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Senior
Seminar
|
Vermeer: Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid |
| capstone . . . 2 : the
crowning point : most important element : decisive factor
: CLIMAX, ACME (Webster�s Third New International Dictionary) |
seminar . . .
1.a A course of study pursued by a group of advanced college
or graduate students who do independent research under the guidance of a
professor. . . 2. A meeting for an exchange of ideas.
(Webster's II New Riverside Dictionary) |
Senior Seminar (Eng. 300) serves as the capstone course for English majors at Illinois State University. The course is designed to conclude the major by providing opportunities for students to reflect on what they have already learned and accomplished in the field of English Studies and to extend their learning and accomplishments into several intensive and rewarding new projects.
This version of Senior Seminar challenges you to undertake, individually and collaboratively, a cluster of related inquiries into questions such as:
What is the character and function in the world of English Studies as an academic discipline? (In other words, what are English Studies and what do people do with them?)
What distinct characteristics and dynamics can we document and describe in English Studies as taught and learned at Illinois State University?
What have you learned and accomplished in your work as an English major at Illinois State University?
How does your experience of English Studies at ISU compare to the "Goals for the English Major"?
With what aspect(s) of English Studies do you most closely identify or ally yourself?
In the world beyond ISU, what uses might you make of what you've learned here? How might what you've learned help (or hinder) you in working toward your personal, professional, and political (and ethical, artistic, pedagogical, etc.) goals?
We will answer these and other questions by reading, thinking, writing, listening, and speaking with each other.
In this course, you will compose a portfolio within a portfolio.
The first portfolio is comprised mainly of projects you have already completed during your time as an English major at ISU. You will study, interpret, and evaluate the work you've written and collected with the same care and attention you would devote to reading Foucault's Discipline and Punish or Whitman's Leaves of Grass, endeavoring as you read to discover and compose insights into what you have learned and how you have developed as an English major. The reading and reflection you do here will yield an analytical and/or narrative account of your intellectual, moral, spiritual, and/or political growth.
The other portfolio you will compose contains the one described above. In addition to doing the work explained in the preceding paragraph, you will:
Conduct a significant (20-30 pages) individual research project focused on one aspect of English Studies that you wish to pursue further
Read and respond in writing to a variety of texts (Response Journal)
Present to the class a poem of your choice (Poetry Presentation)
Present to the class your major project while it is still in process (Project Presentation)
Collaborate to "map" the significant values and beliefs articulated and enacted by faculty and students in the ISU Department of English
Publish an English Studies Sourcebook composed of your individual and collaborative research projects
Participate actively in class discussions and activities (Class Participation)
Several important features will shape our work together.
I feel very strongly that people learn best when they work as a learning team. This means that every member of this class should not only know the names and contact information of every other member of the group, but also know everyone's: topics for the various course projects; special resources and talents they bring to the group; special needs and areas of interest. The concept and practice of the learning team also places heavy value on class participation, including attendance, preparation, and a high level of professional engagement while in class.
We will collectively compose and publish an online book in the form of a wiki. The book will be a "source book" whose chief audience will be prospective, new, and experienced scholars in English Studies. Everyone in the course will contribute a chapter to the book. Shortly after the end of the semester the book should be available on the WWW. (I may need some volunteer technical assistants to bring this plan to fruition.) Contributing to the source book is a requirement of this course.
Pedagogically, politically, and philosophically, I object to tests and lectures. Class meetings of this course will therefore primarily feature discussions of readings and issues, sharing of entries in your response journals, additional activities to spark further learning, and workshops in which you and your classmates seek responses to your own course projects and offer responses to others'. Students will also make presentations to the group to inform us about their special areas of interest and expertise within English Studies. Outside of class, students should expect to read and write quite a bit and to produce written research of the kinds listed above. Evaluation of each student's performance will be based on class participation and a course portfolio submitted in the final weeks of the course.
Check the links below for more information.
| Calendar | Readings | Evaluation | Eng 300 Webboard |
| Major Course Requirements | Course Portfolio | Prof. Broad's Teaching Page | Prof. Broad's Home Page |
This web page is authored by Bob Broad. It was last updated on August 20, 2009.
The URL for this page is
http://lilt.ilstu.edu/rlbroad/teaching/300/300.htm
Copyright 2009 Bob Broad