Computer-Mediated Communication
(COM-3365 sections 01 and 03)
Fall 2009
Instructor: Dr. Robert J. Trader / Office: 332d Lewis Recitation HallEmail: / Phone: 410-386-4604
Office Hours: I am generally available by email between 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday and by luck on Saturdays and Sundays.If I haven’t responded to your email within 12 hours, then either resend the email (since technology sometimes fails us) or stop by my office.Be sure to read the Email Policy below.Face-to-face meetings can be scheduled based upon student request and instructor availability.
Course Section/Times: COM-3365-01 and COM-3365-03, MWF,11:30A.M. - 12:30 P.M. (Lewis Recitation Hall, Room 229 [computing labs as needed]).
Course Website:
ABOUT THE COURSE:
This course examines how ICT (information and communication technology) fit into modern life. Students will be exposed to a wide variety of hardware, software, and ideas about how hardware and software fit into human life. Specifically, the course addresses:
Media choice and media/technological/information literacy (how to match media with message),
Mediated relationships (human relationships via machine and human relationships with machines),
Challenges that ICT overcome (distance, portability, access, message construction…)
Challenges that ICT pose (crime, privacy, quality, problematic usage, expense, access…),
What it means to be ICT literate in this day and age,
How to speak tech speak.
COURSE MATERIALS (TEXTBOOKS AND READINGS):
There are no outside materials that students are required to purchase for this course. However, the reading assignments for this course are digitally availablevia the Internetvia links from the course website. Students are responsible for obtaining and reading these materials as required.
It is recommended that all Communication majors purchase their own copy of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association: Fifth Edition(2001) since APA Style use is required of all scholarly work in our discipline.
EMAIL POLICY:
Outside of class, email is the preferred form of communication with Dr. Trader. To ensure that your emails to Dr. Trader are responded to as quickly as possible, please perform the following required actions:
- Include the following in the “subject” field of the email exactly as follows: CMC. Emails from your course are automatically filtered to special folders that quickly receive Dr. Trader’s attention.
- In the body of the email, state your name and the topic to which your email refers. For example:
- Name: Ima Smartone
- Re: Homework 1
- Remember that email is not checked before 10 a.m. or after 10 p.m. and may not be checked on Saturdays or Sundays (except when assignments are due on a Monday).
- Keep in mind that no technology is 100% reliable. Always keep copies of the email(s) you have sent to Dr. Trader to verify that an attempt to communicate has indeed been made or an assignment has been sent.
HONOR CODE:
Students will adhere to the McDanielCollege honor code as defined on the honor code web page ( as well as in the Student Handbook. The following pledge is to be written out and signed on all exams, papers, and written assignments:
“I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this piece of work, nor have I knowingly tolerated any violation of the Honor Code.”
Failure to include the above written and signed pledge on exams, papers, or other written assignments will result in an automatic grade of “0” on that assignment.
ATTENDANCE & ASSIGNMENTS:
Students are expected to attend each class. If students do miss a class, they are personally responsible for obtaining any handouts, notes, or other materials or information disseminated in that class from a reliable classmate. Students with an unexcused absence (an excused absence is a death in the immediate family, personal illness, or attendance at a college related event or activity; an excused absence must be verifiable and must be accompanied by some form of credible documentation) will not be permitted to make up missed tests or quizzes or to hand in assignments. Students with unexcused absences will also lose that day’s class participation credit. Late unexcused assignments will not be graded and will automatically receive “0” points.
Assignments must always be submitted electronicallybefore the beginning of the class period in which they are due.Students should also print off a paper copy so that students can refer back to them during class discussions. Written assignments are to be typed and double spaced using Verdana set at 10 point, and must follow APA Style as appropriate for citations and formatting.
CELL PHONE POLICY:
Cell phones should not be visible during class, and should be turned off during class. If a cell phone is visible during a test, exam, or other type of graded assignment, the student will automatically receive a “0” score on that test, exam, or other type of graded assignment.
CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR:
Dr. Trader believes that learning is often the process of resolving internal conflict stemming from either internal or external pressures. An important part of this learning process is to be able to deal with conflict calmly and objectively. In other words, Dr. Trader does not expect everyone to hold hands and sing kumbaya all of the time. However, even when people do disagree, they still need to treat other people and their ideas with respect. In fact, scholarly work is essentially an argument for or against an idea that uses other people’s ideas and work as evidence or support for the claims being made.
Formal mechanisms have been developed for presenting opposing arguments in academia such as formal debates and formal discussions to neutralize innate potentially violent and/or abusive emotional reactions. “Formal” in this case means that there are rules in placeto ensure equitable airtime to all points of view. We will discuss in class how to deal with conflicting viewpoints as this is an important aspect of communication science.And thus, we will utilize various communication methods to voice conflicting viewpoints in class.
GENERAL GRADING CRITERIA:
The following general grading criteria adopted by Dr. Trader in this course are the college-wide grading standards advocated by CriticalThinking.org (
The Grade of A
High level performance implies excellence in thinking and performance within the domain of a subject and course, along with the development of a range of knowledge acquired through the exercise of thinking skills and abilities.
A level work is, on the whole, not only clear, precise, and well-reasoned, but insightful as well. Basic terms and distinctions are learned at a level which implies insight into basic concepts and principles.
The A-level student has internalized the basic intellectual standards appropriate to the assessment of his/her own work in a subject and demonstrates insight into self-evaluation.
The A-level student often raises important questions and issues, analyzes key questions and problems clearly and precisely, recognizes key questionable assumptions, clarifies key concepts effectively, uses language in keeping with educated usage, frequently identifies relevant competing points of view, and demonstrates a commitment to reason carefully from clearly stated premises in the subject, as well as marked sensitivity to important implications and consequences.
A-level work displays excellent reasoning and problem-solving within a field and works consistently at a high level of intellectual excellence.
The Grade of B
The grade of B implies sound thinking and performance within the domain of a subject and course, along with the development of a range of knowledge acquired through the exercise of thinking skills and abilities.
B level work is, on the whole, clear, precise, and well-reasoned., but does not have depth of insight. Basic terms and distinctions are learned at a level which implies comprehension of basic concepts and principles.
The B-level student has internalized some of the basic intellectual standards appropriate to the assessment of his/her own work in a subject and demonstrates competence in self-evaluation.
The B-level student often raises questions and issues, analyzes questions and problems clearly and precisely, recognizes some questionable assumptions, clarifies key concepts competently , typically uses language in keeping with educated usage, sometimes identifies relevant competing points of view, and demonstrates the beginnings of a commitment to reason carefully from clearly stated premises in a subject, as well as some sensitivity to important implications and consequences. B-level work displays sound reasoning and problem-solving with in a field and works consistently at a competent level of intellectual performance.
The Grade of C
The grade of C implies mixed thinking and performance within the domain of a subject and course, along with some development of a range of knowledge acquired through the exercise of thinking skills and abilities.
C level work is inconsistently clear, precise, and well-reasoned; moreover, it does not display depth of insight or even consistent competence. Basic terms and distinctions are learned at a level which implies the beginnings of, but inconsistent comprehension of, basic concepts and principles.
The C-level student has internalized a few of the basic intellectual standards appropriate to the assessment of his/her own work in a subject, but demonstrates inconsistency in self-evaluation.
The C-level student sometimes raises questions and issues, sometimes analyzes questions and problems clearly and precisely, recognizes some questionable assumptions, clarifies some concepts competently , inconsistently uses language in keeping with educated usage, sometimes identifies relevant competing points of view, but does not demonstrate a clear commitment to reason carefully from clearly stated premises in a subject, nor consistent sensitivity to important implications and consequences.
C-level work displays inconsistent reasoning and problem-solving within a field and works, at best, at a competent level of intellectual performance.
The Grade of D
The grade of D implies poor thinking and performance within the domain of a subject and course. On the whole, the student tries to get through the course by means of rote recall, attempting to acquire knowledge by memorization rather than through comprehension and understanding.
The student is not developing critical thinking skills and understandings as requisite to understanding course content. D-level work represents thinking that is typically unclear, imprecise, and poorly reasoned. The student is achieving competence only on the lowest order of performance. Basic terms and distinctions are often incorrectly used and reflect a superficial or mistaken comprehension of, basic concepts and principles.
The D-level student has not internalized the basic intellectual standards appropriate to the assessment of his/her own work in a subject and does poorly in self-evaluation. The D-level student rarely raises questions and issues, superficially analyzes questions and problems, does not recognize his/her assumptions, only partially clarifies concepts , rarely uses language in keeping with educated usage, rarely identifies relevant competing points of view, and shows no understanding of the importance of a commitment to reason carefully from clearly stated premises in a subject,.
The D-level student is insensitive to important implications and consequences. D-level work displays poor reasoning and problem-solving within a field and works, at best, at a low level of intellectual performance.
The Grade of F
The student tries to get through the course by means of rote recall, attempting to acquire knowledge by memorization rather than through comprehension and understanding. The student is not developing critical thinking skills and understandings as requisite to understanding course content.
F-level work represents thinking that is regularly unclear, imprecise, and poorly reasoned. The student is not achieving competence in his/her academic work. Basic terms and distinctions are regularly incorrectly used and reflect a mistaken comprehension of, basic concepts and principles.
The F-level student has not internalized the basic intellectual standards appropriate to the assessment of his/her own work in a subject and regularly mis-evaluates his/her own work. The F-level student does not raise questions or issues, does not analyze questions and problems, does not recognize his/her assumptions, does not clarify concepts, does not use language in keeping with educated usage, confuses his/her point of view with the TRUTH, and shows no understanding of the importance of a commitment to reason carefully from clearly stated premises in a subject.
The F-level student is oblivious to important implications and consequences. F-level work displays incompetent reasoning and problem-solving within a field and consistently poor intellectual performance.
SPECIFIC GRADING CRITERIA FOR THIS COURSE:
A = 450 ~ 500 pointsB = 400 ~ 449 points
C = 350 ~ 399 points
D = 300 ~ 349 points
F < 299 points / Midterm Exam = 100 points
Group Presentations = 100 points
Final Paper/Presentation = 100 points
Final Exam = 200 points
GRADED ASSIGNMENTS:
I. Exams(300 points max)
The midterm exam is worth 100 points and the cumulative final exam is worth 200 points. The course is information intensive, so be prepared to know a lot of material. The exams are challenging, but not impossible. Reviews will be held in advance of the exams.
II. Group Presentations(100 points max)
You and your group will give 4 in-class presentationsduring the course of the semester worth 25 points each on some ICT chosen from the list Dr. Trader will distribute during the beginning of the semester. Each presentation will be 10 minutes long with adequate time for questions from the audience/Dr. Trader. Presentations are self/peer-graded by group. Forms will be provided for your self/peer-evaluations.
III. Final Paper(100 points max)
You will be asked to write 10 pages of a 40-page paper (for a 5-member group; one person acts as coordinator for the whole paper and is assessed based on how the paper flows together and adheres to APA Style formatting) and to give a brief presentation on some aspect of one of the following 6 topics:
1. e-church
2. e-health
3. e-politics
4. e-learning
5. e-language
6. e-gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation
The paper should 1) specify the topic, 2) provide a rationale for why the topic is important, 3) cite at least 30 research articles on the topic (primarily from the JCMC ( and 4) be formatted in APA Style. It is recommended that you share information/resources with the other people working on the topic using the ICT discussed in class. You are also asked to specify each person’s contribution to the paper.