CA233:
Meeting Times, Location, & Course Delivery Details
Contact Information
Davis, M., & Hunt, J. (2017). Visual communication design: An introduction to design concepts in everyday experience. Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
**A BOOK MAJORS/MINORS SHOULD KEEP**
SR (Supplementary Readings): All other readings are available on Blackboard and are marked “SR” in the course schedule.
NOTE: All students must get into the practice of saving their work to the OneDrive so it is available on campus and remotely.
Course Description:
This course serves as an introduction to creative thinking techniques such as idea generating,
brainstorming, message mapping, and lateral thinking. Group logistics are taught and practiced in various applications including problem solving, interviewing, and project management. Students will explore the major theoretical underpinnings of communication art and design and apply them in creating and analyzing design with how users interact with it as a central focus.
Course Goals: Upon completion of this course, students shall…
- Use creative approaches to solve a problem.
- Practice dual processing by engaging in multiple creative approaches (e.g. brainstorming, idea generating, sketchnoting) to the same problem.
- Understand and analyze the historical and/or conceptual references of an existing medium.
- Apply communication theory and design theory in a variety of contexts.
Tentative Schedule
Subject to change during the semester. Adequate notice of changes will be given.
Week | Objectives/Goals | Readings | Assignments (Sketchnotes due Tuesday by 1:00 p.m. unless noted) |
1: | Welcome!
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| 10/17 is the last day to add/drop ASI classes. |
2: 10/21-10/23 | Communication Models
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3: 10/28-10/30 | Getting Attention [with Visual Messages]
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4: 11/4-11/6 | Orienting for Use/Interpretation
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5: 11/11-11/13 | Interacting, Interpreting, Experiencing
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6: 11/18-11/20 | Retaining and Extending Meaning
CRITICAL ANALYSIS INTRODUCTION |
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7: 11/25 | Critical Analysis Presentations |
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8: 12/2 | Exam in class no early or make-ups will be allowed) |
Assessment and Evaluation:
The following assignments are required for all students to complete in order to successfully advance into the second half of the capstone. You can find basic descriptions for these assignments below as well as detailed ones on Blackboard. All assignments must be turned in on Blackboard, where you can find grading rubrics for each.
Please note:
Absolutely no late assignments will be accepted in order to maintain the pace and integrity of the course.
No exceptions.
Attendance/Participation (directly and indirectly affects your entire course grade): Students are expected to fully immerse themselves in the course by attending class and lab sessions each day and by adequately preparing for these meetings. Students are expected to complete the required readings prior to each class, think about what you read, take notes on your readings, research any questions that come up, talk about the readings with others, etc. Important material in the books may not always be covered in class, but you will still be responsible for understanding it. Class meetings provide an opportunity for students to bring up the parts of the readings that you wish to comment on, disagree with, or ask about, so it is essential that all are prepared when such topics arise.
Assignments/Assessment:
- Sketchnotes (30%): Beginning during Week #2, you will take sketchnotes of the reading assignments for each week (through the end of Week #6) and will turn those in prior to class on Mondays for assessment (other than the first one). These notes should include written and visual elements arranged in a logical format, and with accurate review of the most important concepts in the reading. A rubric for evaluating your sketchnotes is available on Blackboard, and will also be distributed in class along with the sketchnote template. NOTE: If you have a laptop (with stylus), an iPad, or prefer a sketchbook, you will need one of these for taking sketchnotes. If you take them on paper, you will need a smart phone with camera or a camera that can connect to the Internet so that you can photograph and upload your sketchnote images to Blackboard. NO PAPER SUBMISSIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED.
- Communication Challenges (15%): During relevant class periods, students will be randomly assigned to bring examples of visual media to discuss in small groups in order to “solve” communication challenges. These will be announced in class, and are a great way to be interactive with classmates whilst also promoting active class attendance. This will also serve as training students to feel more comfortable conducting critical analysis through practicing brainstorming solutions/improvements. Details will be announced when these challenges appear.
- Critical Analysis (30%): Students will produce an analysis of a print advertising campaign. This analysis must include discussion of at least 10 different elements/theories of design discussed in this course (e.g., symmetry, edge, metaphor, stereotype). This analysis should be structured as a formal presentation with an identifiable introduction, analysis/discussion, and conclusion. It should also include proper references in APA format. A rubric is available on Blackboard. This will include an oral/visual presentation to the class. Students may work in dyads.
- Final Exam (25%): Students will be assessed on their knowledge of course concepts via multiple choice, short answer, essay, and application questions. This will occur during the final day of the class, and no early or make-up exams will be offered.
A NOTE ON CLASSROOM ENGAGEMENT: This is not a lecture-based class. It is based on the sharing of insights and the integration of important concepts. We will take responsibility for teaching and learning from each other. If you attend every class but rarely contribute to class discussions, you cannot expect an “A” in the course. The more you contribute, the higher your grade will become. Students are expected to complete the required readings prior to each class, think about what you read, take notes on your readings, research any questions that come up, talk about the readings with others, etc. Important material in the book may not always be covered in class, but you will still be responsible for understanding it. Class meetings provide an opportunity for students to bring up the parts of the readings that you wish to comment on, disagree with, or ask about, so it is essential that all are prepared when such topics arise.
The grading scale will be as follows:
Grades:
Grades are an important part of assessing your performance in class. Thus, I take the management and calculation of grades extremely seriously. It is against College policy (because of FERPA) to discuss the details of grades electronically. It is your responsibility to understand how the grades are calculated as well as maintain your progress throughout the course. You should also reflect upon class attendance, performance (e.g., being alert), and participation (e.g., making relevant comments) when considering your grade as these all affect it (see course requirements). E-mails regarding your grade will not be returned nor will phone calls be accepted. If, at the end of the term, you can demonstrate that you believe I have made a mistake and that you have calculated your grade correctly (and can provide all documentation including all graded assignments), you may discuss your grade with me in person or via Zoom. With Blackboard, it is very easy to monitor your grade without having to do any complicated calculations. PLEASE NOTE: The schema in Blackboard may not display the correct letter grade per my grading scale, so please look at the percentage and find the corresponding letter grade in the table below.
Grading Scale:
| A = above 93.99% | A- = 93.99 – 91% |
B+ = 90.99 – 88% | B = 87.99 – 84% | B- = 83.99 – 81% |
C+ = 80.99 – 78% | C = 77.99 – 74% | C- = 73.99 – 71% |
D+ = 70.99 – 68% | D = 67.99 – 60.00% |
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| F = below 60.00% |
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Instructor Course Policies
Attendance:
Class attendance and participation are essential aspects of our schedule, so if you are not here and active, then learning and judgments about that learning are impossible. Thus, I will not give any credit for missed classes.
Students are expected to attend all classes. The final grade reflects class attendance (included in class participation and performance). Missing class without an approved written excuse will mean a failing grade for any in-class work and participation for that class. Equally important, it will strongly affect your final grade in other ways: missing important information that impacts your ability to successfully complete assignments and succeed on the exams. If students do miss a class, a courtesy office visit, phone call, or email is appreciated, and the student is responsible for any work missed. It is also imperative that you let me know before you are missing a class (whenever possible) and that you turn in work due during that class period prior to the absence. Student-athletes should provide me with a schedule of contests as well as be proactive in communicating about absences. No early or make-up exams are given, except under rare special circumstances such as a dire medical emergency, verifiable by written excuse.
Arriving late or leaving early will be counted by the professor as an ABSENCE, as attendance is taken at the beginning of each class and monitored for the duration of the session. Anyone missing the equivalent of 3 days or more of class will automatically fail the course. See the current Student Handbook for the college’s Attendance policy especially as it pertains to excused absences.
Academic Integrity:
As the College Catalog indicates, academic dishonesty in any form, including plagiarism of written documents, whether covered by copyright protection or not, or falsely claiming another person’s work as one’s own, will not be tolerated.
Effective learning, teaching and research all depend upon the ability of members of the academic community to trust one another and to trust the integrity of work that is submitted for academic credit or conducted in the wider arena of scholarly research.
Such an atmosphere of mutual trust fosters the free exchange of ideas and enables all members of the community to achieve their highest potential.
In all academic work, the ideas and contributions of others must be appropriately acknowledged and work that is presented as original must be, in fact, original. Faculty, students and staff all share the responsibility of ensuring the honesty and fairness of the intellectual environment. Students found in violation of this policy will receive a grade of “F” for the course upon the professor’s findings and will be reported to the Academic Dean per the College Catalog’s guidelines. See the current Student Handbook for the college’s Academic Integrity policies as they pertain to examinations, plagiarism, classroom behavior, and the process for handling academic misconduct charges. Academic misconduct can take on many forms.
Lying: Lying is communicating untruths or misrepresentations in order to gain an unfair academic or employment advantage.
It includes, but is not limited to:
- misrepresenting one’s own research;
- providing false or misleading information in order to be excused from classes or assignments; or
- intentionally underperforming on an assignment or exam
Cheating: Cheating is the act of wrongfully using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, study aids, or the ideas or work of another to gain an unfair advantage. It includes, but is not limited to:
- plagiarism on any assignment;
- giving unauthorized aid to another student or receiving unauthorized aid from another person on tests, quizzes, assignments or examinations;
- using or consulting unauthorized materials or using unauthorized equipment or devices on tests, quizzes, assignments or examinations;
- altering or falsifying any information on tests, quizzes, assignments or examinations;
- using any material portion of a paper or project to fulfill the requirements of more than one course unless the student has received prior faculty permission to do so;
- working on any examination, test, quiz or assignment outside of the time constraints imposed;
- submitting an altered examination or assignment to an instructor for re-grading; or
- failing to adhere to an instructor’s specific directions with respect to the terms of academic integrity or academic honesty
“Plagiarism” occurs when a student, with intent to deceive or with reckless disregard for proper scholarly procedures, presents any information, ideas or phrasing of another as if they were his/her own and/or does not give appropriate credit to the original source. Proper scholarly procedures require that all quoted material be identified by quotation marks or indentation on the page, and the source of information and ideas, if from another, must be identified and be attributed to that source. Students are responsible for learning proper scholarly procedures in American Psychological Association format.
Artificial Intelligence: Certain assignments in this course will permit or even encourage the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT. When AI use is permissible, it will be clearly stated in the assignment prompt posted in Blackboard. Otherwise, the default is that use of generative AI is not allowed. In assignments where generative AI tools are allowed, their use must be appropriately acknowledged and cited. For example, if you generated the whole document through ChatGPT and edited it for accuracy, your submitted work would need to include a note such as “I generated this work through Chat GPT and edited the content for accuracy.” Paraphrasing or quoting smaller samples of AI generated content must be appropriately acknowledged and cited, following the guidelines established by the APA Style Guide. It is each student’s responsibility to assess the validity and applicability of any AI output that is submitted. You may not earn full credit if inaccurate on invalid information is found in your work. Deviations from the guidelines above will be considered violations of WC’s academic integrity policy. Note that expectations for “plagiarism, cheating, and acceptable assistance” on student work may vary across your courses and instructors. Please email me or schedule a meeting with me if you have questions regarding what is permissible and not for a particular course or assignment.
Institutional and Program-Level Policies
All exams will follow the Final Exam Schedule. Students scheduled to take three or more final examinations on one day may request to arrange their examination schedule, so no more than two exams occur on one day.
Requests for early or late exams are considered only under extreme circumstances. Prior to the exam period, the student must file a written request on the Early/Late Exam Form available in the Student One Stop Center, Academic Records, and on the WC portal. The form must be signed by the Instructor and the Academic Dean, approving the alternate exam time. This process must be completed prior to the scheduled exam period.
Undergraduate: SP25 Final Exam Schedule Graduate:
Out-of-class Work Expectation A minimum of 2 hours of out-of-class student work is expected for each hour of in-class time for traditional face-to-face courses. For online and hybrid courses, the combination of face-to-face time and out-of-class work should be equal to 3 hours per credit hour per week. |
Instructional Course Delivery |
Academic Integrity Policy The use of generative AI is prohibited except where expressly allowed in assignment instructions. |
Class Attendance Policy |
Accessibility and Disability Services
Accessibility and Disability Services
Wilmington College provides accommodations and services for student with a variety of disabilities, including chronic illnesses, psychological, physical, medical, learning, and sensory disability amongst others. If you anticipate or experience barriers based on disability and feel you may need a reasonable accommodation to fulfill the essential functions of this course, you are encouraged to contact:
Spencer Izor, Associate Vice President of Compliance - Title IX/ADA Coordinator at spencer.izor@wilmington.edu or 937-481-2365 or Nathan Flack, Academic Resource Manager at 937-481-2208 to learn more about the process and procedures for requesting accommodations, or by visiting College Hall Room 306a or the Robinson Communication Center, Room 103.
Religious Accommodations
Wilmington College strives for an inclusive climate and welcomes students from all backgrounds, faiths, and experiences. If religious observance impedes your ability to participate fully in classroom activities or a principal holiday from your religious tradition occurs during the semester and conflicts with class meetings or activities, please make the professor aware of this immediately to determine if a reasonable accommodation is possible.