First WeekActivity
1.2 Reading and Class Cafe Assignment
Initial
post due Wednesday each week
Reactions
to others due by Sunday each week
We will
discuss specific concepts from the reading in our online classroom. I like to
refer to this space as our “Class Café,” a place where we meet for conversation
and constructive dialogue about the course materials. The class café helps
personalize the online classroom, giving students a chance to talk with one
another, ask questions, give and receive feedback, and explore the reading
assignments in a dynamic, collaborative community. This is the place where we
all "show up" and make our presence known to others in the online
class. Online learning communities work best when everyone participates, and
for this reason, it is a requirement worth 100 points of your grade.
Reading
Assignment Chapter
1 Argument: An Introduction
Read and annotate (underline/highlight/note) this first chapter of
your textbook (pages 3-18).
Chapter
Objectives This
chapter introduces you to new ways to think about argument. It asks you to move
beyond a view of argument as a fight, quarrel, or pro/con debate to think of
argument as the deliberations of a well-functioning committee charged with
making an important decision. In this chapter you will learn that:
•
argument requires justification for its claims
•
argument is both a process and a product
•
arguments can be explicit with clearly stated claims and reasons or implicit,
conveyed through visual elements or embedded in a work of art
•
argument combines elements of truth seeking with elements of persuasion
•
argument involves seeking the best solution to problems and often functions as
a process of clarification
•
arguments vary in purpose, ranging on a continuum from exploratory writing that
considers alternative solutions to problems to propaganda that seeks only to
sway an audience using any means
Class
Cafe Assignment
After you have read the chapter, please join us in the class café and
participate in one or both of these mock committee meetings intended to reveal
the complexity of any given issue. We will look at an issue from different
perspectives, and our goal will not be to argue to win, but to engage in
dialogue to resolve a problem. Note that for each committee, roles have been
assigned using the first letter of your last name.
Public
Hearing: Developing mosh pit policy (READ page 12-13 of the book).
Imagine a public hearing in which city
officials are trying to develop a city policy on mosh pits at concerts.
PROBLEM: Should they be banned altogether? If not, how might they be regulated
and who is responsible for injuries?
Attendees:
(A-D) Members of a rock band that values crowd surfing and
stage diving
(E-H)
Several concert fans who love mosh pits
(I-K)
Parents of a teenager seriously injured in a mosh pit accident
(L-N)
Women who were groped while crowd surfing
(O-Q)
Local police
(R-T)
Concert promoters
(U-W)
Venue owners fearing a liability lawsuit
(X-Z)
City attorneys fearing liability lawsuit
Private
Hearing: University Standards Committee vs. Gordon Adams (READ 14-17 of the book).
Imagine a private committee meeting to
address the formal request of Gordon Adams to be exempt from ASU’s general
education math requirement. PROBLEM: Should this student be exempt from the
math requirement?
Attendees:
(R-Z) Student senators
(O-Q) Math Faculty
(I-N) Literature and Fine Arts Faculty
(E-H) Justice Studies Faculty
(A-D) Gordon Adams himself
HOW TO DO THIS: You should introduce yourself and adopt
the persona of the person whose role you are playing on the committee. What
would your role be in the conversation? Try to get into the mind of your
adopted persona and share a perspective that might help the committee resolve
its problem.
This is a role-play exercise, so write as if you really
were the member of the committee. For example, you might start with
Thank you for giving me the chance to
speak on this issue. My name is Rebecca Liljenstolpe and I am the parent of a
child who was seriously injured in a mosh pit accident last year. I would like to
see mosh pits banned altogether because . . .
If you are confused about this assignment, please post
questions to my online office. Look for the forum called "Instructors
Online Office."
After you have posted your adopted persona’s perspective
on the problem, try to respond to at least two other people this week as we
begin to build a dialogue in our online community. Ask questions or raise
concerns. Share points of agreement and disagreement. Our goal will be to try
and build consensus in hopes of solving a problem. Participation is required,
and thee posts per week will earn you 100%.
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