Welcome!

1. Introduction

Course Description: The purpose of this studio course is to offer a practice based learning environment with an Art & Text focus. It will provide a context and framework for students to learn about, and explore how text operates within contemporary visual culture, and within their own art practices.  A core learning outcome is to examine current practices that engage with text in a number of ways; from text-as-image, to artworks that use the book form, to works that include text and employ alternative structures of distribution (libraries, online database projects, hypertext experiments, etc.) to sound and writing-based art practices.  By working on independent text-based art projects, students will actively engage with text within their individual art practices, while considering the current discourse and production within the field.

This course will be run much like any face-to-face (f2f) senior-level studio course. You will be required to make 1-2 independant bodies of work related to the course topic, with one mid-term and one final critique. You will each have at least one individual meeting with me during the term, and there will be a sries of assignments, presentations, readings, discussions, and slide lectures along the way.

Most of the course will run asyncronously (meaning we will not met up as a group online at a specific time) but there will be times where scheduled meetings/critiques will take place (times and dates TBD).

I have set the course to start on Wednesdays, so each new week will begin on a Wednesday, and all assignments and weekly tasks will be due at 5pm on Wednesdays.

2. Moodle

Working with Moodle
- Moodle is the course management system used by ECU for its online offerings. Most of the online courses at ECU are through Moodle.

- Moodle has two columns of information. The left column contains the course. The side column will have information on students' profiles, a calender, latest news and a search function for the various activities (Forums, Assignments, Books, etc.)

- The course will appear the best in the browser 'Firefox' which you can download for free from the web. Safari and Internet Explorer may change some of the settings which means that pages may be viewed incorrectly.

-Take this first week of class to try things out in the course. Along the way, I will answer any questions you might have. After some trial and error you will get the hang of it.

Moodle: A Course Management System (CMS)

The Course Management System (CMS) of this course is Moodle. Moodle software allows us to interact with each other and electronically manages all our activities. It's important that you take the time to try different features on this site and become familiar with it. I will also try to provide you with enough information in the beginning to help you to navigate through the site in order to do what you need to do.

Course Content
- Read the course outline before you go any further. It will always be available as a resource at the top of the page.

- Each section of this course represents a week and a specific theme. Please read the course activities in the order that they are presented in a particular week. Most of the course content is hidden until the week approaches, at which point I will reveal all relevant resources. Some assignments and readings have been left visible so you can plan your schedule, or work ahead.

- Part of my role as the instructor is to act as a facilitator and to provide organization, content and technical help in moving through the online experience. Feel free to ask questions in the Forums on the week's topic so that everyone can participate in the learning curve.

- You are expected to make regular weekly contributions via the Forums. See the Course Outline and Participation and Grading Breakdown resource for information on assignments and grading.

- All written assignments should be written in proper English. Try to do the same in the Forum discussions. While you will not be graded for spelling and grammar in the Forums, please avoid unnecessary abbreviations, cursing and aggressive behavior.

Moodle Activities and Resources

The Book Activity
This online course takes various forms. The Book activity can be found once in a while under a week's list of activities. You can also find it under Books in the block in the upper right hand column called Activities. (If you get lost, come back to this page by clicking on the course name VAST 305 S090 in the upper left 'bread crumb trail'.)

The Resource Activity
All assignments, handouts, etc. are available as resources. You can also access all Resources in the right hand column of the online course. Resources comprise extra technical and conceptual content that are linked to other places on the Web as well as to documents (pdfs) that you may find useful.

The Forum Activity
Class communication is conducted in the activity called Forums through written conversations. You will see we use various Forums for questions, discussions, announcements and critiques. This is a key component as it is equivalent to attendance and participation in a F2F class.

There are also separate Forums in the first week called News and Questions. Ask technical questions here that can be answered either by the instructor or perhaps another student. If you are having specific problems, email: online-help@ecuad.ca

The Assignment Activity
And finally, all the course assignments are also presented in the activity called Assignments. All assignments must be upload by a specific date and time, so please pay attention to due dates.

3. Expectations

Here are the things you'll be doing on a weekly basis:

1. Each week there will be a topic, with a series of resources, and a set of assignments and/or activities (such as readings, presentation, or group critique). You must keep on top of the weekly activities, assignments and discussions. You are required to look at, and understand all of the resources provided - these form the core of the learning process in this course. These range from handouts to slide lectures to websites to readings. More info will come...

2. You are expected to keep on top of all assignments and ensure they are handed in on time. I do not accept late assignments. Information on all assignments are included under Assignments on the right bar of the main page. All work will be submitted online.

3. You will be graded for participation in large part on the quantity and quality of your forum posts, so please be attentive to this aspect of the course.  You will also be graded on the level of interaction you exhibit in the online environment.  Please keep in mind I can see everything you do online - from the number of times you view a resource, to the times you have logged in, posted to a forum, and so forth. You are expected to post regularly every week to the appropriate Forum (depending on the week's activities). You should address any questions or discussion topics I give you for the week, as well as any other issues, problems, realizations, or topics you wish to discuss with the group. You can always post additional discussions in the Discussion Forum, questions in the Question Forum, artwork/writing/other work in the Gallery Forum (for display or feedback), or announcements in the News Forum.

It is important that you all put aside the time to do the work required for this course, as well as discuss, post and participate. I should also inform you that while I will often let the discussions flow without my intervention, I can always see what each student is doing and what type of activity they have had on the site… it is a little bit "Big Brother", but it is one of the ways I will measure your participation.

4. My office hours are held 'online' on Tuesdays from approximately 10-11 am PST, so if you need to get in touch with me quickly email me or message me through the course site during this time. I am also available for online appointments at other times on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so email me if you would like to 'meet'. (This may change, so check back here to see when they are currently held.)

5. A note about email and keeping in contact. I am available through this site and by email throughout the week, as well as during office hours, however, I will not respond to emails during weekends and most evenings. You can expect a response during the week within 48 hours of posting a message or emailing me, so please be patient; just because this course is online does not mean that you will be able to reach me at any time. Please be careful to pay both me and your fellow students the courtesy of polite, well composed correspondence and allow for adequate time for a response.

4. Technical Requirements

All students enrolled in the course MUST have access to the proper technical equipment. Without access to all of the following items, you will not be able to complete assignments, or to engage in the course:

1. An up-to-date computer, that you can access for a MINIMUM of 6 hours per week, with internet access (high speed is strongly recommended).

2. The following software: Microsoft Word or another editing program, Powerpoint, Firefox (you can download for free).

3. Access to a scanner and/or a digital camera that is compatible with your computer (this means you would be able to hook the camera up to your computer and upload the images right onto your computer.) If you are in Vancouver you are able to access a scanner in one of the computer labs, and possibly a digital camera from AV.  A high quality camera on a smartphone could also work - you just need to make sure you can adequately document your work to upload to the course site for critiques etc. Adobe Photoshop (CS3, CS4, CS5 or CS6) or another photo editing program is also strongly recommended to process your images.