Graduate Curriculum Committee Course Proposal Form
for Courses Numbered 5000 and Higher
Note: Before completing this form, please carefully read the accompanying instructions.
Submission guidelines are posted to the GCC Web site: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/gcc/index.cfm
1. Course prefix and number:
2. Date:
ENGL 8780
11/5/2012
3. Requested action:
New Course
X
Revision of Active Course
Revision & Unbanking of a Banked Course
Renumbering of an Existing Course from
from
to
#
X
Required
#
Elective
4. Method(s) of delivery (check all boxes that apply for both current/proposed and expected
future delivery methods within the next three years):
Current or
Proposed Delivery
Method(s):
X
On-campus (face to face)
Expected
Future Delivery
Method(s):
X
Distance Course (face to face off campus)
Online (delivery of 50% or more of the instruction is offered online)
5. Justification. Identify the committee or group (e.g., Graduate faculty of the Department of
English) that conducted the assessment of curriculum and student learning. Explain why the
unit wishes to offer or revise the course. Include specific results from the unit assessment that
led to the development or modification of the course. If applicable, cite any accrediting
agency/ies and reference the specific standard/s.
After a comprehensive review of the curriculum and required courses in the PhD
program, along with assessment data related to the placement of graduates and the
program’s applicant pool, the graduate faculty involved in the PhD program determined
the need to revise several of the program's required courses and create several news
courses that would make us competitive and in alignment with other PhD programs
similar to our own.
This assessment process revealed, among other things, a need to more clearly distinguish
the 8000-level PhD seminars from the 7000-level similarly named courses in the
program. Faculty recognize the need to ensure that the 8000-level doctoral seminars
Approved by GCC April 2012; posted summer of 2012
effectively familiarize doctoral students with the focused, in-depth research practices that
are essential to understanding the theoretical perspectives of professional communication
and the implications for research and practice. The proposed revision to ENGL 8780 will
better enable faculty to assist students in acquiring the abilities to, as articulated in the
PhD program outcomes, “Use tools, methods, and/or theories to investigate and analyze
communication practices and products effectively”; “Analyze the role technology plays
in shaping discourse, rhetoric, and communication”; and “Design and conduct an original
long-term research project of substantial scope, synthesize information resulting from
that project, and report.” The focus (texts/topics) of this seminar course will change
depending on instructor/semester, but the learning objectives will stay the same.
The Doctoral Program Steering Committee, the Graduate Committee, and the Graduate
Faculty approved this course on November 25, 2012 and December 3, 2012.
6. Course description exactly as it should appear in the next catalog:
8780: Seminar in Professional Communication. (3) May be repeated for maximum of 6
s.h. P: Admission to the PhD program or consent of program director. Study of
theoretical perspectives and the implications for research and practice within professional
communication.
7. If this is a course revision, briefly describe the requested change:
This course revision includes a change in title, course description, and course content.
8. Course credit:
Lecture Hours
3
3
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
Lab
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
s.h.
Studio
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
s.h.
Practicum
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
s.h.
Internship
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
s.h.
Other (e.g., independent study) Please explain.
Total Credit Hours
9. Anticipated annual student enrollment:
10. Changes in degree hours of your programs:
Degree(s)/Program(s)
Changes in Degree Hours
N/A
11. Affected degrees or academic programs, other than your programs:
Approved by GCC April 2012; posted summer of 2012
s.h.
s.h.
3
8-10
s.h.
Degree(s)/Program(s)
Changes in Degree Hours
N/A
12. Overlapping or duplication with affected units or programs:
X Not applicable
Documentation of notification to the affected academic degree programs is
attached.
13. Council for Teacher Education (CTE) approval (for courses affecting teacher education):
X Not applicable
Applicable and CTE has given their approval.
14. University Service-Learning Committee (USLC) approval:
X Not applicable
Applicable and USLC has given their approval.
15. Statements of support:
a. Staff
X Current staff is adequate
Additional staff is needed (describe needs in the box below):
b. Facilities
X Current facilities are adequate
Additional facilities are needed (describe needs in the box below):
c. Library
X
Initial library resources are adequate
Initial resources are needed (in the box below, give a brief explanation and an
estimate for the cost of acquisition of required initial resources):
d. Unit computer resources
X
Unit computer resources are adequate
Additional unit computer resources are needed (in the box below, give a brief
explanation and an estimate for the cost of acquisition):
e. ITCS resources
X
ITCS resources are not needed
The following ITCS resources are needed (put a check beside each need):
Mainframe computer system
Statistical services
Network connections
Computer lab for students
Approved by GCC April 2012; posted summer of 2012
Software
Approval from the Director of ITCS attached
16. Course information (see: Graduate Curriculum and Program Development Manual for
instructions):
a. Textbook(s) and/or readings: author(s), name, publication date, publisher, and
city/state/country. Include ISBN (when applicable).
(Textbooks for an offering of the course themed “Technical Communication and
Communities of Practice”)
Johnson-Eilola, Johndan and Stuart A. Selber, eds. Central Works in Technical
Communication. Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 0195157052.
Wenger, Etienne. Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity (Learning
in Doing: Social, Cognitive and Computational Perspectives). Cambridge University
Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780521663632.
Wenger, Etienne. Cultivating Communities of Practice. Harvard Business Review
Press. 2002. ISBN: 9781578513307.
Norman, Donald. The Design of Everyday Things. Basic Books, 2002. ISBN:
9780465067107.
McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. MIT Press, 1994.
ISBN: 978-0262631594
b. Course objectives for the course (student – centered, behavioral focus)
If this is a 5000-level course that is populated by undergraduate and graduate students,
there must be differentiation in the learning objectives expected.
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. Identify how a particular theory, theoretical perspective, or theoretical approach
has affected past or is affecting current technical and professional
communication practices.
2. Apply a particular theory to examine how information is transmitted within
different contexts and to different audiences and as a foundation for or a
mechanism for conducting research.
3. Locate, evaluate, summarize, and synthesize existing research on a particular
theory or theoretical approach for professional practices including collaboration
and communication inside and outside organizations and with various
stakeholders.
4. Identify appropriate methods for researching an issue or topic related to
professional communication.
5. Propose and conduct an original research project that investigates a topic in
professional communication and uses various genres to share ideas and
perspectives on the applications of a particular theory.
c. Course topic outline
The list of topics should reflect the stated objectives.
Approved by GCC April 2012; posted summer of 2012
Sample Units
(for an offering of the course themed “Technical Communication and Communities of
Practice”)
Week 1
Topics: Introduction to the course; Understanding the relationship of theory to
practice; Dialectics, tensions, and the nature of discourse/interactions in professional
fields
Week 2
Topics: Cognitive anthropology, business/corporate anthropology, and technical and
professional communication theory – an overview of the origins of theories of
communities of practice and their connection to the workplace
Week 3
Topics: Definitions of terms, concepts, and approaches relating to theories of
communities of practice
Week 4
Topics: Connecting communities of practice theory to rhetorical theory and to
communication practices in technical and professional communication
Week 5
Topics: Applying theories of communities of practices within a field/as a mechanism to
facilitate intra-field/intra-community interaction and information exchange
Week 6
Topics: Theories of communities of practice as a mechanism for guiding research in
industry within technical and professional communication
Week 7
Topics: Theories of communities of practices as a mechanism for guiding
academic/scholarly research within the field of technical and professional
communication
Week 8
Topics: Connecting theories of communities of practice with genres/genre theory and
information transmission and analysis
Week 9
Topics: Applying theories of communities of practice to media and to online
communication contexts
Approved by GCC April 2012; posted summer of 2012
Week 10
Topics: The intersection of technology and community – a communities of practice
approach to examining technological determinism and the social construction of
technology
Week 11
Topics: Communities of practice as a theory for examining international and
intercultural relations within technical and professional communication
Week 12
Topics: Using communities of practice to study civic engagement and perceptions of
society; Using theories of communities of practice to connect to communities
Week 13
Topics: A communities of practice approach to understanding visual communication,
and multi-modal discourse
Week 14
Topics: Using communities of practice theory to study human-centered design,
usability, and accessibility
Week 15
Topics: Review of topics covered during semester; Overview of perspectives on the
future uses and applications of theories of communities of practice within a technical
and professional communication context.
d. List of course assignments, weighting of each assignment, and grading/evaluation system
for determining a grade
Assignments
Intercom Article (industry publication)
10%
Commentary Essay (academic publication) 30%
Professional Presentation (academic conference presentation) 20%
Tutorial Article (pedagogical publication) 40%
Grading Scale
A = 90 – 100
B = 80 – 89
C = 70 – 79
F = 69 or lower
Approved by GCC April 2012; posted summer of 2012
Approved by GCC April 2012; posted summer of 2012