What the Course is About

For instance, examples of relevant topics are as follows:

communication apprehension	satisfaction	turn taking	meaning
learning	time spent	outcome of collaboration	persuasion
group dynamics	self disclosure	attribution	function
control	gender	organizational structure	aggression and assertiveness
political activism	sense of community	visual journalism	critical theory
AND MANY OTHER VARIABLES AND ISSUES

If you have taken Research Methods (COM 300), the knowledge you acquired there should be very useful in this course. If you haven't had Research Methods, I will try to supply needed concepts and to point you to extra reading. Hence, I will assume that you have some background and experience in critically reading social science research and theory. At the same time, I will try to help where I can, and we will raise research issues whenever possible. Since we will do hands-on work on the Internet, it is assumed that all students who registered for this course will devote time outside of class-time to homework exercises designed to develop computer skills and knowledge; Internet skills, home page construction, and slide presentation will require work outside of class. In addition, you will need to devote time to exploring research questions, both methodological and theoretical; you will need to devote time to critically reading research. You will need to devote time to writing up your report of the research you find.

Some of you may already know many of the Internet and computer skills used in this course. In those cases, I welcome your helping classmates who are learning these skills. Also, if you are an advanced computer user, please talk to me about how you can do homeworks that work for you. You should be able to devote more of your time to preparing your term project.

The Computer as a Medium of Communication You may wish to do your research on a topic about computer- mediated communication (CMC), but you are not limited to CMC for your research topic in this course. Any communication topic is fine. The computer is a new medium of communication. The Internet is a very large number of computers world-wide that are linked in a network of communication with one another. Computer-mediated communication (CMC) is all the kinds of communication that takes place using a computer, including the user/computer communication, the user and computer at a distance, two or more users on computers separated by time and space, users in a variety of contexts, and many other forms of communication mediated by computer. Our access to people and information is changed by this new medium. And in turn its potential to change patterns of interaction is brought forth.

In addition to its growing role in education, health care, and commerce, CMC offers the communication scholar the opportunity to study a truly new medium. CMC allows the student to try out a new medium and to thereby learn first hand what it means to communicate within a medium; it allows the student to learn how one medium differs from another; how such differences affect human behavior.

What We'll Do In This Course

The goal is to understand computer-mediated communication as a tool in doing research. A great deal of your time will be taken up with learning how to actually use the Internet. You will receive instruction in using the computer, you will have readings to report on; you will have required Internet laboratory work; you will have homework to carry out using CMC. THE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS MAKE UP 30% OF YOUR GRADE, AND SO THEY MUST BE TAKEN VERY SERIOUSLY. Some of our time will be devoted to reviewing how to read and critique research.

Self-Learning:

This course will require a great deal of self-learning. By that I mean that, outside of classroom time, you will have to decide when and for how long to work at a computer; you will have to decide on a research topic; you will have to put in time to researching your topic, reading from the course gathering readings and writing to our Electronic Discussion Area in Blackboard, critiquing the research you find, learning relevant theory, and finally, presenting your findings in the form of an electronic term project, a home page or slide presentation or both. You will have weekly homework, reading and writing.

I will do what I can to facilitate your learning, but there is simply no substitute for the hours you put in at the computer, and noone else can learn for you or at your pace or with your interests and critical responses.

BUT HERE COMES THE DIFFICULTY. For some learners, self- learning may be especially challenging, because they prefer to have a course where the instructor leads them through their learning. Since that is not how this course is structured, and since self-learning is a frequently observed dimension of the online environment, it will be important for you to let me know if you are having a problem with this type of course and we can at least talk about what can be done to help. At the same time, your own experiences with this medium may spark an interest in a particular research project.

HOMEWORK

Homework should be posted to our Electronic Discussion area in Blackboard prior to the class meeting for which it is shown (SEE THE COURSE SCHEDULE BELOW). So, if, for example Homework #1 is shown on the schedule for the second week we meet, then it ought to be posted before our second class meeting. In the SUBJECT LINE of each homework posting please use HOMEWORK #1 or HOMEWORK #2, and so on. By the end of the semester, you should have a total of six homeworks done for the course. Homeworks will be graded on a pass/fail basis. I cannot emphasize enough that it is imperative that you practice the CMC skills that I will introduce you to, and that practice during the classroom time is not enough--

you will need to put hours in outside of class time.

Outside of class time, you can work from wherever you have access to the computer and the Internet, whether that is here at the university, or home, or work, or elsewhere. Most of the class time is needed to demonstrate computer skills and to show you Internet resources; we need some class time for you to practice, some to discuss what you are finding, some class time to discuss the research issues, e.g., the interpersonal effects, the outcomes, the psychological, financial, and cultural implications of CMC. It is assumed that you will complete the homework assignment by the time we meet each week. Some classroom time will be taken each week with your telling the class about your reading for the week or your learning from working on the week's assignment (what you've posted to the Electronic Discussion area in Blackboard).

Remember, this course is largely about communication via computer--so, we need to try it out.

ELECTRONIC DISCUSSION AREA (Blackboard)

We will have our own electronic discussion group. This is a place for us to stay in touch on a daily basis, to discuss our Internet (computer) experiences, to ask questions, post homework responses, comment, seek help from one another, and so on. I plan to check in just about every day, and I assume that you will check in to our discussion group at least a few times a week. Instruction in using the electronic discussion group will be given during our first few meetings.

PRESENTATIONS Your work in this course will culminate in a term project that synthesizes what you were able to find out about your research topic. Moreover, your findings will be presented in the form of a home page or electronic slide show, as opposed to a printed term paper. The course schedule is designed to allow you two opportunities to tell the class about your research project and to take us through your electronic presentation. At any point in the semester that you want me to look at your presentation and discuss it with you, please let me know. I will encourage presentation each time we meet. I find that student lead discussion of how to do computer applications and also discussion of readings is very helpful to all.

Completed term projects will be published to USM's server.

EVALUATION:

Homework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30%

Participation. . . . . . . . . . . . 20%

Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . .10%

Term Project . . . . . . . . . . . 40%

MORE ON HOMEWORK

Homework is designed to help you learn how to use the computer to do CMC. It also includes reading and writing to expand your conceptual knowledge of computer-mediated communication. Homework assignments are shown on our home page. You are expected to log on at least once a week to find out what is going on. This is necessary to stay informed and to participate in the course. You will be expected to do the week's homework and to send it to the Discussion Area (Blackboard) prior to each week's meeting. Late homework will not be accepted. There will be no exceptions--I simply can't keep track of so much record keeping if you don't stick to the deadline. Please note: Homework makes up 30% of your grade.

The homework assignments are critical to your learning in this course. In addition to the hands-on computer skills homework, you are expected to do the reading assignment for each week, and to be working on your research project. There will be opportunities to present your research work.

Term Project

For your research, choose a topic about communication via computer that interests you. Gather information about the topic from the Internet and from the library. Present the information in the form of a home page or slide presentation, equivalant to 15 word processed pages. Please use APA Manual style. This paper should be an example of your best work ...carefully thought out and crafted. An abbreviated APA style sheet on electronic sources can be found linked to our home page.

REQUIRED READING

Readings will be electronic texts. See LINKS TO GET STARTED on our home page.

OPTIONAL READING

Ackermann, E., & Hartman. K. (1999). The Information Specialist's Guide to Searching & Researching on the Internet & the World Wide Web. ABF Content.

Sammons, M. (1999). The Internet Writer's Handbook. Allyn and Bacon

All of the required reading for the course is electronically available. Electronic addresses are given below in the course schedule. Each week you will need to select a reading from the Links to Get Started page (the required reading) and to write a summary statement or review of what was there, including what you learned and what you recommend to classmates about the site. In addition, in class, I may ask you to say something about your reading for the week. Please note that in addition to the assigned articles, you are expected to locate electronically available scholarly articles on your own, and to read and use them.

Attendance and Responsibility

Full attendance is assumed. You are responsible for information disseminated in class--even when there are changes in the schedule that are announced in class. I assume that each week's readings will be completed. I will not be able to go back over class instruction that you miss.

(1) Sproull, L., and Kiesler, S. (1991). Connections: New ways of working in the networked organization. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press

1-23

1. SYLLABUS/Posting to Blackboard Discussion Area

Getting to Know You

1-30

2. EMAIL/DISCUSSION (Blackboard)/NETSCAPE

2-6

3. ORIENTATION TO THE INTERNET

PRESENT YOUR READING FOR THE WEEK--

HOME PAGE CONSTRUCTION

2-13

4. URSUS/SEARCH ENGINES

PRESENT YOUR READING FOR THE WEEK--

EXPLORATION ASSIGNMENT: SEARCH ENGINES

2-27

5. HOME PAGE CONSTRUCTION

Reading for the Week

Research Project Ideas?????

Research Methodology

3-5

6. HOME PAGE CONSTRUCTION CONTINUED

Web Page Structure
Structuring Your Web Page

Reading on Your Research Project
Research Topic for Your Project?

Show and Tell: Your Home Page So Far

Research Methodology

Targets

3-12

7. PRACTICE--WHERE ARE WE?

3-19

8. Presentation Software: PowerPoint

Present to class at least one research (essay) piece you are reading for your project

READING ASSIGNMENT: CMC

PowerPoint Demo

4-2

9. RESEARCH ISSUES

PowerPoint Demo

4-9

10. SLIDE PRESENTATIONS

4-16

11. TROUBLE SHOOTING/RESEARCH ISSUES

4-23

12. PRESENTATIONS: PRELIMINARY

4-30

13. UPLOADING FILES

• Naming Files (8 characters or less; no spaces)
• Upload all the files
• Links to relative file names
• Post your web page url to our Blackboard Discussion area

TERM PROJECTS ARE DUE_______

5-7

14. PRESENTATIONS: COMPLETED PROJECT

(EVALUATIONS/SUMMING UP)