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Syllabus

Course Policies

Course Info:

  • ENGL578: Seminar In Literature and Other Disciplines
  • Theme: Reading Machines
  • Fall 2026
  • Classroom: CU Community FabLab
  • Class Time: Tuesdays 2:20-4:40
  • FabLab Open Hours: Monday-Thursday 5-9pm & Sunday 1-6pm (public)
  • Skeuomorph Press Open Hours: Sundays 1-5pm, Thursdays 5-9pm

Instructor Info

Course Materials

The majority of our readings will be available online.

Course Policies

Code of Conduct

The code of conduct for this course borrows directly from the stellar model outlined by Northeastern University’s Feminist Coding Collective. Their Code of Conduct and Community Guidelines are well worth consulting in full, but I have copied and lightly adapted those items most pertinent to the work we will do in our class.

  • It’s okay not to know: Assume that no one inherently knows what we’re learning. We all come to this class with different backgrounds and abilities; none of us (including the instructor) will know everything and that is okay! Encourage a space where it’s okay to ask questions.
  • Be respectful: Do not use harmful language or stereos that target people of all different gender, abilities, races, ages, ethnicities, languages, socioeconomic classes, body s, sexualities, and other aspects of identity.
  • Online spaces: Respect each other in both physical and digital spaces.
  • Collaborative and inclusive interactions: Avoid speaking over each other. Instead, we want to practice listening to each other and speaking with each other, not at each other.
  • Use “I” statements: focusing on your own interpretation of a situation, rather than placing blame or critiquing someone else.
  • Harassment clause: The following behaviors are considered harassment and unacceptable in this community (these are borrowed from the Django Code of Conduct):
    • Violent threats or language directed against another person.
    • Discriminatory jokes and language.
    • Posting sexually explicit or violent material.
    • Posting (or threatening to post) other people’s personally identifying information (“doxing”).
    • Personal insults, especially those using racist or sexist terms.
    • Unwelcome sexual attention.
    • Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior.
    • Repeated harassment of others. In general, if someone asks you to stop, then stop.

Social Media

From time to time I will wish to take photos of class activities for posting on Skeuomorph Press’ website, Instagram and/or Bluesky accounts. If you would prefer not to appear in any such images, just tell me: no reason or explanation is necessary, and it will not affect your standing in the class in any way. I try not to name or tag people without their explicit permission, but if you know that you never want to be named or tagged in a public image, please tell me and I will make a note of it. If at some point I mistakenly include you in an image—in the background, perhaps, where I did not notice—let me know and I will remove it immediately. In general, I am fine with you posting things from class—some of our activities will be, if I dare say so myself, very photogenic!—but I ask that you follow these same guidelines out of consideration for your classmates. Please feel free to tag me—@ryancordell on Instagram, @ryancordell.org on Bluesky—but more importantly, please tag the FabLab and/or Skeuomorph in your posts. Likewise, I will want to document your critical fabrication projects with photos and/or video, but you can of course opt out of those projects being shared in any way, with absolutely no penalty for doing so.

Class Engagement

This course requires active engagement in class activities, discussions, and work sessions. There will be few lectures and we will not be building toward an exam. Instead, we will work together to build our facilities for thinking critically about media and to conceive, plan, and create innovative final projects. You should come to every class having read all of the required reading, watched the required videos, browsed the suggested resources, and so forth. You should enter the classroom prepared to discuss these materials with colleagues and complete both individual and group in-class assignments.

Participation

I will not explicitly grade participation in this course (i.e. “participation = 20% of final grade”), but I will take account of your reading and course engagement through your commonplace books, our discussions, and related activities.

There are many ways to participate in a graduate seminar. Just a few of the most valuable contributions are:

  1. Raising ideas from our assigned materials for class discussion, including directing our attention to specific moments you found evocative, inspiring, infuriating, or otherwise salient;
  2. Asking questions about materials or ideas you found puzzling or difficult (I cannot overstate how valuable good questions are to a thriving class, and how much I wish more students were courageous in asking them);
  3. Sending pertinent materials discovered outside of class to the course email list, or bringing them to our attention during discussion;
  4. Assisting classmates with lab assignments or other in-class work amenable to cooperation;
  5. Visiting during office hours to extend course conversations around subjects or questions you find particularly interesting.

Attendance

Maintaining an active class conversation requires that the class be present, both physically and mentally. “Attendance” does not simply mean that your body can be found in proximity to those of your classmates. You must also be mentally present, which means you must:

  1. Prepare any assigned media before class begins;
  2. Be awake, attentive to the conversation, and responsive to your colleagues;
  3. Have your materials in hand and ready for discussions or other activities.

Missing Class

Attendance is generally expected in a graduate seminar, particularly as it only meets once a week. If you find yourself in extraordinary circumstances that will impact your attendance, please come talk with me during office hours. When you must miss class, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed, get updates on upcoming assignments, and/or ensure that you are prepared for future classes.

“Information Overload” Day

I do understand that the semester can get hectic. The reading load for this class is often challenging, and you must balance it with work in your other classes, and other professional responsibilities, including teaching your own classes. Most likely you will have days when you simply cannot—for whatever reason—complete the assigned reading. Please do not simply skip class, compounding your stresses, when this happens. Instead, you may take an “information overload” (IO) day during the semester. On that day you will not be expected to contribute to class discussion and you will receive a pass on your commonplace book entries. In order to take an IO day, you must follow these rules:

  1. You must attend class, listen attentively to any lectures or class discussions, and take part in any activities or group work not dependent on the day’s reading. Your IO days cannot be used as additional excused absences.
  2. You must inform me before the beginning of class that you are taking your IO day. You may not wait until I call on you or until you see the day’s activities. I will deny any IO requests made during class. To that end: take special care to be on time if you plan to request an IO day, as you won’t be allowed to request one if you arrive late.
  3. When you decide to take an IO day, please simply write “IO Day” in your commonplace book for that day so that I have a record.
  4. You may not extend an IO day into another class session.
  5. You may not take an IO day to avoid completing a major assignment. If you are unsure whether an assignment is “major,” the syllabus is a good guide. If a particular assignment has its own “assignment” page on the course website, it is a major assignment.

The IO day is intended to help you manage the inevitable stresses of your individual semester. Use them wisely.

Digital Etiquette

This should go without saying, but let’s say it anyway: while in class, you should be focused on class. You may think that you are an excellent multi-tasker, but a growing body of research clearly shows that trying to do multiple things simultaneously means you do all those things worse than if you focused on them serially.

In your professional lives, people will have their phones and other devices with them at their jobs, in meetings, at conferences, and so on, and those devices are also huge distractions for professionals, however normalized they might have become. As academics, there are always emails from colleagues and students, assignments for other classes, and a myriad of other things demanding our attention whenever we open a screen.

Our class will in fact discuss many of these technological tensions, and while we are together I ask that you take whatever steps you require to be attentive in the moment. If that means disabling notifications, please do so. If that means putting your laptop away and printing readings to use for discussion, please do that. I trust that you can manage your device usage, but I do ask that you do so consciously rather than passively.

Academic Integrity

The English Department has the responsibility for maintaining academic integrity so as to protect the quality of education and research in our school and to protect those who depend on our integrity. Consequences of academic integrity infractions may be serious, ranging from a written warning to a failing grade for the course or dismissal from the University.

See the student code for academic integrity requirements: http://studentcode.illinois.edu/article1/part4/1-401/

Statement of Inclusion

https://diversity.illinois.edu/about/senate-diversity-resolution/

As the state’s premier public university, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s core mission is to serve the interests of the diverse people of the state of Illinois and beyond. The institution thus values inclusion and a pluralistic learning and research environment, one which we respect the varied perspectives and lived experiences of a diverse community and global workforce. We support diversity of worldviews, histories, and cultural knowledge across a range of social groups including race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, abilities, economic class, religion, and their intersections.

Religious Observances

In keeping with our Statement of Inclusion and Illinois law, the University is required to reasonably accommodate its students’ religious beliefs, observances, and practices in regard to admissions, class attendance, and the scheduling of examinations and work requirements.

Religious Observance Accommodation Request form: https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?UnivofIllinois&layout_id=19

Other accommodations may be available.

Accessibility Statement

To insure disability-related concerns are properly addressed from the beginning of the semester, I request that students with disabilities who require assistance to participate in this class contact me as soon as possible to discuss your needs and any concerns you may have. The University of Illinois may be able to provide additional resources to assist you in your studies through the office of Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES). This office can assist you with disability-related academic adjustments and/or auxiliary aids. Please contact them as soon as possible by visiting the office in person: 1207 S. Oak St., Champaign; visiting the website: http://disability.illinois.edu; calling (217) 333-4603 (V/TTY); or via e-mail disability@illinois.edu. NOTE: I do not require a letter from DRES in order to discuss your requested accommodations.

Land Acknowledgment

Suggested by Native American House:

I recognize and acknowledge that we are on the lands of the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, Wea, Miami, Mascoutin, Odawa, Sauk, Mesquaki, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Chickasaw Nations. These lands were the traditional territory of these Native Nations prior to their forced removal; these lands continue to carry the stories of these Nations and their struggles for survival and identity.

As a land-grant institution, the University of Illinois has a particular responsibility to acknowledge the peoples of these lands, as well as the histories of dispossession that have allowed for the growth of this institution for the past 150 years. We are also obligated to reflect on and actively address these histories and the role that this university has played in shaping them. This acknowledgment and the centering of Native peoples is a start as we move forward for the next 150 years.