Curriculum

According to the UTEP Center for Institutional Evaluation, Research and Planning, in the Fall 2018 semester, UTEP had a total enrollment of 25,151, with 21,464 undergraduate students and 3,687 graduate students enrolled in Masters and Doctoral programs. Of the total enrollment, 54.1% identified as female and 45.9% as male. 80.2% identified as hispanic. UTEP’s data for 2020 indicates that 49% of their student population are first-generation students. In terms of course of study, in 2018, the College of Liberal Arts enrolled 29% of the undergraduate population, with the two most popular programs being Criminal Justice and Psychology. The College of Engineering (19%), College of Science (17%), and College of Business Administration (14%) have the next most significant enrollments, with the remaining enrollment divided among the School of Nursing, the College of Health Sciences, and the College of Education. 

As part of the CORE Curriculum, students are required to complete 6 hours in Communication. They have 6 courses to choose from to meet this requirement, including RWS 1301: Rhetoric & Composition I and RWS 1302: Rhetoric & Composition II.  Students can also take ENGL 1313: Writing about Literature, RWS 1601: Rhetoric, Composition & Communication, or COMM 1611: Written & Oral Communication.

The current curriculum was built using grant funds that were designed to help large section courses improve student performance and become more efficient. 1301 is a face-to-face course, and 1302 meets in a hybrid format: students meet with their instructor and classmates one time per week and complete the remainder of the coursework asynchonously online. RWS 1302 builds on the skills introduced in RWS 1301 in order to help students master rhetorical and composing strategies. The primary goal of RWS 1302 is to develop students’ critical thinking skills to facilitate effective communication in all educational, professional, and social contexts. Assignments often mirror those from 1301 but require more proficiency and command of knowledge domains found in both courses.

In RWS 1301:Rhetoric & Composition I, students learn to:

• Understand a theory of discourse communities
• Develop composing processes appropriate to writing style, audience, and assignment
• Engage with a community of writers who dialogue across texts, argue, and build on each other’s work
• Address the specific, immediate rhetorical situations of individual communicative acts
• Develop 21st century technological literacies needed for researching and composing
• Learn to formulate research questions, methods for resea rch, and analyze and synthesize material
• Apply research to various genres and receive instruction in the logic and form of documentation within the American Psychological Association (APA) discipline
• Learn writing strategies for integrating source material into your own prose (quoted, paraphrased, and summarized material)
• Use reflective learning strategies to self-assess learning and understanding
• Think, read, and write analytically

In RWS 1302:Rhetoric & Composition II, students learn to:

• Describe and utilize the contents of the UTEP Library in a variety of forms and areas of professional study (e.g. the arts, humanities, sciences, nursing, social sciences, business, engineering, and education)
• Analyze and synthesize material from outside sources
• Formulate research questions
• Develop an understanding of the significance of data and how to rhetorically apply data to various genres
• Apply research to various genres
• Compose using the logic and form of documentation within a discipline (APA style)
• Practice writing strategies for integrating source material into your own prose (quoted, paraphrased, and summarized material)
• Write analytical and argumentative projects appropriate to genres and larger discourse communities

In both 1301 and 1302, there were standardized major assignments and rubrics, and all courses used the in-house e-handbook and program-built Blackboard shells as course texts. Instructors had autonomy over what they chose to use from the e-handbook, the scaffolding of assignments, and even the order of assignments.

In terms of digital assignments, each course included a visual argument (with presentation) and an e-portfolio. Choice was built into these standardized assignments; for example, with RWS 1301's e-portfolio, instructors could structure the assignment as a blog or website and students could choose between a reflective or pre-professional version. Likewise, the visual argument for RWS 1302 allowed students to choose between creating a documentary or open educational resource.

The program also held an end-of-semester FYC Frontier Fiesta for RWS 1302, where nominated projects in both categories were showcased and then evaluated for a prize.

Visual Argument

Overview of the Visual Argument

Effective discourse takes many forms and uses a variety of media. The final project allows you to explore the community issue that you have spent a large part of the semester focusing on in a multimedia form. You will employ multimedia to advocate your position in your researched topic. In addition, you will write a reflection detailing your rhetorical choices and a reflection on the writing process in the creation of your infograph(ic). You will also present your visual argument as an additional assignment. 

At this point, you have formally observed, researched, and reported on your discourse community and chosen topic. In this section, you will apply what you have learned thus far to the writing of an original multimodal project suitable for public consumption. There are two components to this assignment: The Visual Argument Project and a Project Assessment Reflection Memo. You will also have a Visual Argument Presentation assignment that follows. 

Student Learning Objectives

• Advocate for a position across various modalities
• Adapt a writing process to a multimodal project
• Utilize technology for rhetorical projects
• Present research for a visual and aural discourse community
• Recognize different genre requirements

Option A: Infograph(ic)

As your final project, the purpose of an infograph(ic) is to familiarize you with the process of creating a multimedia document. Specifically, you will learn how to utilize technology and non-standard media to convey a clear and straightforward message. The Reflection, which will accompany your infograph(ic), has two purposes. First, it reinforces your familiarity with writing a reflection memo. Second, and more importantly, it encourages you to reflect on the rhetorical choices that you made in the creation of your infograph(ic).

Option B: Public service announcement (PSA) 

The purpose of creating a PSA as your final project is to familiarize you with the process of creating a multimedia document. Specifically, you will learn how to utilize technology and non-standard media to convey a clear and straightforward message. The Reflection, which will accompany your PSA, has two purposes. First, it reinforces your familiarity with writing a reflection memo. Second, and more importantly, it encourages you to reflect on and articulate the rhetorical choices that you made in the creation of your PSA.

More detail about the Audience, Content Requirements, and Contstraints can be found  on the Assignment Sheet artifact page or in the Gallery below.

E-Portfolio/Blog

Overview

While there are many types of e-portfolios, all share several common characteristics. Well-designed e-portfolios favorably impress their intended audience of the value of the material archived within it. This assignment is an educational e-portfolio that will serve as a chronicle of your academic work and framing it with reflections that tell the story of your learning to an audience of peers, professors, and potential employers. Furthermore, your e-portfolio can be used showcase your learning from all your courses.

Throughout this course, you will reflect on your experiences as a writer, explore the practices of other communities of writers, and engage with scholarly discussions about writing. This assignment will give you an opportunity to revisit your work and articulate how you developed as a writer throughout the semester. By critically considering the development of your writing process in response to different rhetorical contexts, your e-portfolio will provide you with a detailed account of the writing skills and attitudes with which you leave this class, while providing you with the knowledge of composing in an online medium.

Student Learning Objectives

• Identify artifacts to showcase for future intern, scholarship, and career opportunities
• Gain experience creating a digital presence that pertains to your chosen degree plan
• Reflect on your work and measure your growth as a writer in the University’s discourse community, as well as the assets you developed through course assignments
• Understand how to effectively showcase work to visually display your best academic achievements
• Demonstrate effective rhetorical design choices, such as readability and navigability

Option A: Reflection E-Portfolio/Blog

Elements: Home page (introduce yourself and the purpose of your website), Assignment reflections, Course reading reflection, Visual design, Appropriate fair use. 

Option B: Pre-Professional E-Portfolio 

Elements: About Me page, Reflection/Blog page, Assignment reflections, Assignment page, CV

Extended E-Portfolio/Blog

Overview of the E-Portfolio/Blog

While there are many types of e-portfolios, all share several common characteristics. Well-designed e-portfolios favorably impress their intended audience of the value of the material archived within it. This assignment is an educational e-portfolio that will serve as a chronicle of your academic work and framing it with reflections that tell the story of your learning to an audience of peers, professors, and potential employers. Furthermore, your e-portfolio can be used showcase your learning from all your courses.

Throughout this course, you will reflect on your experiences as a writer, explore the practices of other communities of writers, and engage with scholarly discussions about writing. This assignment will give you an opportunity to revisit your work and articulate how you developed as a writer throughout the semester. By critically considering the development of your writing process in response to different rhetorical contexts, your e-portfolio will provide you with a detailed account of the writing skills and attitudes with which you leave this class, while providing you with the knowledge of composing in an online medium.

Student Learning Objectives

• Appeal to a general discourse community 
• Understand websites as a genre
• Demonstrate your ethos and expertise concerning your topic
• Understand how writing changes in an online environment

Option A: Extended Professional E-Portfolio

This assignment is a continuation of the professional e-portfolio begun in 1301. For this assignment, you will be adding components more focused on your future profession.

Elements: Statement of purpose page, blog page, CV page, Open Educational Resource (OER) page or documentary page

Option B: Advocacy Website and Op Ed

The Advocacy Website assignment advocates your position on a topic by providing an online forum to do so. This project helps you understand how your connection to the community begins in the classroom. Remember, that the goal is advocacy of your subject/topic of your literature review. The Advocacy Website will allow you to design a webpage to persuade a public audience on your topic. Using the template provided on Weebly or other web authoring software, create a website that represents how you understand and appreciate the topic or subject you have chosen. 

Elements: Homepage, About Me page, Resources page, Op Ed page

Advanced Visual Argument Assignment 

Overview of the Advanced Visual Argument

You have worked on understanding discourse communities, completed a genre analysis, conducted empirical research, and analyzed your findings in the literature review/research report. Now you will use this knowledge to advocate a position in a multimodal project intended for a specific audience.

This assignment is a visual expression that seeks to stay factual and represent reality. It has some artistic point of view, a message of some sort, a moral or ideological ambition--in short, a wish to make a difference, to change the world, or at least, the way in which some relevant audience will look upon the world or themselves. As college students you have both opportunity and responsibility to be heard, to educate your community and produce a valuable piece of work that can be used to create change.

Why are we creating a visual argument in a writing class?

In a 21st-century college career, visual rhetoric plays an important role. While traditional written text remains valuable, we must also be aware of the opportunities provided by technology as evidenced by YouTube, Vimeo, and the enormous influence of film from the big screen to video uploaded from a cell phone; the visual is powerful.

With new assignments like this one, your challenge is to re-think what it means to “compose.” You are faced with a different way to consider and utilize rhetoric, research, and writing. And perhaps more importantly, the skills you will acquire, both academic and technological are transferrable to the other disciplines you will enter.

This assignment offers the perfect opportunity to understand rhetorical situations and is a wonderful way for you and your peers to positively contribute to your generation’s present and future condition.

Student Learning Objectives

• Advocate for a position across various modalites
• Adapt a writing process to a multimodal project 
• Utilize technology for rhetorical projects 
• Present research for a visual and aural discourse community 
• Recognize different genre requirements (FYC Handbook, 238)

Option A: Documentary

For this assignment, you will plan, write, film, and edit a documentary film that creates awareness and advocates for a change in thinking or behavior concerning a topic. Your film should attempt to persuade a specific audience and have a specific purpose. The length of film should be approximately 4-6 minutes long. This assignment is designed for groups but can be done individually.

Option B: Open Educational Resource

Create a five-minute video that explains one concept from your academic
concentration or from an organization of your choice. For example, if you are a rhetorician, you might create a video on what a discourse community is, or you might explain ethos (what it is, how to recognize it, how to use it). Each college, department, program and course on campus uses specific concepts that newcomers must master in order to enter the community’s discourse. This assignment is designed to take your rhetorical and writing skills out of the classroom and into academic and professional communities that reflect your interests.

Below, find direct links to teaching materials used to implement the curriculum for this particular institution. Note, you can also find all teaching materials for all institutions in the resource repository by clicking here.

Below, find direct links to teaching materials used to implement the curriculum for this particular institution. Note, you can also find all teaching materials for all institutions in the resource repository by clicking here.