Discovering Ideas

Brief Overview of the Course

• The purpose of the course is to learn: to learn how to become better writers and to learn how to become better learners.

• Unlike most classes, this one will be conducted primarily over the Internet.  In order to take this class you need to have regular access to a computer with a modem or network connection that allows you to send and receive e-mail, and you must have your own e-mail address.  You need to have regular access to the Internet.  You do not need to own the computer you use, but you have to be able to use it regularly, for many hours a week, for the entire semester.  Because the Internet will be our primary means of communication in the class, you can't do the work of the class without ongoing access to the Internet.  If you lose your Internet access for any reason during the semester, you will have to restore it quickly if you want to continue with the class.

• You will need to check your e-mail daily, or almost daily, for the entire semester to succeed in the class.  If I send you e-mail, you will need to respond promptly.  We have a very tight schedule for the course, so the first thing you have to avoid is getting out of touch.  If you are going to take an on-line class, you have to be on-line, and you have to keep in touch with the class on-line.  

• This is a four-unit course.  But it would be a serious mistake to think of it as a four-hour course.  Think of it as an eight-hour course.  That is, you should expect to spend an average of eight hours every week doing your course work.  I will ask you to schedule the time you will spend on the class in advance and indicate to me when you plan to do your class work.  You will not be able to succeed in the course unless you put in the time necessary.  The most frequent reason why students drop or fail the course is that they do not have time to complete it.  I want to be clear from the very beginning about the time requirements so that you understand what it will take and can arrange your schedule accordingly.  If you are taking one or more other very demanding courses this semester, you should reconsider.  

• We will exchange work and respond to one another's work through e-mail, on our discussion site, and through chat rooms.

• You will be working with one another extensively this semester. You will form an editorial group with a small number of other students and take responsibility for reviewing and editing one another's work. Our goal in group work will be to support one another in learning.

• You will have a great deal of freedom in deciding what to write about, but we will usually have some general subject area for an essay. The general subject area for the first essay will be "Learning," a topic that we will be reading about and discussing for the first few weeks. Your essay topic will be very narrow and specific, but fall within the general subject area.  The general subject areas for your other essays will be "thinking and knowing," "moral right and wrong," and "technology."

• You will write four essays for this class. For each essay you will first write a working draft, which others will read and comment on, and then write a revised version of that essay. Your  essays will be posted on the Internet and linked to the class homepage. However, your work is always subject to further revision. You will receive extensive comments and suggestions on each of your essays. I will give you a written evaluation of each of your revised essays. But you will receive a grade only on the final, finished work that you include in your portfolio. Your portfolio will be posted on the class homepage at the end of the semester and will be the basis of your grade in the course.

• You are required to read all or major portions of five textbooks for the class.  For the information necessary to order the books on-line, see the Books page: 

  • The Pocket Wadsworth Handbook (4th edition) by Laurie G Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell;

  • Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds by Richard J. Light; 

  • The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis ; 

  • How to Know  by Robert McHenry; and 

  • The Discovering Ideas Handbook, linked to our class home page. 

  The first four you will be required to buy and to own until after the semester is over. (You will not be able to substitute another handbook for Kirszner and Mandell. You need to own your own copy of the book. There is no other way to get through the class. Please do not take this course if you are unwilling to buy the books.) The last book is entirely on-line, and you will access it through our Web site.  We will be getting much of our other reading material off of the Internet. You will be responsible for printing out all pages that you use in your research for your essays and that you are assigned to read for class discussion. 

• You will be doing outside research for all of your essays.  You will need to read what others have had to say about your topic and find out what research has been done by others in order to write about it effectively.  So for each of the four units, you should start exploring potential topics as soon as you can, and you should find and read some serious article, not just Web pages, dealing with a topic you are thinking about writing about.

• Safe Assign.  We will be using the Safe Assign on-line system to review each of your essays.  Safe Assign is a system that automatically checks your essay for plagiarism and correct identification of quoted and cited material.  It is easy to use, and you have access to it through Blackboard.  But keep in mind that you will be required to submit each essay you write to Safe Assign before I will read it.  This is not an option, it is a requirement.

Discovering Ideas
Palomar College
jtagg@palomar.edu
This page was last edited: 01/12/09