Course Syllabus

Be up-to-date with this reading and study schedule and you will be ahead of lecture, and thus certain to get good grades. Do not stay up-to-date and the opposite will be true. The Mid-Term and Final Examinations will exclusively test weekly lecture material: the Examinations are designed to reward fidelity to this schedule and class punctuality and attendance.

READING & STUDY SCHEDULE

January 7th: Early Vancouver Short Fiction: Online, in-class
January 14th: Ethel Wilson, The Innocent Traveller
January 21rd: Ethel Wilson, The Innocent Traveller
January 28th: Joy Kogawa, Obasan
February 4th: Joy Kogawa, Obasan. Due date for Group Project Proposal.
February 11th: John Mills, Runner in the Dark
February 18th: Mid-Term Examination preparation
February 25th:  Mid-Term Examination

March 4th: John Mills, Runner in the Dark

March 11th: Douglas Coupland, jPod
March 18th: Douglas Coupland, jPod
March 25th: Gurjinder Basran: Everything Was Good-bye
April 1st: Gurjinder Basran: Everything Was Good-bye
April 8th: Final Examination preparation 
April 15th: Final Examination

Nb: “For purposes of the Class Participation Grade, attendance and punctuality in seminar and at lecture, as well as contributions to discussion, and ongoing Twitter participation, are necessary conditions.

The course format will include lecture, discussion, and both individual and group activities.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

20% Productive participation

20% Mid-term Examination

25% Group Online Project

35% Final Examination

n   Course Learning Outcomes & Competencies

Upon completion of this Course, the student will be able to identify the component characteristics of the novel and the short story, be able to recognise them in their place, be able to judge the degree of their successful function in the particular work, and be able to evaluate the artistic quality of the whole work. That is, the student will have developed the basis for literary criticism and discernment.

Of the particular setting of the books under study in the Course, the student will come to possess knowledge of the lived history, people, and--most importantly--character of the City of Vancouver. Although character, or 'personality', or, even, identity, is an ineffable, indefinable, and inexact aspect; it is nonetheless—very real—and is nowhere better expressed (indeed it is nowhere better created) than in literary fiction.

Beside reading, analysing, and discussing the books and short stories on the course syllabus, the student will meet and listen to some of authors, and visit and appreciate the places and settings upon which the texts are best.

Along with improvement in literary competancy, the student upon completion of this Course will be much improved in ability to write professionally, through instruction in, and assignment practice of,  principles and mechanics of online written prose excellence.

And, as Final Cause, upon completion of the Course, the student will have gained a transformative experiential understanding of Vancouver which will enable him to optimally involve the civic dimension in his future business, professional, community, and political engagements in the city. 

n   Course Goals

This Course will study the literary representation of the city of Vancouver in its works of literature: from oral, to book, to online. Through close analysis of a chronological series of fictional works, the student will come to a greatly improved understanding of Vancouver past, present, and yet to come. Through reading, lecture, discussion, group engage, visiting writers, field work, and online writing, a working knowledge of the subject matter will develop. The material outcome will be the creation of a research website to serve as a lasting gateway resource for local, national, and international students.

Note:  Should changes be required to the content of this course outline, students will be given reasonable notice.

n   Information for Students

·         Academic Honesty: As stated in BCIT Student Regulations Policy #5104, “academic honesty is expected and required by all students. This included ethical conduct, academic integrity, adherence to the facts, and trustworthiness.” You are required to be familiar with the plagiarism definitions and provision of this policy. Assignments will be checked for plagiarism. Anti-plagiarism software, Turnitin.com will be used. Incidents of cheating or plagiarism can result in a grade of zero for the assignment, quiz, test, exam, or project for all parties involved and/or expulsion from the course.

·         Accommodation: Any student who may require accommodation from BCIT because of a physical or mental disability should refer to BCIT’s Policy on Accommodation for Students with Disabilities (Policy #4501), and contact BCIT’s Disability Resource Centre at the earliest possible time.  Requests for accommodation must be made to the Disability Resource Centre, and should not be made to a course instructor or Program area. Any student who needs special assistance in the event of a medical emergency or building evacuation (either because of a disability or for any other reason) should also promptly inform their course instructor(s) and the Disability Resource Centre of their personal circumstances 

·         Attempts: Students must successfully complete a course within a maximum of three attempts at the course. Students with two attempts in a single course will be allowed to repeat the course only upon special written permission from the Associate Dean. Students who have not successfully completed a course within three attempts will not be eligible to graduate from the appropriate program.

·         Attendance: The attendance policy as outlined in the current BCIT Calendar will be enforced. Attendance will be taken on calculated weeks. Students not present at that time will be recorded as absent.

·         Conduct: Consideration of others as reflected by language and demeanour that encourage reasoned discussion is expected. Negative, inconsiderate, disruptive behaviour and non-professional, offensive language are inappropriate and unacceptable; see BCIT policies covering harassment, discrimination, and conduct.

 n   Assignment Details

·         Assignments must be done individually unless otherwise specified by the Instructor. Hard copies of take-home assignments are required and are due at the beginning of the class specified. They should be neatly word-processed on 8.5 x 11" unlined white paper. Take-home assignments should follow APA or MLA format guidelines.

·         Assignments received after the deadline will receive a grade of 0% unless accompanied by written documentation of medical incapacity or personal bereavement. For bereavement exemption, a scanned copy of the Order of Service or published notice of death accompanied by proof of relation is required. For medical exemption, a signed letter, on letterhead, (i.e. not a doctor's note) is required from a physician or surgeon stipulating that a medical condition prevented work on the assignment over the full period in which the assignment was active.

·         There will be no makeup tests, exams or quizzes. You must complete all assignments to be eligible to pass the course. If corrections are required, you must make them and resubmit the assignment in order for the grade to be recorded. Keep a hard copy of all take-home assignments. Under no circumstances can you submit the same assignment twice or submit an assignment you have prepared for another class.

n   Meaning of Grades

For students, the grade on an assignment is sometimes disappointing. For Instructors, determining the appropriate grade is often challenging. The central fact about assignment grading to keep in mind is that the Instructor can only grade what is there on the page: an Instructor cannot grade what was is the student's head at the time that the assignment was written. What the student thought, or wanted to write, intended to write, understood to be writing, and connected and assumed while writing (all the italicised words here are purely internal states of the mind) are simply not available to the Instructor to grade. Thus your grade is a reflection of the assignment that you hand in, not a grade of your intellectual quality, capacity, or potentiality. A grade is, to repeat, merely and entirely a grade of the assignment.

Assignments are seldom all good or all bad, so the virtues of a particular assignment must be balanced against its defects to determine the final grade. This process involves more than counting up the number of red marks and subtracting the total from 100. The following explanation will help you understand the meaning of your grades in this course for papers or essay-type quiz or exam questions (Edited from Judy Brown, Writing Effective Essays. Vancouver: Office of Distance Education and Technology, University of British Columbia.)

·         80-100% — Outstanding: This paper must be fully focused on the topic and consistently strong in its structure, content, expression, mechanics, and presentation. The paper should contain an original and credible argument in response to the assigned topic, and, if applicable, full documentation. Any significant errors of expression that detract from the paper's effectiveness would mean that the paper could not earn an “outstanding” mark.

·    68-79% — Competent: This paper must be well focused on the topic: its thesis must be well supported by convincing evidence, explanations, and, if applicable, full documentation. The paper's organization must be strong and clear; its thesis specific and significant. If the paper contains errors of expression, they must be occasional rather than chronic, and must not obscure meaning. The "competent" paper differs from the "outstanding" paper in the quality and level of argument, and may rely more heavily on materials and arguments raised in lectures and discussions.

·         50-67% — Adequate: A paper at this level is generally clear in its expression, but weaker in content than a paper at the “competent” level. Its thesis may be vague (but still on topic); its transitions may be inconsistent; its evidence may be occasionally unconvincing or incomplete. Language errors will be more frequent than those at the “competent” level, but will not be so serious or so chronic that they make a paper difficult or impossible to understand.

·    0-49% — Inadequate: A paper at this level will suffer from one or more of the following serious flaws: it may be off topic; it may lack a thesis; it may lack clear and adequate development and paragraphing; it may be deficient in the presentation of evidence; it may contain serious and repeated errors in sentence structure, diction, and grammar — errors that obscure meaning.