that day. A "U" for unprepared will be assigned if a journal is not turned in at beginning of class; an "A" will be recorded if one is absent, or very late to class; 2 "U"s = 1 "A." Grading will be as follows: 2 A's = A; 3 = A-; 4 = B+; 5 = B; 6 = B-; 7 = C+; 8 = C; 9 = C-; 10 = D+; 11 = D; 12 = D-; 13 or more = F.
Texts: Slovic and Dixon, Being in the World: An Environmental Reader for Writers; and a collection of xeroxed materials to be purchased from Jenn's, 2000 Guadelupe, 473-8669. Recommended for web projects: Lemay Web Publishing with HTML 4 [see Bump, E388M]. Other required materials: at least one 3 1/2" high density self-addressed diskette. For multimedia projects CDs or zip cartidges may be required as well, as described below.
Students should be familiar with keyboarding, operating systems, word processing, electronic mail, and web-browsing. Two classes will be devoted to how to copy and modify HTML templates of previous students; afterwards, if students are going to do web projects, they must have or acquire basic HTML skills on their own in the first month. Multimedia project students should expect to spend a considerable amount of time outside of class, sitting in front of a computer, and may also find it useful to attend some of the free classes and workshops on various technical topics offered by ACITS, TeamWeb, or the General Libraries. See class schedules
For self paced tutorials click here Students will also need an IF computer account and provide their own storage diskette or, if they are going to do a web project, a UNIX account or a ZIP or JAZ cartridge, and/or some blank Cds if they are going to store their site on a CD. New users may claim an IF account at the Student Micocomputer Facility in the Flawn UGL by completing an IF account request form and presenting it and a government-issued photo ID at the front desk.
Students will also have to sign a release on the 12th class day because 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."