Course Proposal
Submitted to Distance Education Curriculum Support Committee
November 23, 2004
Course Title & Number: English 4: Critical Thinking and Writing about Literature
(Hybrid)
Faculty Name: Dr. Dennis Chowenhill
1.
Need/Justification
English 4 is the second, and final, semester of the Freshman Composition sequence that is
required of all transfer students and in a great deal of our credential and certificate
programs. Access to this course is therefore critical to a significant portion of the Chabot
College student body. Most of the students enrolling in the course are prepared to
transfer to other institutions immediately after completing the course. This includes
students who come from other colleges, who need to complete the Freshman
Composition course for their own programs and choose to do so at Chabot.
Offering English 4 as a hybrid course will greatly increase the access that students have
to this course. Formerly, when students have had work or personal conflicts that have
prevented them from attending classes through a full term, they have had to postpone
their graduation, or elegibility for transfer, until they could complete the second half of
Freshman Composition. For this population, the availability of English 4 as a hybrid
course can prevent the loss of valuable time. Another population that will benefit from
the greater accessiblity is the set of students who are attending Chabot classes but have
scheduling conflicts that prevent them from taking English 4 during their last term, when
they need it. The course that this proposal describes will have on-campus meetings late
in the afternoon, when few other classes are offered, and those meetings are scheduled
only seven times during the term.
2.
Course Content Delivery
English 4 addresses three areas: Composition, Critical Thinking, and Introduction to
Literature. These three are described individually, below. The standard font describes
the course requirements as described by the course outline for classroom instruction; the
italics describe how all these requirements will be met in the hybrid course.
Composition
Students in English 4 are expected to demonstrate their understanding of literature
(summarized below, under Introduction to Literature) through their explications and
analyses of it in their original written essays. Students write formal essays using a
writing process that includes discussion of their ideas for topics, generation of theses,
writing of full drafts for peer and instructor review, and submission of final drafts for a
letter grade. Students write at least five essays, totaling 8,000 words, at least one of which
is informed by research and documented, utilizing MLA format.
In classroom instruction, students write in class, in response to prompts related to class
discussions, and in order to develop essays on which they are working and to receive peer
and instructor feedback on their work. They also write essay responses in quizzes and
examinations. They complete full-length essays outside of class and submit these, often
in multiple drafts, for letter grades. Office conferences are available for students
desiring individual assistance with their writing.
In my “hybrid” format, students will also write in class. During each of the tri-weekly
meetings students will respond in writing to questions that they have been discussing in
the online threaded discussions and journal assignments (described in the paragraphs
immediately following this). They will also take a midterm examination and final
examination in class, both of which include essay components.
In addition to in-class writing, students will maintain an online journal and participate
throughout the term in instructor-moderated threaded discussions regarding the reading
assignments. The online journal responses will be accessible to all members of the class,
so that students can learn from each other. I will also respond to journals, individually
and as groups, as appropriate, to focus and supplement these discussions. Students will
be required to participate in both journals and threaded discussions, and will be notified
of the expectations, in quality and quantity. (Typically, a journal entry is about 100
words focused on the journal prompt.)
As students work on drafts of their formal essays, they will submit their writing online for
peer and instructor feedback. Students will have access to more feedback from me as
they need it (see “Access,” at the end of this proposal). Instructions for how to respond
as a peer reader will be posted at my English 4 Blackboard site. All final drafts of the
formal essays will be submitted in print form at classroom meetings. Students will
maintain copies of their final papers and receive my individual feedback in the medium
they request— email, or in person if they choose to see me on campus.
Critical Thinking
In English 4, critical thinking strategies that are taught in English 1A are continued:
making and justifying inferences; identifying unstated premises and assumptions;
evaluating patterns of reasoning; identifying fallacious reasoning, and appeals to
authority and emotion. In English 4, students apply these skills to their reading of
literature and secondary works that interpret and critique literature.
In classroom instruction, the critical thinking components of English 4 are treated in class
discussions, instructor presentations, and the students’ writing of expository and
argumentative essays. Students are evaluated on their progress through their in-class
participation, and their performance on all graded assignments (including quizzes,
examinations, and essays).
In my hybrid course, most of the instructor presentations will occur as online posts, and
discussions will be conducted primarily in the threaded discussions and journals.
Quizzes and examinations, all of which will be conducted during classroom sessions, will
also require students to apply the critical thinking strategies, and these assessments will
themselves become topics for online discussion, to reinforce students’ learning.
Introduction to Literature
The following are course outline goals for the literature component of English 4:
awareness of language in literature (including analysis for figurative language,
connotation, symbol, imagery); understanding of how various literary genres (fiction,
drama, poetry) elicit intellectual and emotional responses to their themes and
perspectives; and understanding how literary works can express themselves through their
historical, cultural, psychological, and aesthetic contexts.
In classroom instruction, students learn to read literature critically through instructor
presentations, in-class discussions, and classroom activities (like small group assignments
that require students to identify and explain the effects of discrete literary devices).
For presentations of literary concepts and devices, I will generate my own pages that will
be posted as the instruction becomes relevant (and tailored to student readiness, as is my
practice in traditional classroom instruction). I will also draw from resources on these
topics that are available on various university websites and links that Pam Shen has
already incorporated into her own hybrid English 4 course that is being offered this Fall
term.
The primary purpose of the ongoing threaded discussions, and of the online journals, will
be to give students opportunities to apply what they are learning about reading literature
critically. My own participation in these discussions will likewise primarily serve to
focus the discussions and clarify the concepts under discussion. As in my classroom
instruction, whenever possible student work will be used as models of how to apply target
concepts.
3.
Nature and Frequency of Instructor-Student Interactions
The descriptions of activities, above (#2), indicate the instructor-student interactions of
this hybrid English 4. Critical features of the traditional English 4 classroom are
students’ opportunities to analyze and interpret complex literary texts, express their ideas
and observations, have their participation assessed by an instructor, and receive feedback
and coaching from the instructor during these activities.
The discussions that are traditionally conducted in the classroom, where the instructor
can observe students’ participation and assist, will be conducted in this hybrid course by
means of the threaded discussions, online journals, and my “virtual office” presence (by
which I am accessible to students via a “virtual office” space on my Blackboard site).
Students will also have addess to me via email, for more private discussions when they
need this. Since students will have access to all these avenues at any time, there will be
more opportunities for them to interact than there are with the traditional classroom.
Many of the challenges that students face in English 4 emerge as they are reading
literature on their own, and working on drafts of their essays. With a traditional
classroom format, only those students who take good notes to remind themselves to ask
relevant questions during class, and who are comfortable asking questions during class
receive help as they face these challenges. With the hybrid English 4, students will be
encouraged to write their questions and observations at the same time that they emerge
for the student. A student will be able, for instance, to ask a question about a feature of
a piece of literature by posting the question online, regardless of whether the question
occurred to the student at midnight or on a weekend. As other students see the
advantages o this practice, they will encouraged to do the same.
Feedback on the formal essays that students write will be received online. The papers
will be submitted in hard copy to me in person, during class sessions. Students will
retain their own copy of each paper. I will respond online, giving suggestions on how the
students can rewrite the essay. If the student has questions, they can be asked online, so
that the student can receive ongoing assistance, which is a more thorough service to the
student than normally occurs in traditional classroom composition classes.
As with a classroom offering of English 4, attendance is crucial to student success.
Language skills are learned and developed in language communities, and the stability of
these communities is important to the success of every participant. In classroom
offerings of English 4, students are responsible for both the quantity and quality of their
attendance. Instructors are allowed to drop students who have missed 4 consecutive
hours or 6 accumulated hours of instruction. A final grade is influenced by the quality of
a student’s participation in class.
In my hybrid English 4, students will be equally responsible for their “attendance.”
Classroom meetings constitute 14 hours of the instruction. Participation in discussion
threads and the study of my postings of material that would otherwise be presented via
classroom lectures/demonstrations will require approximately 2 1/2 hours per week of
activity for the students (=43.75 hours). This commitment exceeds by a little the 52 hours
required of students in classroom sections of English 4. (Not calculated are the hours
devoted to reading or writing or study that would in any case be required of students
outside of class.) Students failing to participate adequately, as per the assignment
instructions regarding length and content of online responses, will be dropped from the
class, as they would be if they missed sessions of a classroom.
4.
Assignments & Methods of Evaluation
Most of the English 4 assignments will remain unchanged in this hybrid course. The
reading assignments; the quizzes, and the midterm and final examinations (taken during
class meetings); and the formal essays will remain the same.
All student writing will be evaluated by means of the same criteria that exists for the
standard English 4. And as with the standard English 4, the criteria for essay evaluation
will be distributed as each assignment is posted.
Assessments in Freshman Composition courses are critical at two points in the term. At
the beginning, it is necessary for the instructor to assess students’ readiness for the
course. At the end, the instructor must assess the students’ skills and knowledge in order
to assign grades. These two critical assessments are described here, separately:
Entry Assessment of Student Skills and Knowledge
Students entering English 4 are expected to demonstrate skills in reading, summarizing,
synthesizing, and critically analyzing texts, and the ability to complete the necessary
steps toward writing academic essays, from defining a line of inquiry, to editing and
proofreading to assure that the essay accomplishes its expository and argumentative goals
with a specified audience.
In classroom instruction, initial student readiness is assessed by means of the review of
writing (the “intake”) that each student completes during the first week of instruction,
usually in class. The instructor also observes each student’s ability to participate in class
discussions of texts during the first weeks of instruction, and advises students whose
skills do not meet the requirements.
In my hybrid English 4, students will demonstrate their readiness by writing a response
to a brief text, which they will complete during their first classroom meeting. I will
assess their writing, as well as their ability to respond to the text, and contact students
who do not seem to have the required skills. During the first two weeks of class, I will
also be monitoring students’ responses in threaded discussions online that will require
that they respond critically to readings in fiction assigned during these weeks. During
this period I will advise students who seem unprepared for the class.
Students who appear to lack the sufficient computer and technological skills to succeed in
my hybrid English 4 course will be referred to on campus offerings of the same course. A
description of the computer skills necessary and the hardware and software requirements
for taking the hybrid course will be outlined in the course syllabus and on the course
website.
End of term Assessment of Student Skills and Knowledge
The final grade that a student receives in my hybrid English 4 course will be based on the
same criteria by which a student is evaluated in my classroom versions of the course, and
these criteria will be posted on the course Blackboard site. As is true for my classroom
sections of English 4, students will also receive the grading criteria for each writing
assignment as it is assigned. The main factors determining each final grade will be the
grades the student has received in the formal essay writing, and on quizzes/examinations.
All quizzes and examinations will be conducted during the classroom sessions.
Attendance will also be a factor: the length of students’ entries in discussions and
journals, as well as the quality of the entries, will influence their final grades.
5.
Technical Support
All students will be required to have the following software: (1) Windows 98 (or higher)
Operating System or Macintosh OS 8.0 (or higher) (2) A compatible version of either
Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer Web Browser and (3) Microsoft Word 97 (or
higher version) that will run the Blackboard Course Management System. The hardware
required to run these programs is listed for each respective program. The Windows
Operating System comes installed on any PC machine and the Macintosh OS comes
installed on Macintosh computers. Both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer are
available for download free of charge online. Microsoft Word is available at a
substantial academic discount to faculty through Faculty Buys and to students through
the Chabot College bookstore or online at the manufacturers’ Web site. Product
documentation and technical support for all of these programs are available free of
charge online.
6.
Student Services
Students enrolled in my hybrid English 4 course will have the same access to Chabot
College on-campus student resources that all enrolled students have. The WRAC Center
services and facilities will be available to the students for the same per semester voucher
charge that on-campus students pay. Students in the hybrid course will also have access
to campus academic counseling, financial aid, and other support services available to all
enrolled Chabot students.
7.
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
This is a hybrid course that requires on-campus meetings seven times during the term.
All students enrolled will have the same access to the Chabot College accommodations
for disabilities that are provided other Chabot students. Students with other special needs
for accommodation to the online features of the course will have access to me in person
or online or via my office phone, so that I can work with the students to remove
obstacles.
8.
Class Size & First Term to be offered
This hybrid English 4 class is scheduled for the Spring 2005 (CRN # D 32605).
Maximum enrollment for this course (and all other English 4 courses) is 27.