Course Theme: Public Institutions
We interact with all sorts of institutions everyday: public transportation, schools, banks, government offices, etc.
What do they claim to do? Are they doing those things? If so, how? If not, why? Should they be doing these things at all?
This semester, we will investigate one public institution (i.e., an institution that has been created, ostensibly, to support something like people or the natural environment rather than create profit) through listening to a podcast that explores that institution and then making a podcast in response.
Through our investigation of a public institution via podcasting we will do A LOT of reading and writing to help accomplish these tasks. As we learn about our public institution, we will learn a lot not only about that institution but also how reading and writing can help us make knowledge, express something, coordinate activity, and influence other people. In doing the work of the course, we will also think not just about what writing does but what it is when using it compared to speaking/listening, static images, etc. as well as how it circulates to others.
For more on the previous paragraph, see the course description in our syllabus on Blackboard.
Course Platforms
Ideally, we could use one platform to do all the things I’d like to do in this class. However, different platforms do different things. Discord is best for communication, Blogs @ Baruch is best for formatting a schedule and lesson plans, Google Drive helps store ongoing documents, Blackboard is best for storing documents that cannot be public and for storing large files (which we will have many of for our class podcast project).
Because of these different purposes and advantages, we will use those 4 platforms in our class for the following activities:
Blogs @ Baruch (this website)
- To see the course schedule
- Outlines of lesson plans for in-person meetings
- To link to websites that may be helpful resources for you
Discord
- For in-person class activities
- Office hours meetings or other meetings with classmates
- For our Labor Posts
- For Reading/Listening Posts
- For some other short writing tasks
Google Drive
- For Labor Logs
- For Labor Journal
Blackboard
- To access all “labor instructions” for all assignments (in Labor Instructions and then click on date that assignments are due).
- To access course documents (e.g., syllabus, readings)
- To submit major assignments and some minor assignments
**I realize this can be a lot to manage (especially at first) to use 4 platforms for our class. However, in the Course Schedule and on all instructions for assignments there always be very clear directions about where to find and submit things.**