Course Requirements & Expectations

Attendance and Active Participation

There is no assigned reading for this course, but just as with any graduate seminar, its success depends on your participation. As with any graduate course, you are expected to arrive on time for, attend, and actively participate in every class period, barring emergencies or illness. If you are someone for whom participation in class is difficult, I am here to help you work on these skills. Please talk to me about strategies for increasing your participation.

While I expect you to attend every class session (barring illness or emergency), life sometimes gets in the way. Missing one class session is ok, and if you know you will be absent on any given day, please let me know. If you expect to miss more than one class session this semester, or if you find yourself in a situation where you will miss more than one class session, please make sure to communicate this with me. This communication is about building accountability as a member of our class community, and it’s also about keeping the communication channels open so that we can work together to ensure you stay up to date in this class and in your other classes.

S/U Grading

This course is graded on a “Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory” scale. To receive a “Satisfactory” grade, you will:

  • Attend and participate in all class sessions but one, barring illness or emergency;
  • Complete your journal review presentation;
  • Meet with me at least once by the end of week 11 of the semester (I will set aside extra time during weeks 10 and 11 for this purpose, but I am happy to meet with you at any time before this, too).

Communication

Please communicate with me if things come up about your experience of the course and/or your first semester, especially if you find yourself overwhelmed. I see it as part of my job as Director of Graduate Studies to help you adjust to and navigate graduate school and to the program, insofar as I am able. I am happy to meet with you in office hours or in a meeting outside of office hours.

Digital Infrastructure

We will make use of multiple online systems and programs in this course: a course site, a Canvas site, and Zoom.

  • Course site: We will use this course site to manage course information and our schedule. You will find an online version of our course calendar here (including the most up-to-date version of reading assignments and due dates), as well as an online version of our course syllabus. You will also find all course assignment sheets here, as well as links to online materials.

  • Canvas: Course materials, such as a pdf version of the syllabus, are available via our Canvas site. You will also be able to access our individual meeting Zoom link (see below) via Canvas.

  • Zoom: I will hold office hours in person, but for meetings outside of office hours, I can meet with you either in person or on Zoom. If we meet on Zoom, we will utilize a standing Zoom link for our meeting. You can find this link via our Canvas site. To meet with me on Zoom:

    1. From our Canvas site, click on “Zoom” in the left menu.
    2. This will take you to a page where you will see our standing class Zoom link (which is titled “ENGL 6000 Colloquium for Entering Students (2024FA)”). Click “Join” to join the meeting.
    3. These meetings will not be recorded. I have enabled a waiting room for these meetings, which you will enter first when signing on. I will then let you into the Zoom room. If I do not let you in right away, this means I am meeting with another student.

Accommodations and Accessibility

It is important to me that you can access this course. If you anticipate or experience barriers to actively participating in or completing your work in this class due to a disability or for any other reason, please let me know early in the semester so that we can discuss options. While I do want you to communicate with me, it is not necessary to divulge the nature of your disability or personal experience.

Some resources that might be useful include: