Course Schedule

Below is information on the schedule followed by the schedule itself for the course, subject to change (check regularly!)

Lesson Plans and Learning Modules

To view the lesson plan for the day (and to access possible activities/links/etc. for that day’s lesson), click the date in the schedule to navigate to the lesson plan webpage (e.g., click “Monday, February 1”). Lesson plans will be live by a few minutes before the beginning of class–though they may sometimes be live a few hours or a day earlier.

Typically (**but not always! check the schedule**) the rhythm of our course meetings will be a full class synchronous (i.e., at the same time) meeting on Mondays and a Learning Module on Wednesdays where you will be required to go through the lesson plan and complete activities to submit by 10:30am on Wednesday.

The full-class meetings will be conducted on Discord where we will do a number of activities and discussions. In the Learning Modules, I’ll have a combination of videos and text to read, with activities to complete and submit interspersed.

On some Wednesdays, you will meet as small groups over Discord. More information on that will come soon.

To know what is happening each day, use the below key:

* (asterisk) next to date = We are meeting together as a full class, synchronously (i.e., all at the same time). The first few classes may be close to our full class time of 12:25pm-2:05pm; after that, it will be from 12:25-1:40pm. Typically these are Mondays but not always.

No asterisk next to date = Learning Module this day (asynchronous work to complete by 11:59pm, usually on the Wednesday it is due).

Accessing Readings

To know where to find a reading, use the below key:

(textbook) = you can find reading in textbook (i.e., Data Feminism)

(Blackboard) = you can find reading on Blackboard at Course Documents>Additional Readings

Hyperlink = some readings could be embedded with a hyperlink right on the schedule

 

Course Schedule

Week 1

Monday, February 1*

Reading Due: None

Writing Due: None

Topic(s): Introduction to class, getting set up with platforms (i.e., Discord, Blogs@Baruch, Blackboard), syllabus, introductory activity

 

Wednesday, February 3

Reading Due: 

Writing Due:

Topic(s): Defining key terms for semester, thinking about your own standpoint, introducing Literacy and Numeracy Narrative

 

Week 2

Monday, February 8*

Reading Due:

Writing Due:

  • Process Writing: Reading Response by 9am. You will submit it as a blog post on this Blogs@Baruch website. Make sure to check “Posts” and “Reading Response 1” as categories before you publish the post.
  • Make sure you have your 1-on-1 meeting scheduled with me on February 9, 10, 16, or 17. [WE WILL DO THIS IN CLASS, DON’T WORRY ABOUT THIS BEFORE CLASS]. We will meet in “Office Hours” in our Discord Server (under “Resources” on left side)

Topic(s): Power and data, visit from Dr. Belmihoub for participation in study, work on Literacy and Numeracy Narrative

 

Wednesday, February 10

Reading Due: None

Writing Due:

  • Literacy and Numeracy Narrative. Submit by Wednesday, 11:59pm to Blackboard>Submit Assignments>Major Writing Projects
  • Learning Module 2 by THURSDAY 11:59pm
  • Make sure you have your 1-on-1 meeting scheduled with me on February 9, 10, 16, or 17. We will meet in “Office Hours” in our Discord Server (under “Resources” on left side)

Topic(s): Finding and creating data, getting into groups

 

Week 3

Monday, February 15

**Class Canceled for President’s Day**

Reading Due: None

Writing Due: None

Topic(s): Presidents, I guess. Sales, too.

 

Wednesday, February 17

Reading Due: 

Writing Due:

  • Process writing: Proposal for Data Set Biography and Influence Paper. Submit to Blackboard>Submit Assignments>Process Writing>Data Set Biography and Influence Project Proposal. Please submit by end of day on Wednesday, but it is okay if you need a little extra time (let me know).
  • Learning Module 3 by THURSDAY 11:59pm
  • Make sure you have your 1-on-1 meeting scheduled with me on February 9, 10, 16, or 17. We will meet in “Office Hours” in our Discord Server (under “Resources” on left side)

Topic(s): Asking critical questions of data, choosing a data set

 

Week 4

Monday, February 22*

Reading Due: None

Writing Due:

Topic(s): Asking critical questions of data sets

 

Wednesday, February 24

Working Groups OPTIONAL Meeting with Me on Discord (see here for more information):

  • Group 1, 9:05am
  • Group 2, 9:30am
  • Group 3, 9:55am

Reading Due: 

Writing Due:

Topic(s): Asking critical questions of data and data sets: counting and classification, data and consequences

 

Week 5

Monday, March 1*

Reading Due: None

Writing Due:

  • Data Set Biography and Influence. Submit by 11:59pm to Blackboard>Submit Assignments>Major Writing Projects.

Topic(s): Data and consequences, cleaning and managing data

 

Wednesday, March 3

Working Groups OPTIONAL Meeting with Me on Discord (see here for more information):

  • Group 4, 9:05am
  • Group 5, 9:30am

Reading Due: 

Writing Due:

Topic(s): Data Cleaning and Analysis, White Paper Genre

 

Week 6

Monday, March 8*

Reading Due: “Chapter 5: Unicorns, Ninjas, Wizards, and Rock Stars” in Data Feminism (textbook)

Writing Due:

  • Process Writing: Reading Response:
    • On Discord, in the text channel “3-8-df-chapter-5” under “Reading Discussion,” write a post with these two pieces of information:
      • One thing that stood out to you as notable and why
      • One thing that prompted a question you have related to what the chapter is concerned with

Topic(s): Data Cleaning and Analysis, Writing About Methods

 

Wednesday, March 10

Working Groups OPTIONAL Meeting with Me on Discord (see here for more information):

  • Group 1, 9:05am
  • Group 2, 9:30am
  • Group 3, 9:55am

Reading Due: 

Writing Due:

  • Process Writing: Reading Response, by THURSDAY at 11:59pm
    • Prompt: Just as we talked about how there are many choices in how people collect, clean, and analyze data, there are many choices available to people in communicating the results they find. We are now starting a shift from rhetoric in terms of creating data and toward rhetoric in terms of communicating findings. In that spirit, let’s start with acknowledging our standpoints. Respond to the following, based on your reading of chapter 3 in Data Feminism: What does the “god trick” mean and how should that impact your writing about data? How does “embracing emotion and embodiment” help deal with the “god trick”? What is your reaction to this argument and how might you do such embracing in your writing (or resist it)? Cite at least 2 quotes/paraphrases from chapter 3 in your post. The post should be about 250-500 words and you may do your post as a response to someone else rather than a standalone post. Post this in Discord in the “3-10-chapter-3-reading-response” under “Reading Discussion.”
  • Work on the Process Writing: Proposal for Data-Driven White Paper! I moved the due date to Monday, March 15. You should at least look at it well in advance so you get a sense of what you are asked to do. Get the prompt at Blackboard>Submit Assignments>Process Writing>Data-Driven White Paper Proposal. The prompt for the assignment is an attachment under where you submit
  • [No Learning Module this week]

Topic(s): Standpoints in Data Analysis and Writing

 

Week 7

Monday, March 15*

Reading Due:

  • Choose one of three data journalism pieces from USA Today, FiveThirtyEight, and Buzzfeed News. Read it and be prepared to discuss what intrigued you most as a reader, why, and how moments of quantification were accessible to you.

Writing Due:

  • Process Writing: Proposal for Data-Driven White Paper. Submit by 11:59pm on Blackboard>Submit Assignments>Process Writing>Data-Driven White Paper Proposal. The prompt for the assignment is also on Blackboard as an attachment under where you submit.

Topic(s): How Do Data Journalists Make Data Interesting?; Making White Papers Interesting

 

Wednesday, March 17

**Dan not available for Optional Working Group meetings this morning**

Reading Due: 

Writing Due: 

Topic(s): Communicating Context, Expressing Your Interpretation

 

Week 8

Monday, March 22*

Reading Due: None

Writing Due:

  • OPTIONAL SUBMISSION: Half Draft of Data-Driven White Paper. Submit by 11:59pm on Blackboard>Submit Assignments>Process Writing>Half-Draft of Data-Driven White Paper. Just like for the Data Set Biography and Influence Project, for this, feel free to write as much or as little as you want. Just give me something to show you are starting it. You can ask questions, outline things, etc. Can be very messy. You can submit after today, too. Just please submit before spring break so I have time to look at it before the first draft is due on April 7.

Topic(s): Writing about methods

 

Wednesday, March 24

Working Groups OPTIONAL Meeting with Me on Discord (see here for more information):

  • Group 4, 9:05am
  • Group 5, 9:30am

Reading Due:

  • Chapter on amplification from Rhetorical Style by Jeanne Fahnestock (just pages 390-405) (Blackboard>Course Documents>Additional Readings)

Writing Due:

Topic(s): Making Comparisons, Amplification

 

Week 9

Monday, March 29

**Class Canceled for Spring Recess**

Reading Due: None

Writing Due: None

Topic(s): Relaxing at all if possible? Taking an actual break?

 

Wednesday, March 31

**Class Canceled for Spring Recess**

Reading Due: None

Writing Due: None

Topic(s): Relaxing at all if possible? Taking an actual break?

 

Week 10

Monday, April 5*

Reading Due: None

Writing Due: None

Topic(s): Review, Writing Ecologies and Circulation

 

Wednesday, April 7

Optional Meeting: Come to our Discord server at 9:05am to work on writing and other assignments for the course for some positive peer-pressure, to ask questions, etc.

Reading Due: None

Writing Due:

  • Data-Driven White Paper, Draft 1. Submit by 11:59pm to Blackboard>Submit Assignments>Major Writing Projects. Prompt for assignment also in same location as attachment.
  • [No Learning Module This Week]

Topic(s): Get That Writing Done

 

Week 11

Monday, April 12*

Reading Due: None

Writing Due: None

Topic(s): Traditional Data Visualization: Tables and Charts

 

Wednesday, April 14

Reading Due: None

Writing Due:

  • Learning Module 8 by THURSDAY 11:59pm
  • Process Writing: Campaign for Circulation Proposal (prompt on Blackboard>Submit Assignments>Process Writing. Click on prompt under Campaign for Circulation Proposal).

Topic(s): Non-traditional visualizations, circulation

 

Week 12

Monday, April 19*

Reading Due (can mostly skim, click and look around):

Writing Due: None

Topic(s): Design and Accessibility

 

Wednesday, April 21

Optional Meeting: Come to our Discord server at 9:05am to work on writing and other assignments for the course for some positive peer-pressure, to ask questions, etc.

Reading Due: None

Writing Due:

Topic(s): Making Labor Visible, Data Visualization Continued, Revision Plan

 

Week 13

Monday, April 26*

Reading Due: None

Writing Due:

  • Data-Driven White Paper, Draft 2. Submit by 11:59pm to Blackboard>Submit Assignments>Major Writing Projects.

Topic(s): Tableau Workshop

 

Wednesday, April 28

Reading Due: 

Writing Due:

Topic(s): Rhetorical Velocity and Data-Driven Rhetoric

 

Week 14

Monday, May 3*

Reading Due: None

Writing Due: None

Topic(s): Affordances of Different Modes

 

Wednesday, May 5

Optional Meeting: Come to our Discord server at 9:05am to work on writing and other assignments for the course for some positive peer-pressure, to ask questions, etc.

Reading Due: None

Writing Due:

  • Process Writing: Schedule of Campaign Texts

Topic(s): Affordances of Different Modes

 

Week 15

Monday, May 10*

Reading Due: None

Writing Due:

  • Data Visualization Revision. Submit by 11:59pm to Blackboard>Submit Assignments>Major Writing Projects.

Topic(s): Work on Campaign, Goals for Future

 

Wednesday, May 12

Reading Due: None

Writing Due: 

Topic(s): Work on Campaign

 

Week 16

Monday, May 17*

Reading Due: None

Writing Due:

  • Campaign for Circulation. Submit by 11:59pm to Blackboard>Submit Assignments>Major Writing Projects

Topic(s): Work on Campaign, Wrap-up

 

FINALS WEEK

Assignments Due by 11:59pm on Monday, May 24:

  • Final Reflection
  • Any revision of previous assignments