Course Schedule & Readings

THEME 1: Digital citizenship in online communities

Week 1

Tu Aug 27: Welcome! What’s a First Year Seminar?

Review syllabus & course expectations, introducing Wheaton experience points

Th Aug 29: Mapping your digital practice in online communities

• Knowing the Difference Between Digital Skills and Digital Literacies, and Teaching Both
• How to participate in class discussion (locally-created handout)
• Visitors and Residents (captioned)

Week 2

Th Sep 5: Digital citizenship in online communities

• 10 Qualities of a Liberally Educated Person
• Introduction (p. 1-29) of It’s Complicated
• Listen: Burned at the Stake (auto-captioning on YouTube)
• Introducing reaction paper 1

Week 3

Tu Sep 10: Participation in online communities

• Why Captain Awkward Wanted A Different Kind Of Comments
• If your website’s full of assholes, it’s your fault 
• If your website’s full of anonymity, that might be okay

Th Sep 12: Digital Survival Skills & Introducing Portfolio Project

• EITHER Re: Your Recent Email to Your Professor OR How to Email Your Professor (without being annoying AF)
• Hello, Reader: from Artificial Unintelligence
• The Web We Need to Give Students

Week 4

Tu Sep 17: Your Community Web & Domains

Workshop with – Susan Friedman, Student Success Advisor
Reaction paper 1 due

• Beginner’s Guide: What is a Domain Name and How Do Domains Work?

Th Sep 19: Portfolio Project: WordPress Basics

• Install WordPress
• Selecting Themes
• Pages, posts, categories, tags
• Menus

THEME 2: Privacy and Security

Week 5

Tu Sep 24: Data Privacy

• Your favorite apps know more about you than you realize
• Your Data Were ‘Anonymized’? These Scientists Can Still Identify You
• Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They’re Not Keeping It Secret
• The House that Spied on Me
• Listen: The “Privacy Policy” Policy
• Explore ToS:DR

Th Sep 26: Security

At least one WEP must be completed in September.

• The Ten Immutable Laws of Security
• An In-Depth Guide to Choosing a Web Browser
• Creating Strong Passwords
• Researchers Demonstrate how to Bypass Face ID with glasses and tape
• Google Tracks Your Movements, Like it or not
• How to use Google Privacy Settings
• Optional
  • Encryption Works (excellent resource)
  • Guide to Reasonable Privacy on Android
  • How to Check and Tighten all Your iPhone’s Privacy Settings

Week 6

Th Oct 1: Your personal information online, targeted harassment & Introducing Reaction Paper 2

• Permanent Record (podcast)
• Online Harassment 2017 (Overview)
• What is Doxxing and Why Is It So Scary? 
• The Persistence of Misogyny: From the Streets, to Our Screens, to the White House (pages 7-16)
• Optional
  • Limitations of “Just Gender”: The Need for an Intersectional Reframing of Online Harassment Discourse and Research  
  • Mediated Misogynoir: Intersecting Race and Gender in Online Harassment

THEME 3: Critically Evaluating Online Content

Th Oct 3: Workshop: Foundations of Research

Janine Kuntz, Social Sciences Liaison, in Wallace Library’s Woolley Electronic Classroom

Week 7

Tu Oct 8: Misinformation and fact-checking part 1

• Fake news. It’s complicated
• How Misinformation Spreads—And Why We Trust It
• Check, Please Starter Course: Complete Lesson 1
• Optional
  • Students Fall for Misinformation Online. Is Teaching Them to Read Like Fact Checkers the Solution?

Th Oct 10: Misinformation and fact-checking part 2

Reaction paper 2 due

• Misinformation Has Created a New World Disorder
• Check, Please Starter Course: Complete Lessons 2-5
• Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers: select 2 things to try from Chapter 5: Field Guide

Week 8

Tu Oct 15: No class for fall break

Th Oct 17: Contextualizing the online environment & Introducing Reaction Paper 3

• Algorithms of Oppression: Chapter 5, “The Future of Knowledge in the Public”
• Memes to Movements (podcast)

Week 9

Tu Oct 22: Digital Survival Skills, Portfolio Project: Extending WordPress, & Introducing Alternate Format Reaction Paper

• Critically Evaluating Digital Tools (image only)
• Digital Media Studies: Media Creation Tools
• Digital Tools & Media
• Installing and Activating Plugins

INTERLUDE

Th Oct 24: Workshop: Ethical Use of Information

• Janine Kuntz, Social Sciences Liaison, in Wallace Library’s Woolley Electronic Classroom
• Schedule advising meeting next week

Week 10

Tu Oct 29: Mid-Semester Check-In

• Susan Friedman, Academic Advising
• Reaction paper 3 due
• SPECIAL: 5:30-7:00pm Dinner with President and Mrs. Hanno

THEME 4: You, Online

Th Oct 31: Who are you online? & Introducing biography assignment

At least one WEP should be completed in October

• Digital Identities: Six Key Selves
• A Domain of One’s Own in a Post-Ownership Society

Week 11

Tu Nov 5: Workshop: Career Services

• Matt Wheeler, Assistant Director
• Alternate format reaction paper due

Th Nov 7: Interrogating our online selves & Introducing Reflective Essay

• Virtually Me: A Toolbox about Online Self-Presentation

Week 12

Tu Nov 12: Whose site is it anyway? and Controlling visibility and feedback

• Do I own my domain if you grade it?
• Public Writing and Student Privacy
• WordPress: Content Visibility
• WordPress: Settings Discussion Screen

Th Nov 14: Workshop: finding images and media

• Kate Boylan and Thomas San Filippo
• Biography due

Week 13

Tu Nov 19: Digital Survival Skills and Portfolio Project

• TBD based on class and individual needs

Th Nov 21: Global Ed/Study Abroad and Introducing presentation and feedback assignment

Reflective Essay due

• Public Speaking and Class Presentations
• Convert Words to Minutes

Week 14

Tu Nov 26: Providing meaningful feedback

At least one WEP should be completed in November

• LISTEN: Critique: What can feedback look like?
• Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process

Th Nov 28 NO CLASS – THANKSGIVING

Week 15

Tu Dec 3: Presentations and feedback, day 1

All WEPs due

Th Dec 5: Presentations and feedback, day 2

Tu Dec 10: NO CLASS, Portfolio Project due