Assignment 1: The E-mail Listserv Assignment
EngC 1011 University Writing and Critical Reading
Kevin L. Callahan
EngC 1011 Writing Instructor
call0031@tc.umn.edu
(612) 623-7685
Educational Goals:
Writers need to practice writing regularly and should be able to write well in a variety of public forums. They also need to know how to address diverse audiences. Instead of requiring students to write regularly in a private journal, the EngC section 15 e-mail listserv is a kind of informal student-run "public journal." Writing a minimum of at least one weekly email to the section 15 listserv is a requirement of this course and is an integral part of your participation grade. The first email (introducing yourself to the listserv) is worth 10 points. Each weekly email thereafter is worth one point towards your participation grade (i.e. one point each week). In the "regards" area of your email (the subject heading) please start off by writing "EngC Section 15" so that we all can locate them quickly (I often receive 50-100 emails per day). Your weekly email can be sent in at any time during the week but it must be sent in before the start of class on Tuesday to be counted as participation in the listserv portion of the class for that week. Writing on the listserv is informal and should be fun. It is practice writing. Do not worry about spelling. You can use emoticons. Do not make it a task! Be interesting! No flame wars!
Your first e-mail listserv writing assignment is simply designed to allow everyone to introduce themselves and get to know and reinforce each other's names and interests. All psychological studies show that before people work together, they must have some time to get to know each other. This assignment will also give you an incentive to initialize your University of Minnesota e-mail account early in the semester and familiarize you with the EngC 1011 section 15 e-mail listserv. The e-mail listserv allows everyone in the class to communicate with the entire class without the expense of making photocopies (which can become very expensive with 25 students). E-mails to the listserv should be at least one paragraph in length i.e. that is the minimum length. They can be longer.
Instructions:
Your first required English Composition electronic mail (e-mail) assignment (you get 10 points for this!) is to initialize your free University of Minnesota email account if you have not already done so (i.e. you supply a password at http://www.umn.edu/initiate or call 612-626-4276) and introduce yourself in writing to the section 15 class listserv by sending an e-mail to
engc1011sec15@tc.umn.edu
In your introduction you should:
1. Indicate your name (and what you want to be called if you do not use your full registration name) (1 point)
2. Your year in school (1 point)
3. Your college and major, if any, or interests (e.g. College of Liberal
Arts, Anthropology (2 points)
4. Any prior writing experience (1 point)
5. Something about yourself. (5 points)
Your weekly email to the listserv should include one of the following topics:
1) Three things that you see as a weakness in your own writing that you would like to improve i.e. specific skills that you would like to get out of the course that you think would make you a better writer. This can be a question or a request for information e.g. "Help! I don't know how to use a spell checker!"
2) An interesting or entertaining personal experience you have had this semester e.g. "Why I dropped a bowling ball on my toe and cannot make it to Thursday's class: the gruesome details."
3) Your best experience ever of writing something and what, if anything, you learned from the experience. In other words, what piece of your own writing have you been particularly pleased with?
4) Your worst experience ever of writing something and what, if anything, you learned from the experience.
5) An example of good writing that you came across, where it can be found, and why you thought it was good.
6) A problem you were having this semester that you solved that you think would benefit other students.
7) A specific step-by-step description of "How To" do something that you think readers would benefit from e.g. How To:
a) use the grammar checker on Microsoft Word
b) make a website
c) make the perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwich
d) make a crossplatform CD
8) Your personal opinion and review of a movie, CD, or concert.
9) What kind of writing you like the most, or least, and why?
10) What makes for a great English or writing class and what makes a class "bomb?"
11) What do you think will be (or is) the most challenging aspect of writing at the college level?
12) Your favorite book or author, and why?
13) Your proudest accomplishment in your life.
14) A topic of similar interest to a writing class.
The weekly topics can be, but need not be, submitted to the listserv in the order suggested and you can repeat appropriate topics (e.g. you want to do a review of both a movie and a concert).
For those students who are completely unfamiliar with computers:
1) Do not panic!
2) Let your instructor know this on the first day.
3) Find someone (preferably someone who is not impatient) who is willing to sit down with you at a computer for a couple of hours and show you how to use one. That "someone" could be anyone - a friend, classmate, a tutor at the Student Writing Center, a computer lab attendant, anyone at Shepherd Computer Labs, or your writing instructor. Having someone tutor you in a one-to-one manner is the fastest and easiest way to learn how to use a computer. It is best if you sit at the computer and learn to use the mouse and type in all the commands and information and your "tutor" tells you how to turn on the computer, start programs, use email, and "surf the web." There are an immense number of people and resources available at this university to show you how to use a computer. There are free computer labs all over campus, training programs, lab assistants, writing tutors, and writing instructors waiting to help you. If you are in a computer lab and you become stuck you can even sometimes ask the person sitting next to you. Many of your classmates are very sophisticated in using computers.
Everyone will go through a period of frustration in learning something for the first time so do not be discouraged. No one is born with the knowledge of how to use a computer. Everyone who uses a computer today had to learn how to do it for the first time at some point in the past. Computers are not difficult to use with a little instruction. Some elementary school students are even using them to create websites. If you were admitted to the University of Minnesota you can learn how to use a computer. It will be an essential skill in your academic career.
3) Feel free to ask questions of your instructor and the computer lab assistants, particularly if you are "stumped" or are having any difficulties or are getting frustrated. We are here to help you.
Assigned : The First Day of Class.
Number of course points: 10 points for the first Listserv Assignment. One participation point per week thereafter.
DUE DATE: No later than one week after the first day of class i.e. Tuesday 1/23/2001 4pm. If you are unfamiliar with computers and e-mail and are having problems completing this assignment because of technical problems or are having difficulty finding someone to show you how to use email, let me know, and I will extend the date for the first assignment by one week.