ENGWR 303: Argumentative Writing and Critical Thinking through Literature Through the study of complex literary works in all major genres, this course offers instruction in analytical, critical, and argumentative writing; critical thinking; research strategies; information literacy; and proper documentation. Close reading skills and the aesthetic qualities of literature are also studied. A minimum of 6,000 words of formal writing will be required. Attendance at readings, plays, and/or films may be required. (C-ID ENGL 110; C-ID ENGL 120)
I am not scheduled to teach ENGWR 303 in the near future.
Sections: TBD
Mandatory face-to-face orientation will be held the Saturday, before classes begin from 9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. in RHS 311 (online orientation option available).
It is most likely that if I teach this class in the future, it will be as an online class during the summer session.
Are you ready to take an online class? If you aren't sure, you might want to take SCC's brief, "Student Success in Online Learning" course.. This course is free and publicly available, so enroll today! The textbooks for this class can be purchased through the campus bookstore or through any online retailer such as Amazon or Chegg. We will be using the following textbooks in this class:
One week before class begins, all students enrolled in the class and on the waitlist will receive an email from me with directions on how to complete the online orientation. All students must complete either the online orientation the week before class begins or attend the scheduled face-to-face orientation the Saturday before class begins (listed above).
If you have already registered for this course, please click here to be forwarded to the district Canvas site where you will be prompted to login. One week before the class begins, you will be able to access the Canvas site for this course as well as the syllabus and other information.
As this is an online class, we will only meet one time, at the beginning of the semester for an orientation meeting (unless you complete the orientation online!). After that, all of the class is online through the Los Rios online learning environment, Canvas.
Microsoft Word is the only program that you will need to purchase if you don't already have it. You can get it for free through this link. It can also be purchased through the California Community College Foundation for a significantly reduced rate (I believe it is $40 for the entire Office Suite which normally costs around $300). In either case, you will need to provide a current student/staff id. I have not used the free version word processing program that is available at www.openoffice.com, but I have had several students use it, and they were very pleased with the suite of programs. Other programs are required, but they are free applications that are probably already on your computer (Acrobat Reader, etc).
The class is typical for any ENGWR 303 class where you can expect to spend about two-and-a-half hours online "in class" each week and an additional two to four hours doing homework or writing papers. The general report I get from my online students is that they like the class structure, planning and assignments and that they recommend it to their friends. I try to make one thing clear though: for some reason there is the impression that an online class is somehow easier than a traditional, face-to-face class, and this simply isn't true (at least for an English class). Certainly there are some instructors in some departments that teach online classes because they can create the course in such a way where they don't have to do anything. For my classes, and I know the same is true for the other English instructors at City College who teach online, my online students learn the same amount as traditional students, but because we have to use a virtual environment, more work is required to meet the same learning goals and objectives.
Yes, online is more work.
Having said that, it isn't unmanageable and I have to do just as much more work as my students, so I am keenly aware of when the workload gets too high. In those cases, I adjust things accordingly.
If you would like to talk to some of my current online students about their experiences in the class, I can forward your email address to them. Just let me know.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.