The pandemic and social upheavals of 2020 have had an impact on many aspects of our lives and have challenged us to be more compassionate and understanding people. This semester my objective as a faculty member is to provide a high quality course for all of you that can work for you in whatever situation -- physical, geographic or personal -- you may be in. The course has been redesigned with flexible modules and channels of communication in mind, not only because I suspect they will be easier to manage in remote learning, but also because they represent some of the ways that information and media are changing in the world.
Our collective well-being this semester is very important. You are encouraged to keep an open channel of communication with the instructor about any issues that arise that make your completion of academic work difficult. There will be required small group meetings throughout the semester and virtual office hours open to all on demand.
Openness: One of the characteristics of the digital humanities is its open, public quality. Most of the work in this course you will be doing in a website you design yourself. It is an excellent opportunity to work on skills in web publishing. In past semesters, I have had students create a WordPress using NYU Hosting. In the remote F20 semester we will be using Google Sites as a replacement. If you have taken a course with me in the past and would like to continue with your NYU Hosting account, this will be possible. If you have another preferred method of web publishing (GitHub pages, or other blogs), let me know and we will see if it matches the coursework.
It is a new and interesting experience for students to work in the open, since it asks us to think about audience more than if we were only writing a paper for a single person to read. We will begin with a Site that is open to NYU and then later open it up to the world. At the end of the semester once all is graded, you can keep or delete your work.
Attendance and participation: Attendance and participation are a part an essential part of the final grade in any college course, and yet in a remote semester it is important to be clear about how those attendance and participation grades will be calculated. I recognize that it is difficult for us all to be participating in different channels. At the beginning of the term there will be more synchronous as we get ourselves going, after which time we will be tapering off to more asynchronous exercises, smaller group meetings and Chat. As a general rule, your participation will be assessed through quick writing (in the DHS discussion room of Chat) as well as in the smaller group meetings. Each group will decide if we have those using Zoom or Chat.
Attendance Policy: There will be no specific rule about the number of courses you can miss. This being said, with the different channels established for the course, every student should be able to participate weekly at their own pace.
Other Course policies
If you encounter any technical problems (can't sign into a zoom call, get booted out before the end, have computer troubles), inform me in writing in a direct message in Chat.
If you are falling behind or are encountering any personal issues that impede your course performance, please inform me in writing. Staying in communication is the key. Please note that sensitive personal issues or discussions of grades should be addressed in email or on Zoom.
In remote instruction, each week's material has been carefully documented and described on the course site. It's your responsibility to ask questions if you are not able to understand something or if you are encountering difficulties.
Integrity: Academic integrity and honesty are central components of a student’s education and they do not change in a remote semester. Ethical conduct maintained in an academic context will be taken eventually into a student’s professional career. Academic honesty is essential to a community of teachers and learners. Anything less than total commitment to honesty undermines the efforts of the entire academic community.
Since we will be making adequate use of the web, we will be learning new ways to cite the work of others that are appropriate for web-based writing. I encourage you to make full use of those forms of citation to make your writing richer.
NYU Abu Dhabi expects its students to adhere to the highest possible standards of scholarship and academic conduct. Students should be aware that engaging in behaviors that violate the standards of academic integrity will be subject to review and may face the imposition of penalties in accordance with the procedures set out in the NYUAD policy.