Instructor: Kristine L. Fitch, Ph.D Phone:
353-2264 (voice-mail)
E-mail: kristine-fitch@uiowa.edu Office:
145 BCSB.
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 11-12:30 p.m., and by appointment.
Teaching Assistants:
Young-cheon Cho (Chief Technologist) youngcheon-cho@uiowa.edu
Evelyn Ho evelyn-ho@uiowa.edu
Sheree Keith sheree-keith@uiowa.edu
Peter Schaefer peter-schaefer@uiowa.edu
Jill Tyler jill-tyler@uiowa.edu
Office locations and hours for Teaching Assistants will be announced in discussion sections.
| January | February | March | April | May |
Communication is one of the great issues of our times. It is a topic that touches on almost all aspects of our lives. Love, war, work, play, sport, politics, economics, law, art, religion, or education – none could exist without communication. Communication is a topic that ranges from face-to-face interaction, to public speaking of many different kinds, to globally distributed film, music, and television. This course aims to introduce you to this many-splendored topic, and to provide you with a way of thinking and overview of concepts that you will use in other communication studies courses at the UI. In a sense, this is a thinking class and a vocabulary class. You will learn to think in some new ways and learn to master and apply some of the core concepts in communication studies.
Though this class is 001, you should not assume that it will be easy. Basic knowledge is often more challenging to grasp than advanced knowledge, since the ambiguities are often more profound. You will be expected to engage in serious reading, reflection, discussion, and writing on several topics that are guaranteed to be an important part of twenty-first century life.
If you listen carefully to lectures, read the assigned readings thoughtfully, take active part in discussion sections and assignments, and integrate the three, you can expect to:
Readings for the course will consist of one book for all students, one book which you will choose from several options, and several short readings available on line on the course website.
The section offers a forum for discussion, activities, and application of theories and concepts to specific examples. It has two main purposes: to integrate the course materials and to give you a chance to be a producer of knowledge. The main purpose is not to review lecture or discuss the textbook or prep for the exams. In discussion section you will write three short papers, as well as a number of very short exercises for discussion (and which will contribute to your participation score). Though all the sections will have the same kinds of assignments, each section will have their own specific assignments.
There will be two exams midway through the course and a final exam at the University-scheduled final exam period for this course. All will consist of multiple choice and true/false questions. They will be designed to reward those who do the reading, listen carefully and think about lectures, and grasp the key concepts and questions. They will be hard and designed to test your mastery of the readings, discussions, and lectures: let no one say they were not warned!
NO make-up exams will be given. The times and dates are fixed: please plan accordingly. The only permissible alterations are for those made well in advance with Student Disability Services (SDS); convenient or cheap travel plans unfortunately do not offer grounds for changing the exam dates.
You will write three papers of 2-4 pages in length. They should be well thought out and argued, substantiated with evidence, and well written. They should be typed and double-spaced. Since this is a communication class, your style and form will be important as well as your content. More instructions will be forthcoming about the assignments in discussion sections well in advance of due dates.
| Your grade in this course will be calculated in this way: | |
| Exam I: | 15% |
| Exam II: | 15% |
| Final: | 20% |
| 3 short papers: | 40% total (20% each) |
| Participation in discussion sections: | 10% |
Your discussion section instructor will talk about participation grading. |
|
The course website is part of the University Course Web Services of the University of Iowa, also known as WebCT. This is the entrance to most of the university’s on line courses. In order to log in you will have to:
Open your browser--Netscape works best with WebCT--and go to http://courses.uiowa.edu.
Readings and other materials, including Powerpoint slides from the lectures, will be available on line. For questions of how to use Web CT and for lost passwords, you should go to an ITC on campus, and speak to one of the help personnel there or call the ITS help desk at 384-help. You may also email them at webct@uiowa.edu; be sure to include your course number, the instructor’s name, and your Hawk Id. The instructors for this course cannot (and are probably not even qualified) to help you with such things.
You will need to be registered as a student in this class to gain access to the website. By enrolling in the course, this will take place automatically shortly after the course begins.
Disabilities: If there are any accommodations that we can make so that your learning environment is more user-friendly, either in lecture or section, please let the instructor know ASAP. We are happy to work with SDS for alternate exam arrangements, but it is YOUR responsibility to get the arrangements taken care of well in advance (at least one week for each exam), and to remind the instructor and the Technology Chief of any special arrangements.
Language Competence: All instructors for this course are approved as competent speakers of English.
Lecture Notes: Slides from the lecture will be made available on the course website, but these will only serve as reminders, and will likely not make sense without attending lecture.
Academic Misconduct: Plagiarism, the unacknowledged use of another’s words, ideas, or work, and cheating, in any form, are both academic crimes. Never turn in a paper that you did not write yourself. Never turn in a paper for this class that you wrote for another class. Never collaborate on an exam or facilitate someone else’s efforts to do so. Any of these actions will result in a failing grade for the class and possible suspension from the University.
Grievances: If you have problems with the conduct of any of the instructors, please take it up first with them directly. Then, you may see Kristine Fitch if you would like to talk about one of the TA’s. The next step is Prof. Randy Hirokawa, DEO, Communication Studies, 105 BCSB.
Timing: I will speak until 2:20 in each lecture and I will be sure to end on time. Please stay quiet until then--don’t start folding up your notebooks and backpacks till 2:20.
Hand-outs: It is your responsibility to get a copy of any hand-outs. If you miss class on the day they are handed out, it’s up to you to make a copy from someone else in the class. Hand-outs may also be available on the website.
Classroom Environment: please turn off all cell phones and pagers upon entering the classroom.
Printers: Printer problems do not count as a justification for late papers. There are plenty of ITCs on campus, and you need to plan ahead.
Technology: The teachers for this class cannot take responsibility for fixing your technology problems. You are responsible to get help from a campus ITC or contact your TA for further guidance.
The schedule you see below is subject to change and adjustment. All changes will be announced in class and posted on the WebCT site. You should check the site frequently for possible changes! We will also occasionally repeat announcements by way of a general e-mail to everyone in the class. If you receive e-mail at something other than your University of Iowa address, you should set the WebCT e-mail preference to forward class e-mail to that address (ask the ITS Help Desk for details if needed).