The Theme
For my ENGL 1101 course, the first half of freshman composition, I centered my theme on the particular theoretical framework of my dissertation, which focused on mythos, or how myths function in a society rhetorically, as a sort of rhetorical device and rhetorical appeal. I had students do some preliminary research in which they found myths in our current times that interested them, such as the Immigrant Criminality myth, the College is for Everyone myth, and the Lone Genius myth.
By taking student feedback into consideration, the use of headings, subheadings, and color helped students to more visually break apart content, but it also made a table of contents that allowed students to find particular information they needed more easily.
The Course Shell
After teaching 1101 in Fall 2022, one year of working with Canvas, and examining student feedback, I structured modules so that the assignment sheet and final draft dropbox was a main module to indicate a separate unit (artifact), and the weekly modules building up to the due date of a particular artifact were underneath that main module.
The Syllabus
In my 1101 class for Fall 2022, I organized content for students according to modules, and I organized and presented the content based on what assignments students were responsible for that week. After reading student feedback and having a better sense of how to scaffold the course, I created modules for my Fall 2023 that helped students compartmentalize information so that they saw which weeks were dedicated to which particular artifact. Additionally, I made sure that there were separate modules for the schedule and syllabus, and a separate module for grammar review.
Further revisions I made to the design of my course shell was to link all assignments directly to the module and ensure all due dates were posted so that students received alerts through Canvas’s calendar feature. In addition, I utilized the “Publish” feature so that students could have access to assignments at least two weeks in advance.
I taught ENGL 1101 for Fall of 2022 and Fall of 2023. After a full year at Tech, I took document design and student feedback into further consideration as I revised my syllabus for Fall of 2023. I was more intentional with the use of headings and color coding, particularly with due dates for final assignments and sections describing categories and subcategories of assignments, to make the syllabus more accessible. However, I continued my practice of asking the students to “speak back” to the syllabus from my pedagogical training at MTSU.
