Category: Course Spotlights

Course Spotlight – WRD 286: Writing with Photographs

This upcoming Autumn Quarter, the WRD Department will be offering another iteration of WRD 286: Writing with Photographs. While the WRD Blog published a post outlining the course when it was taught by Professor Lisa Dush, this additional spotlight looks through the lens of Professor Justin Staley, who will now be teaching the course for the third time. Read on for Professor Staley’s perspective on this exciting class, including how it engages students in essential skills and practices “to understand that world more deeply.” What interests you about teaching Writing with Photographs? JS: Everything. WRD 286 was designed by Professor

Continue reading

Course Spotlight – WRD 327: Content Writing

In the WRD Department, Spring Quarter is well underway—meaning that course registration for next quarter has begun! WRD will be offering several new courses at the undergraduate level, including WRD 327: Content Writing taught by Professor Tim Elliott. Here, Professor Elliott discusses his plans for the new course, including how it came about, course projects, and major takeaways. To start on the same page, how do you define “content writing” for your students? In this context, content writing means writing about a particular or specialized subject matter area, and then making that specialized subject matter accessible and engaging. Good content

Continue reading

Course Spotlight – WRD 309: Writing a Socially-Just DePaul

Dr. Erin Workman, WRD professor and Director of First-Year Writing, was recently awarded the Thomas and Carol Dammrich Faculty Innovation Award for her course design of WRD 309: Writing a Socially-Just DePaul. This undergraduate course will be offered for the first time in Spring Quarter 2023 and will culminate in a conference to share its work and findings with the larger DePaul community. Read on for Dr. Workman’s insights on the course, and find additional logistics here. Can you tell us a bit about this course? This special topics course on writing a socially-just DePaul will provide an inclusive learning community

Continue reading

Course Spotlight – WRD 550: Online Instructional Design and Pedagogy

As registration begins for Spring Quarter 2023, the WRD blog is excited to showcase several brand-new course offerings, beginning with Sarah Brown’s graduate course WRD 550: Online Instructional Design and Pedagogy. As an MAWRD alumna, Brown has worked in instructional technology and faculty development at DePaul’s Center for Teaching and Learning for over a decade, and she has taught several courses in the WRD department. In 2021, Brown received the Excellence in First-Year Writing Teaching Award from WRD. Here, she shares more about her plans for the course and what students can look forward to learning.  As we get started,

Continue reading

Course Spotlight: WRD 309 Persuasion in the Age of TikTok

One of the incredible things about studying rhetoric and discourse is how our modes of communication are always evolving. That means that even social media is part of our social discursive lives. What better way to explore how these incorporations impact our cultural rhetoric? Professor Margaret Poncin Reeves is teaching an upcoming class all about the topic with a special focus on TikTok.  Read on to see what the course has in store for Winter Quarter / WQ23! What inspired you to teach WRD 309? Two things: The first is the topic of the cross-listed course, which is LSP 275:

Continue reading

Updated Course Spotlight – WRD 540: Teaching Writing

As registration begins for Winter Quarter 2023, the WRD blog is excited to showcase several upcoming course offerings, beginning with Dr. Erin Workman’s graduate course, WRD 540: Teaching Writing. Here, Dr. Workman offers her insights into this year’s installment of the class and what students can look forward to.   What has changed in the Teaching Writing course since its last blog Spotlight? A lot! WRD 540 was last offered in-person-only in WQ20, and our finals week meeting was moved online in accordance with the university’s response to the pandemic. In WQ21, WRD 540 met synchronously online, and in WQ22,

Continue reading

Course Spotlight: WRD 511 Rhetorics of Displacement Update

During Spring Quarter 2021, Professor Monica Reyes taught WRD 511: Rhetorics of Displacement which was a hit with students and will be coming back for Winter Quarter 2022. We caught up with Reyes to talk about how this class differs from the last time she taught it.  Are you doing anything differently for this iteration of WRD 511: Rhetorics of Displacement? Yes! Students responded so positively to the course the first time I taught it in Spring [of] 2021, so the bones of the course are still the same. I still have units/themes centered around various rhetorics (like those in

Continue reading

Course Spotlight: WRD 287 The Comic Book As Visual Argument

There has long been an argument about whether or not graphic novels or comic books should be considered literature. Regardless of which side of the argument you may be on, it is a fascinating conversation to be sure. Professor Alan Ackmann is taking on an adjacent discourse in the upcoming course WRD 287 – The Comic Book as Visual Argument. This class will dig into the rhetorical nature of comics and explore the ways in which they add to conversations. Read on to learn more about this class and, perhaps, even get some reading recommendations if you cannot take this

Continue reading