EN 241 - Writing in Digital Spaces

Description
EN 241 seeks to address two main questions. The first is philosophical: What does it mean to write in today’s world? To explore this question, we analyze the spaces created by technology and how these spaces change what we write, where we write, how we write, and to whom. The second element of EN 241 is practical and seeks to address this question: What do we need to know in order to write in today’s digital spaces? We endeavor to build skills that allow us to communicate successfully in a contemporary, digitized world.

Credit Hours: 3
Contact Hours: 3
Prerequisites/Other Requirements: EN 101 (C or Higher)
English Prerequisite(s): None
Math Prerequisite(s): None
Course Corequisite(s): EN 101
Academic Program Prerequisite: None
Consent to Enroll in Course: No Department Consent Required
Dual Enrollment Allowed?: Yes
Number of Times Course can be taken for credit: 1
Programs Where This Course is a Requirement:
None

Other Courses Where This Course is a Prerequisite: None
Other Courses Where this Course is a Corequisite: None
Other Courses Where This course is included in within the Description: None

General Education Requirement:
None
General Education Learner Outcomes (GELO):
NA
Course Learning Outcomes:

Explain the purpose, uses, and tools of digital writing.
Analyze the role of context, audience, purpose, and ethics, including accessibility, copyright, and AI, when composing digitally.
Evaluate how digital writing shapes and reflects cultural values across communities, platforms, and audiences.
Apply rhetorical, visual, and design principles, including multimedia and data visualization, to enhance meaning in digital texts.
Create and adapt digital content across genres and platforms (e.g., websites, podcasts, social media, promotional materials)
Reflect on how modality and design choices reinforce a text’s central message and rhetorical purpose.

Course Outline:
This course revolves around analyzing the elements of composition as they pertain to the vast digital landscape. As students read and analyze digital texts from a wide range of cultures, periods, purposes, and intended audiences, discussions will include:

I. Digital Rhetoric

A. How digital environments impact reading and writing practices

B. Visual literacy: interpreting, negotiating, and making meaning from an image; images are cultural artifacts

C. Technological literacy: the ability to effectively use technological tools to understand and communicate information; technological tools are cultural artifacts

D. Digital artifacts reflecting and shaping cultural values

II. Design Principles

A. Proximity

B. Alignment

C. Repetition

D. Contrast

E. Color

III. Audience Analysis

A. Language

B. Tone

C. Style

D. Cultural Discourse

IV. Content and Context

A. Identity theory (gender, race, class, and more)

B. Subjectivity

C. Representation

D. Various Spaces & Associated Community Cultures

E. Universal Design

F. Ethics of Authorship

Approved for Online and Hybrid Delivery?:
Yes
Instructional Strategies:
Facilitated discussion: 30-60%

Technology use: 20-50%

Team work: 20-50%

In-class writing: 10-30%

Oral reports/short presentation: 10-30%

Lecture/Modeling: 0-20%
Mandatory Course Components:
Over the course of the semester, students will compose on average 8,000-12,000 words of formal and informal writing. As a demonstration of their learning, students will produce a final project, composed digitally, in which they apply the concepts explored throughout the course. Students will also present, in some form, a defense of their digital writing choices, focusing their presentation on how they applied course concepts.

Projects may include:

a digital portfolio/blog
digital storytelling
varied compositions for assorted digital spaces
a final project or presentation that analyzes how one of the following concepts is revealed, complicated, and/or brings meaning to a digital community: identity, subjectivity, representation, community culture, universal design, and the ethics of authorship
a service learning project in which students use digital writing

Equivalent Courses:
None

Accepted GRCC Advanced Placement (AP) Exam Credit: None
AP Min. Score: NA
Name of Industry Recognize Credentials: None

Course prepares students to seek the following external certification:
No
Course-Specific Placement Test: None
Course Aligned with ARW/IRW Pairing: N/A

Mandatory Department Assessment Measures:
None

GRCC Course Type:
Elective: Expands learning opportunities for degree seeking students. May or may not be required for students in a specific GRCC program.
Course Format:
Lecture - 1:1
Total Lecture Hours Per Week: 3
People Soft Course ID Number: 104778
Course CIP Code: 23.01
Maximum Course Enrollment: 25
Course Software Utilized: None.

School: School of Liberal Arts
Department: English
Discipline: EN
First Term Valid: Fall 2017 (8/1/2017)
1st Catalog Year: 2017-2018
Faculty Credential Requirements:
Master’s Degree (GRCC general requirement)
Faculty Credential Requirement Details:
None

Major Course Revisions: N/A
Last Revision Date Effective: 20260219T15:30:43
Course Review & Revision Year: 2030-2031