The evaluations of the course suggested the course was successful. (For a general summary of my teaching history, click here .) Students reported being "self motivated" and caring about their work. If there is a small part of this success for which I share in the responsibility, it may reside in my "openness" about this being my first time engaging in such a course.
While at Stanford, I sketched, on the conference program itself, a raw outline of what such a syllabus might say and what such a course might consider. Early in the term I shared this artifact with the class, and proceeded from there with the same spirit I was asking of my students: a "give it a genuine try attitude." Further, it seemed clear to me that my students were--from the first day-- ready to engage in these new media--mediations that showcased a literacy that they were indeed able and willing to negotiate. My students even struck me more as "craftsmen and -women," at least as concerned with the quality of their work for its own sake as they were with my assessment of it. In sum, then, I was, to be sure, delighted to be part of such advanced composition.