LMC 3403 Common Policies (Summer 2022)

Learning Outcomes for LMC 3403

Category

Outcomes

Rhetoric

Rhetoric focuses on available means of persuasion, considering the synergy of factors such as context, audience, purpose, role, argument, organization, design, visuals, and conventions of language.

  • Fashion artifacts that address the exigencies of diverse contexts, exhibiting effective persuasive strategies, tact, and sensitivity to theoretical, ethical and legal concerns.
  • Collect, craft, and present technical information in ways that convey a clear purpose to a specific audience.

Process

Processes for communication—for example, creating, planning, drafting, designing, rehearsing, revising, presenting, publishing—are recursive, not linear. Learning productive processes is as important as creating products.

  • Construct, select, craft, revise, and repurpose information to reflect individual, cultural, and/or organizational values.
  • Collaborate on artifacts that meet the needs of the specific audiences.

Modes and Media

Activities and assignments should use a variety of modes and media—written, oral, visual, electronic, and nonverbal—singly and in combination. The context and culture of multimodality and multimedia are critical.

  • Create WOVEN (Written, Oral, Visual, Electronic, and Nonverbal) artifacts— such as memos, emails, proposals, reports, instructions, manuals, websites, and short and long presentations— that display strategic uses of generic and stylistic conventions.
Design
Documents and other artifacts should arrange visual elements according to consistent, efficient, and effective principles.
  • Use theories and principles of document design to create and present accessible, comprehensible, and usable artifacts.
  • Integrate graphics to achieve maximum clarity in print documents, presentation slides, websites, and other artifacts.

 

Evaluation Equivalencies

In this course, this is what your letter grades mean. Your instructor has the option of using +/- in grading an individual assignment; he or she will indicate the grading policy on the course syllabus. Remember that Georgia Tech does NOT use +/- for course grades.

Letter grade
(NB: Georgia Tech does NOT use +/- for course grades. Likewise, some instructors do NOT use +/-  for grading assignments. If your instructor uses +/- for grading assignments, the table shows the equivalencies.)
Numeric Equivalent
in this Class

A: 90-100

Superior performance—rhetorically, aesthetically, and technically—demonstrating advanced understanding and use of the media in particular contexts. An inventive spark and exceptional execution.

A+
98-100
A
94-97
A-
90-93

B: 80-89

Above-average, high-quality performance—rhetorically, aesthetically, and technically.

B+
88-89
B
84-87
B-
80-83

C: 70-79

Average (not inferior) performance. Competent and acceptable—rhetorically, aesthetically, and technically.

C+
78-79
C
74-77
C-
70-73

D: 60-69

Below-average performance. Less than competent — rhetorically, aesthetically, and/or technically.

D+
68-69
D
64-67
D-
60-63

F: 0-59

Unacceptable performance. Failure to meet even minimum criteria rhetorically, aesthetically, and/or technically.

F
1-59
0 (zero) Work not submitted
0

Evaluation Rubric

Click here for the programmatic rubric.

 

Course Completion

In all sections of LMC 3403, failure to complete any component of the course, including projects, assignments, and stages of projects or assignments, may result in failure of the course, as determined by the instructor of the course in consultation with the Director and Associate Director of the Writing and Communication Program.

 

Attendance, Engagement, and Participation

Writing and Communication Program courses require students to be active in engaging with their in-person or remote courses. This engagement takes different forms depending on the instructor’s expectations and requirements for the course. Students should attend, participate, and engage in the course according to the instructor’s requirements, as indicated on the course syllabus.

Covid-19 Vaccination and Masking

Georgia Tech encourages everyone in the Georgia Tech community to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommendations, vaccinate, and wear a mask in campus buildings.

Dean of Students and Counseling Center

Attending college can be a stressful time; don’t hesitate to ask for help if you’re feeling overly anxious, stressed, or depressed. Georgia Tech has two main ways to seek support: through the Office of the Dean of Students and through the Counseling Center. Both units work closely together to support Georgia Tech students. You can seek support by using the contact information below.

Office of the Dean of Students
http://studentlife.gatech.edu/
Charles A. Smithgall Jr Student Services Building (also known as the Flag Building), Suite 210
(404) 894-6367

Counseling Center
http://www.counseling.gatech.edu
Charles A. Smithgall Jr Student Services Building (also known as the Flag Building), Suite 328
404-894-2575 (including 24-hour, seven-day-a-week access to a counselor on call).

 

Statement Regarding Insecurity

When students face insecurity regarding food, shelter, clothing, or other necessary resources, it can be difficult to learn. It’s important to know that you are not alone in dealing with these issues. Georgia Tech offers support for students through the Students’ Temporary Assistance and Resources office located within the Division of Student Life. These resources include a food pantry, campus closet, temporary housing options, and emergency funding.

 

Campus Carry

Familiarize yourself with the guidance from the University System of Georgia regarding House Bill 280, commonly known as “campus carry.”

 

Safety

Classroom and campus safety are of paramount importance at Georgia Tech. Safety is the shared responsibility of all of us throughout the entire campus. The Writing and Communication Program urges faculty and students to follow the ALERT, ASSESS, ACT protocol for all types of emergencies and the RUN, HIDE, FIGHT response for active shooter incidents.

  • Remain ALERT through direct observation and emergency notifications.
  • ASSESS your specific situation (e.g., threats, people, location, conditions).
  • ACT in the most appropriate way to ensure your own safety and the safety of others if you are able.

Please view the FBI’s RUN, HIDE, FIGHT response for active shooter incidents: https://youtu.be/5VcSwejU2D0.

Please make sure you are familiar with GTENS (Georgia Tech’s Emergency Notification System), which allows you to receive time-sensitive emergency messages in e-mail, voice mail, and text messages, as well as the LiveSafe app, a comprehensive safety app that enables you to call or text GTPD quickly on your mobile phone. Please review and act on these five safety practices:

  • GTENS Notification: Review the Georgia Tech Emergency Preparedness notification information and register (if you haven’t already) through the link at https://passport.gatech.edu.
  • LiveSafe: Use this link — http://www.livesafe.gatech.edu/ — to download the LiveSafe app to your Smartphone (if you haven’t already).
  • GT Police: Make sure the Georgia Tech Police Department number is in your Smartphone: (404) 894-2500. Call this number for any on-campus emergency.
  • 9-1-1: In an emergency, you can always dial 9-1-1. If you call 9-1-1 from your cell phone, the call will be directed to the City of Atlanta Dispatch Center. Immediately tell the dispatcher that you are calling from Georgia Tech, and your call will be transferred to the Georgia Tech Police Department Operations Center.
  • Classes for Safety and Emergency Preparedness: Classes in crime prevention techniques, self-defense, property protection, and emergency preparedness, as well as additional resources, are available through the GTPD website: police.gatech.edu

 

Student Support Resources

The following resources are available to all Georgia Tech students. Remember that help is available.

 

NonDiscrimination and Inclusion

The Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, and the Writing and Communication Program support the Georgia Institute of Technology’s commitment to creating a campus free of discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or veteran status. We further affirm the importance of cultivating an intellectual climate that allows us to better understand the similarities and differences of those who constitute the Georgia Tech community, as well as the necessity of working against inequalities that may also manifest here as they do in the broader society.

Alternative viewpoints are welcome in this class; however, statements that are deemed racist, sexist, homophobic, classist, or otherwise discriminatory toward others in the class or outside the class will not be tolerated.

 

Naugle CommLab (Communication Center)

Georgia Tech’s Naugle CommLab is located in Clough Commons, Suite 447. It is an excellent resource for all students (undergraduate or graduate) who want help with a communication-related project, from their multimodal assignments for English 1101 and English 1102 to graduate school applications, from engineering and science reports to oral presentations, from storyboards for videos to poster designs, from grant proposals to job cover letters and resumes.

The center itself is physically located in Clough; this semester, we are offering both in-person and online appointments. For online appointments, students have the option for a BlueJeans or an asynchronous appointment. Staff include peer (usually upper-division undergraduate) and professional (postdoctoral) consultants who are each uniquely qualified to provide students with feedback on their projects. The Center is open for in-person and online appointments MTWRF 9:00am-5:00pm, and for online appointments MTWR 5:00pm-8:00pm.

You can watch a brief video tour of CommLab services here.

For more information or to make an appointment, please visit the Center’s webpage at http://commlab.gatech.edu. Again, if you have any questions, please email us at commlab@gatech.edu.

Accommodations

Georgia Tech values diversity and inclusion; we are committed to a climate of mutual respect and full participation. Our goal is to create learning environments that are usable, equitable, inclusive and welcoming. If there are aspects of the instruction or design of this course that result in barriers to your inclusion or accurate assessment or achievement, please notify the instructor as soon as possible. Students with disabilities should contact the Office of Disability Services to discuss options of removing barriers in this course, including accommodations. ODS can be reached at 404.894.2563, dsinfo@gatech.edu, or disabilityservices.gatech.edu.

 

Academic Misconduct

One serious kind of academic misconduct is plagiarism, which occurs when a writer, speaker, or designer deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, images, or other original material or code without fully acknowledging its source by quotation marks as appropriate, in footnotes or endnotes, in works cited, and in other ways as appropriate (modified from WPA Statement on “Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism”). If you engage in plagiarism or any other form of academic misconduct, you will fail the assignment in which you have engaged in academic misconduct and be referred to the Office of Student Integrity, as required by Georgia Tech policy. We strongly urge you to be familiar with these Georgia Tech sites:

 

Syllabus Modifications

This syllabus—especially the required reading and assignment schedule—may be modified as the semester progresses to meet course outcomes and address the needs of members of the class.

 

Final Instructional Class Days and Reading Periods

Institute policies regarding Final Instructional Days and Reading Periods can be found here.

Final Instructional Class Days: July 25-26, 2022

No tests or quizzes are to be administered on Final Instructional Class Days.

Graded homework or assignments, course projects, demonstrations, and presentations may be due during Final Instructional Class Days, provided they are listed on the syllabus at the start of the semester.

All assignments, other than the final portfolio, should be graded and reported to students on or before the last final instructional day.

Reading Periods

No classes meet during Reading Periods.

No assignments, projects, presentations, or other graded activities can be due or take place during Reading Periods.

Instructors may schedule optional study review sessions for students during Reading Periods (but no credit or extra credit may be attached to these optional sessions).