9.25.08 | Immersion
Attendance
Syllabus questions
Demonstrate GoPost quickly.
Setting up Online and in-class
discussion
One of the goals
for this class is to
make and defend
your
interpretations as
you contribute to
an academic
discussion with a
community of
readers. To that
end…
The Questions
Project.
•
•
Pick a day you want to be in charge of discussion.
Prior to that day:
–
–
You will be
responsible for
creating one,
textually-based
question to lead
small-group
discussion and
presenting.
–
–
–
•
The day of your presentation.
–
–
–
•
Read that day’s reading.
Come up with a discussion question emerging from a
quotation appearing in that reading. [By discussion
question, I mean something that does not have an
objective answer]
Write up your question.
Post it to GoPost under that week’s discussion board by
10pm the night before your presentation day.
Print 10 copies of your typed question.
Bring your 10 copies to class.
Present your question, explaining how you came to it,
why it interests you, and so on BUT don’t answer it.
Pass out your 10 copies.
Within a week of your presentation.
–
–
–
Go online and read the discussion thread.
Write a wrap-up statement that synthesizes class
discussion and GoPost discussion into the final word on
your question. Think of it as concluding the thought. It
should be no more than 200 words.
Since you are doing all that, you are NOT responsible for
normal online posting.
Pass around sign-up sheet.
Normal online posting.
The rest of you…
If you are not presenting this week:
• Check the GoPost before class and think
about how you might answer the
question.
• In class, we will have small group
discussions of the question, structured
like the one we are doing today.
• During the week, you are responsible
for making 3 response posts to any of
the 4-7 questions presented during the
week. They are informal, but should be
more than a sentence or two in length.
Of course, you are encouraged to
participate more.
• Check back on discussions and follow a
long. Hopefully they will help you
generate ideas for papers and for your
own question day.
1.
Today
We are going to
practice in-class
small group
discussion with
selections from
Ryan.
We will look at a passage together to
make up good discussion question.
2. Join a group of 4 [and only 4] classmates.
3. Pick up a paragraph sheet.
4. Elect someone to read the paragraph
aloud.
5. As it is being read, everyone else will write
down questions they have. Any kind of
questions will do, just write as many as
you come up with.
6. Discuss the questions you came up with.
Answer the objective ones, converse over
the more ambiguous ones.
7. Distill what you feel is the essential
information to get out of the paragraph.
8. Elect someone to explain what you found
to the class.
9. As a group, come up with one, textuallybased question.
10. Elect someone with legible handwriting to
print it on the BACK of the paragraph
sheet.
11. Pass your sheet to the group to your right.
• “Since immersion depends on the vividness of the
display, its factors are closely related to the devices
that lead to realism in representation. A factor that
comes immediately to mind is the projection of a
three-dimensional picture. The introduction of
perspective in painting took a first step toward
immersion by creating a sense of depth that integrated
the spectator into the pictorial space. But because the
medium of painting simulates depth on a flat surface
the spectator cannot break through the canvas and
walk into the pictorial space. In the visual displays of
VR the barrier disappears--there is no material plane of
projection--and the user feels surrounded by a virtual
world which can be freely "navigated" (as a standard
metaphor of networking describes movement in
cyberspace).”
What strong, textuallybased questions can we ask
about this passage?
For Ryan…
• What does it mean to be “immersed” in a
narrative?
• How is “immersion” generated in literary
texts?
• Are there any objections to her concept of
“immersion”? If so, what?
• Bonus: Which of these questions would make
for the best discussion?
Practicing small groups.
All right, you are in
small groups and
you have a
question. Now,
how do you do
small groups?
• We will do small groups
everyday. The day’s
presenter[s] will offer their
questions.
• You will have between 10
and 15 minutes to discuss
the question with your
group.
• Then we will open to large
group discussion.
• Structuring class this way
should help us begin large
group discussions with
something to say already.
Group Roles.
• To help structure discussion,
your daily group members will
take on the following roles.
• These roles are not limitations
as much as responsibilities,
things that successful groups
will get done. You should not
feel limited to doing ONLY
your assigned role, but are
responsible for making sure
your job is accomplished.
• Everyone is a discussant on
top of their other role.
Roles
1. Facilitator/Spokesperson
2. Devil’s Advocate
3. Scribe/notetaker
4. Researcher/quotefinder
Discussion Facilitator
– Keep discussion moving by asking questions.
– Periodically summarize statements, discussion.
• “ok, so you are saying, this… , right?”
– Ask questions.
– Make sure everyone can participate.
– Try to make it so that all points can be heard.
– On occasions when your group needs to be
represented publicly, you are the representative.
Devil’s Advocate
– Be contrary to be contrary. It is your job to make
sure that the other side is addressed.
– Even if you don’t agree, try to think of counter
arguments, ways to complicate what seems
obvious.
– Its your job to go against the flow! Its your job to
resist groupthink!
– That said, concede when necessary.
Scribe / Notetaker
– Your job is to take thorough enough notes for your
group that everyone else can concentrate on their
tasks.
– If writing needs to be done, you are the one to do
it.
– Your group will decide if notes will be distributed,
it is your job to share what you write down.
Researcher
– If something needs to be looked up, you are the
one to do it.
– Discussion can sometimes come to a halt as
people look for passages to support a point. You
can help discussion by looking up the supporting
passages while discussion continues to flow.
– You are also to make sure that points are
supported by solid textual evidence. Where
missing, please supply.
Return to large group.
• What did you all talk about?
For Monday
• Read Don Quixote and, if you have time, it
would be a good idea to start Madame
Bovary.
• If you are doing your question, write a good
one to start us off right!