ENG 4815 Spring 2018 Howell

This course uses the question posed by its title as a jumping-off point to explore textuality and the many wonderful ways that humans communicate with each other. We will look at what lots of smart people have to say about communication media and how to make sense of them. We will discuss whether or not these other people’s opinions help us to understand better the whys and hows of communication.

The course includes a big, hands-on final project in which you will create, write and edit an interesting investigation within a particular assigned medium. We will investigate whether our attempts to understand media help our own attempts to communicate through media. The class is primarily a seminar-type, discussion-based class, so much of the knowledge and insight you will gain from the class will come from class discussions, hands-on activities, and your own attempts to make sense of the ideas and examples we explore through the semester, aided by similar attempts from your classmates and instructor. This is not a “just sit back and listen” class, though quiet people with active brains can do quite well in this format.