Course Texts
We'll be using the following required text:
Lundgren, Regina and Andrea McMakin. Risk Communication: A Handbook for Communicating Environmental, Safety, and Health Risks. Wiley-IEEE Press. 2008. ISBN: 978-0-470-42213-7.
Additional readings include various articles and Web sites
that I will assign throughout the course and that you will
choose as part of your work.
Course Objectives
This course will help you:
- identify and evaluate social and psychological "outrage" factors that affect perceptions of risk
- consider the relationship between risk perception and the rhetoric of risk
- analyze purposes and audiences for warnings, instructions, signage, PSAs, as well as extended written, oral, and visual information about risks and risk management
- develop comprehensible and usable of information about risk for various audiences, including limited literacy audiences, aimed at increasing audience compliance with risk information
- learn effective uses of visuals and design to reduce risk (and liability)
The course involves reading, discussion, several short writing assignments, and a course project in which each student will complete a project focused on a risk issue of the student’s choice. Students read interdisciplinary texts (theory as well as studies about risk perception and risk communication), write several short responses to case studies, conduct and report on small pilot research studies designed to determine the effectiveness of risk information, and write an individual paper based on pilot research.
Working Online
Blackboard. We will use Blackboard as the primary tool for working through the course. To access Blackboard, go to https://blackboard.ecu.edu/ or go to the ECU homepage and click the link for Blackboard. You will need your ECU ID and password to log on to Blackboard. Once you log on, you should see a menu of courses in which you are registered. Click the link to ENGL 7765 and you’ll go to the announcements page of our course. If you have any problems accessing the course on Blackboard, please let me know right away by e-mail. We will use Blackboard for virtually all of our work including participation in discussion, submitting and returning assignments, and accessing additional course materials. I check Blackboard discussions daily during the week. Though I won't post replies to every post of yours, I read all discussion and chime in periodically.
Course Website. Much of the course information is online here. When you arrive at the Announcement page on Blackboard, you’ll find a link to this site. Click the link and the site should open within the Blackboard environment. In the event that Blackboard experiences problems, you can go directly to the website for information on the schedule, assignments, and links to other sites. Some course materials, such as additional required readings, short videos, and presentations with audio that I create, will be available only through Blackboard. This site should display in any browser, however, I use Internet Explorer. If you use Firefox, Safari, or some other browser and find that you have trouble with the site (or Blackboard) let me know.
E-mail. Our secondary contact tool is e-mail. I will only use your ECU e-mail for this course. Please do not give me alternate e-mail addresses. I expect all e-mails from you to be professional quality. Procedures for e-mailing me are as follows:
- Because I use mail filters, please include "7765:" followed by the subject of your message in the subject line of e-mails to me.
- Include your name in all e-mails.
- If technical problems force you to send me an assignment by e-mail, attach the file to an e-mail message; do not paste the assignment into a message. Include a brief message stating your name and identifying the assignment you are submitting.
I try to return e-mails promptly during the week if I receive them before 8:00 pm EST. I don't always respond to e-mails on Saturday and Sunday, though usually I check e-mail at least one weekend day. If I’m not going to be available, I’ll try to let you know in advance.
Messaging and Phone. I don't use IM very consistently, so I avoid it. But feel free to share your IM contact information with others in the class. I do have Skype. If you want to talk to me via Skype, my ID is <<donna.kain>>,but e-mail me first so we can set up a time as I’m not always on. We can also talk by phone if you e-mail to arrange a good time for both of us.
Tips for Working Online Successfully. To be successful in this online course, consider the following.
- This is not a self-paced course. Follow the schedule and keep up with expectations for contributing to discussion and with due dates for assignments.
- It helps to keep a regular schedule each week for accessing the course.
- As you would in a face-to-face course, plan to spend about 3 hours per week on reviewing course presentations that I post and interacting with me and your peers via discussion boards. Discussions will often involve short activities. As with any other course, the time you spend on assignments is in addition.
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