FYC @ USF

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER 2011

Photo by Nancy Lewis

Celebrating Student Success

Important information about Student Success Day
Dear Colleagues, I hope that this email finds each of you well as we round the corner to the end of our semester. The FYC program and the Celebrate Student Success Committee invite you and your students to participate in Social Action Day, which functions in coordination with project 3 in 1102. Social Action Day gives all of us, as teachers and champions of our student work a chance to highlight the excellent and insightful work that our students do in coordination with project 3 in 1102. Students invest a lot of time and agency in these projects, and we want to celebrate their efforts in a very concrete way on this day. This event will take place on November 30th and will be held in the Marshall Center atrium. Participation in this event allows our students to present their work to their peers outside the classroom walls. In this way, their social action projects

table of contents: have even more meaning and relevance. Our students will Celebrating Student Success 2 display their presentations and increase Date Save the awareness in the social 3 injustice issue that is important to New(ish) 3 them. to the Site

Student Survey Results 4 Continued on next page... Spring 2011 Pilots 5 Sample Paper Calls Continued on next page Whom to Contact

6 6 Continued on next page... with NET Position Announcements 6

FYC Newsletter Editor: Dan Richards, Community Manager

2011

ID. Thus, students can now use their net ids to author at our curriculum homepage. As your Community Manager, my responsibility is to ensure the maintenance and This means where we set the improvement of FYCs web presence. This includes the overseeing of the main FYC site (fyc.usf.edu) and all the various sub-sites; permissions to enable represent the production of videos that their our program; assisting FYC instructors with allparticipation, FYC students their technological needs (including Blackboard and SharePoint); and being an integralwrite. all the committees that can part of A shared FYC blog, work tirelessly to maintain and improve our status as a top-notch, progressive FYC wiki, discussion forum, etc., program. For more about me, check out my site: http://danielrichards.net. can provide a space for an audience of all FYC students! These spaces will be open to any student or faculty or staff

Continued from page 1

this way, their social action projects have even more meaning and relevance. Our students will display their presentations and increase awareness in the social injustice issue that is important to them. This semester, we'd like to see at least 100 students participate in this event, and we ask that our 1102 instructors give their students the opportunity to present their work in this forum. Please let us know a time frame for when you would be interested in having your students present as well as the number of students who will accompany you to this event by completing the Doodle by 11/10/11 by going on the Student Success site. While this event celebrates the agency of our 1102 students, we hope that our 1101 students and teachers will support their peers by attending the event. This is a great opportunity for 1101 students to preview what's to come in 1102, and it is a great chance for all of our 1102 students to see the work that their peers are doing across the FYC 1102 program. Finally, we are looking for several instructors to help us coordinate and oversee the event by volunteering for a 30 minute block of time for the following time frames: 10:45-11:15; 11:20-11:50;11:55-12:25; and 12:301:00. As you can assist in this way, please contact Susan Taylor at susangtaylor@mail.usf.edu with your preferred time. We'd like to shout out a thank you to Zac Dixon, Lacie Meier, Jenni Nance, and Allison Gibbes, who are signed up to volunteered their time to help our students shine. Come and join us! Cassandra Branham

Photo by Nancy Lewis

Photo by Nancy Lewis

Photo by Nancy Lewis

save the date

Note these important events, deadlines, dates and mark them on your calendar accordingly!

november 1
PhD Rhet/Comp students take their exam, from home. Dont email them.

december 2
Last day of Fall semester classes

january 2
New Years Holiday

11
Veterans day: no classes; celebrate your freedom; thank a vet.

13
Fall grades due by 11:59pm.

9
Spring, first day of classes

24 - 25
Thanksgiving Holiday

27 - 30
Christmas Holiday

16
Martin Luther King, Jr.

30
Social Action Presentation Day for 1102 students.

the Sandbox

the Symposium

the Public Square

What is The Sandbox? Great question, really. At its heart, the Sandbox was created to store unfinished or work-in-progress documents, resources, PowerPoints, handouts, or whatever else teachers use to do their job. Many of the resources we create are good only for our specific class, or fit the needs of our particular students. This might not be appropriate to post on the main FYC or Instructor pages as resources. But, they would be appropriate to store in the Sandbox.

What is The Symposium? Essentially The Symposium is a free-blogging space for all students currently enrolled in any FYC course: 1101, 1102, or 1102 online. Consider using this space to have students complete their informal writing component of the grade. This makes things easier for you and also encourages students to take advantage of the single-sign on (SSO) we worked so hard to achieve. Please encourage your students to post in this space!!

This space is perfect for any public collaboration between students and instructors in different courses. Essentially, the Public Square serves as the place on the FYC site where students and instructors can create their own SharePoint pages to collaborate on work, share their projects, or just practice informal writing in public writing spaces. This space is available by clicking on the link The Public Square on the Instructor page.

Mid-Semester Student Survey Results | Fall 2011

Every semester the FYC Program conducts a mid-semester survey to keep track of the progress towards our goals. Below is a numerical representation. Thanks to all of our instructors who had their students complete the survey. Great response.

Win!

Almost 1000 responses. Well played comrades!

Digital Rhetoric:1102 Online

Pilots!

Wanna be the guy above? Me too. But just in case you dont get our aviation license in the next few weeks, youll have to settle for the pilots we are launching (zing!) in the Spring 2011 Semester: revamped 1102 Online and the brandspankin new Collaborative Model. Both can be accessed from the Instructor page. Or, email Dr. Dianne Donnelly or third-person enthusiast Dan.

These spaces are available via the Quick Launch bar on the Instructor page. Check below for vague but visual instructions.

Collaborative Model
This model is based on the idea that more time should be spent by students working in groups, conferencing with the instructor , and conducting a fair amount of peer review. Committee Members: Dr. Donnelly, Jen Yirinec, Megan McIntyre and Dan Richards Teachers will be asked to: comply with the collaborative model schedule as noted below come to 2 meetings this semester about the pilot submit one blog per month about their experiences contribute to a listserv for pilot teachers respond to monthly surveys Use MR per program parameters to provide opportunities for PR and assessment

And now what weve all been waiting for...the FYC Position Announcements!

Want to contribute to the FYC program in meaningful and substantial ways? Have a lot of input about the curriculum? Feel as though you could be a strong mentor to new, incoming instructors? If youve answered yes to any or all of these questions, check out the information below!

Position announcements
Deadline: November 15th
Every Fall, FYC sends out a call for all instructors and adjuncts to apply for Summer collaborator and mentoring positions. Mentors are required to teach composition during their appointment. If you do not plan on teaching FYC next year, then do not apply. An intimate and experiential knowledge of the curriculum is valuable in the mentoring process. Go to the instructor page and click on the link at the top of the page to apply!

Need of Sample Student Papers

As of right now, the FYC site is lacking in sample student papers. For all projects. Theres no need for you to write any, either. Simply choose an essay that you think exemplifies the outcomes and nature of the project in an effective manner and upload to the appropriate project page. The only thing needed on your behalf is getting the student to sign a form. Heres the protocol: 1) Read a paper. Smile with relief at its ability to fulfill the project requirements in an A to B range sort of way. 2) Ask the student if you can use their work on the FYC site. 3) Print the form from the Student Policies section of the FYC site. 4) Get the sheet back and make sure the student understands whats happening. 5) Gleefully upload the sample paper to project page. 6) Or, email Dan/Dr. Donnelly

Contact: Roll Call

Dan Richards
As the Community Manager and FYC newsletter editor, if you have anything that needs to be dispersed or shared, let him know.

Lee Davidson
Lee, when shes not running marathons, is your Graduate Program Specialist and can help you with registration issues and appointments.

Deedra Hickman
Deedra is the Academic Services Administration and can help you with office technology, telephones, and course assignments.

The mentoring program is an integral part of FYC at USF and has been very successful over the years. We take this process very seriously, as Summer collaborators and mentors not only serve as the face of the program to incoming instructors but also serve as the driving force behind developing new resources, curriculum, and teaching methods for FYC courses.

Nancy Morriss
Nancy helps you with textbook questions, student evaluations, and grade change forms.

Jerry Medlen
Jerry will be of the utmost help in travelrelated issues and reimbursement. Go Bulls.