UPDATED 8/26/06
Instructor: Bump; <mailto:bump@mail.utexas.edu>; Office: PAR 132 Office phone: 471-8747
TTH 2:00 PM- 3:30 PM PAR 104; office hours: TT 9:45-10:45, Tu 6:30-7; Th 3:15-3:45, and by appointment. Course web site:
http://www.la.utexas.edu/users/bump/E375L2/
The "mission and core purpose" of the University of Texas at Austin is" to transform lives for the benefit of society through the core values of learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity and responsibility."
http://www.utexas.edu/welcome/
“Larger universities must find ways to create a sense of place and to help students develop small communities within the larger whole.” Carnegie’s Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America’s Research Universities (http://notes.cc.sunysb.edu/Pres/boyer.nsf)
Our primary goal is to transform your lives, and those of all you influence in the future, for the benefit of society. To do this we will focus on two core values: discovery and leadership. Secondly, our goal to strengthen your awareness of your alma mater, and your senses of place and space.
The basic method of the course is discovery learning, learning by doing. Therefore, some class meetings will be outside, devoted to writing and drawing about buildings and works of art, while those in the classroom will focus on the Victorian literature which encouraged them and, via the internet, the European buildings that inspired them. We will meet at Victorian buildings on campus (such the Littlefield house) and off campus (such as St. Mary’s cathedral and the state Capitol). Our specific techniques will be reading and writing in response to basic questions about ourselves and our environments such as why am I here? what is this? where did it come from? why is it here? and what does it mean? Many objects will reveal themselves as palimpsests inviting us to trace layers of meaning in them back to various eras and places. For example, the carved dragons on the mantle in the Littlefield House leads us, via the internet, to cathedrals in medieval France, Spain and England.
Our ultimate question will be why am I here? We will explore "here" as described above, with special emphasis on the Victorian concepts of “Truth to Nature” and “Gothic.” To answer the "why" question, we will focus on leadership, a core value of the university and of Victorian literature. Victorian literature will reveal the purposes of universities and the liberal arts as well as that "pattern of conversion" from egoism to something greater that characterizes so many leaders, now as well as then. We will then compare the life of Victorian college students with that of students here and conclude with a reading of the Alice books as parodies of college life.
Students should be prepared to think for themselves, for careful reading, and a lot of informal writing. Discovery learning means that there will be fewer instructions for subjects of projects than what students may be used to from other courses. This can be frustrating for some, especially those who want a detailed formula that will guarantee them a good grade. Instead they will have freedom to be creative, to be individual, and to write about what is important to them. Select teaching philosophy for details. .
Inspired by Victorian and university role models, projects will be devoted to a personal leadership vision. Students will begin with road maps of their lives and examinations of their individual learning styles. Then they will create two multimedia writing projects on the web, of at least seven pages each. In any case, they must be extensively revised, incorporating at least a page of new material each time. Initial comments on the projects will be made by other students in Blackboard Discussion format, with the instructor then focusing on polishing subsequent hard copies for coherence, word choice, punctuation, etc.
Grades. About 50% of the final grade will be determined by the multimedia projects (15% for each first draft, -- 150 points each, 10% for each revision -- 100 points), 14% by the portfolio (140 points); 24% by informal writing (240 points); 12-24% by class participation (240 points). 900 points (out of 1,000) are required for an A-; 800 for a B-; 700 for a C-; 600 for a D-. However, more than 1000 points will be available so that students can emphasize formal over informal writing or vice versa, class participation more than the portfolio, etc. At the end of the course, students will receive exactly the grade recorded in the online gradebook in Blackboard, even if it is one point short of the next higher grade.
Class participation consists of showing up in class on time, having read the material assigned for that day, and being prepared to talk about it. Students are encouraged to post entries on a Blackboard discussion board about the readings assigned for that day before class starts. In any case, it is important to share in class: one of the goals of the course is better spoken as well as written communication, and learning to listen when others are speaking.
Printed Texts. Students will need before the first day a collection of xeroxed materials from Jenn's, 2000 Guadalupe (basement of the Church of Scientology at 22nd) , 473-8669. Also required are The Little Penguin Handbook by Lester Faigley (Longman) and Carroll’s The Annotated Alice (W. W. Norton).