IEP Direct

Level 7 Directed Studies
Jeannie Beard, PhD
T/TH 1:20-2:50     BB 380     jbeard2@kennesaw.edu

Level 7 Directed Studies Syllabus

Course Description

This course will allow students to explore special topics within their chosen major. Students will research the key issues and new developments that are current in their field of study and will then spend time discussing these topics with their classmates, developing projects and presentations, and acquiring a level of expertise on a particular subject that is important and relevant to their chosen disciplines and future careers.

Course Objectives

Students will:

• Explore the key current issues related to their major field of study
• Conduct research in their chosen subject area
• Explore career paths in their discipline
• Develop the skill to write annotations & discuss academic research
• Develop an understanding of multimodal composition
• Practice presentation skills
• Experience the process of planning, organizing, and participating in a conference setting
• Establish a complex understanding of a specific topic of interest within their chosen discipline

Major Assignments and Grading Procedure

Participation & Class Discussion 5%

5 Sources 10%                            Due Oct 28

Annotation 10%                           Due Oct 30

Multimodal Project 25%             Due Nov 13

Short Lesson w/Video  10%      Due Nov 18

Conference Planning & Presentation: 30%

• Planning: Theme, Name, Fliers, Agenda       Due Dec 4
• Conference Presentations       Due Dec 9

Level 7 Directed Studies Schedule

Week 1

Day 1: Instructor Introduction

My name is Jeannie Parker Beard and I am an instructor of English at Kennesaw State University. I have taught English Composition at Kennesaw State for over three years. I am a native of Kennesaw, Georgia, and my parents still live in the home where I grew up right down the road from the university. I have two degrees from Kennesaw State, the first is a Bachelor’s of Arts in English, and the second is a Master’s of Arts in Professional Writing (MAPW). While working on my master’s, I had an internship tutoring ESL students at Kennesaw State’s ESL Study and Tutorial Center, located on the fourth floor of the Sturgis Library. In 2012, I completed my PhD in English at Georgia State University. My areas of specialization are Rhetoric and Composition and new media studies. My research interests are in the use of technology in the English classroom.

I also enjoy making videos for educational as well as personal purposes. I believe that we can use multimedia technologies and social media to inspire more active and engaged global citizens and a create better future for us all. My hobbies are reading, writing, watching documentaries, cooking, hiking and camping. I love to be outdoors. I have been married to my college sweetheart for almost ten years and we have a three-year-old son and a young dog with brown and black stripes. I love organic food, meeting new people, and spending time with my friends and family. I look forward to getting to know my new students in the Intensive English Program here at my alma mater, Kennesaw State University.

Week 1: Brainstorming & Research

Students will brainstorm about important issues in their discipline. They will then conduct research using the library databases as well as online sources to find credible sources related to their topics.

Students will narrow their topics to a specific focus and determine some of the positive and negative issues surrounding their chosen subject. They will find five current and relevant sources.

• 3 journal articles
• 1 book,
• 1 website
• 1 source of their choice

Oct 21: First day: What is a directed study? What are your majors? What are the careers in your field? What are the most important areas of interest in your field? What are the most important issues in your field? Brainstorming and Research

Oct 23: The CRAAP Test; Finding sources and narrowing topics

Week 2: Annotations & Discussions

 Students will collect, review and analyze sources to determine the most relevant and important and determine what five sources they will use. They will then write one annotation for the best source of the five. They should be able to discuss the content and major points of the other four sources during class discussion.

 Oct 28: List of 5-10 Sources Due; Reading, Analyzing, and Summarizing Sources; Writing Annotations

Oct 30: Annotation Due; Class discussion of research/sources

 Week 3: Modes of Communication

Discussion of the modes of communication and persuasion, the rhetorical triangle, and analysis of various examples of multimodal communication in different types of media: visual arts, news, advertising, music, film etc.

Nov 4: What are the modes of communication? What is rhetoric? How do we communicate and persuade effectively? Brainstorming ideas

Nov 6: Examples of multimodal presentations; Working on multimodal presentations; Good design principles for presentations

Multimodal Project Overview

Mid-session, students will create a multimodal project related to their chosen subjects and present these projects to the class. In these multimodal projects, students will incorporate three modes of communication, and students may choose to present important information related to their topics using any combination of text, still images, audio or video clips, color, font choice, spatial design, even smell or taste.

Examples of multimodal projects include but are not limited to:

• PowerPoint, Haiku Deck, Prezi Presentations (must include spoken presentation, pictures and text, and follow good design principles)
• Infographic,Piktochart, Visual Graphic etc. with spoken presentation
• Visual art performance with spoken presentation
• Painting or Sculpture with spoken presentation
• Picture Collage with spoken presentation
• Original Video (2-3 minutes) with at least 1 minute of voice over or speaking
• Food? Drink? with spoken presentation

Students will have the opportunity to create a work of art or a more traditional presentation for this multimedia assignment. Creative expression of the complex issues surrounding their topics will be encouraged. The multimodal assignment will be open to interpretation as long as they are conveying the important points surrounding their issue and using at least three modes of communication.

Week 4: Multimodal Project

Nov 11: Multimodal Project Due

Nov 13: Multimodal Projects Due

 Weeks 5-6: Individual Lessons & Videos

Students will present a short lesson for their topics to share with the class. They will choose a 5-10 minute video (TED talk, short documentary, YouTube video etc.) relevant to their topic to show to the class. As part of the class lesson, you may choose to organize a class activity that relates to the topics. The activity may be a short group exercise, a game of trivia, a writing prompt, or any other type of simple activity that will encourage their classmates to think critically and ask and answer questions about their special topics.

• Short Lesson: 3-5 minutes
• Video: 5-15 minutes (NO MORE THAN 15 MINUTES FOR VIDEO)

Short Lesson Total: 20 minutes

Nov 18: Individual Lessons & Activities Due

Nov 20: Individual Lessons & Activities

Week 6: Lessons & Videos

 Nov 25:

Weeks 7-8: Final Conference Presentations

In the final week of class, students will be placed in panels and will organize an academic conference. They may choose to work on group presentations that show how their special topics intersect and overlap for this project, or they may work alone within their panel. They may write a paper to present, but each panel must have a visual presentation that will coincide with the topics being presented. We will develop ideas and format for the conference together as a class, and students will determine how to group their panels and present their topics. They will design a conference flier and agenda, and will come up with an overall theme and appropriate name for the conference that will be held during the final week of class.

Dec 2: Linking topics, creating discussion panels, brainstorming conference theme

Dec 4: Conference Description, Name, Flier and Agenda Due

The Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce: http://www.brazilcham.com/

 Week 8

 Dec 9: Conference Day 1

Dec 10: Conference Day 2