The theme of our summer online Writing 2 course is "Seeing the Virtual." We often say we live our lives in two spaces-the "real" world of our material experience and the "virtual" world of the internet. But what if we were to imagine the virtual not in opposition to "reality" but as somehow attached to it-stemming from, dependent upon, and capable of changing the "real world." Perhaps we can think of the virtual the way Marcel Proust described memory: "real but not actual, ideal but not abstract." In this course we will explore the different ways in which the virtual and the real interact, oppose, and constitute one another through a variety of disciplines and media. From fiction and architecture, to philosophy and video games, we will examine the ways in which (for better or for worse) our virtual selves increasingly determine who we are.

This course is offered entirely online. Students must be approved by the instructor in order to register for the course. Please email Brooke Hessler, bhessler@cca.edu, to start the approval process for registration. Students are required to meet with the instructor (in person or via Zoom) and complete a self-assessment quiz (https://goo.gl/forms/izWU0COBZBIxbWqQ2) to assess their preparedness to be successful in an online course. In addition, to take this class students must have access to all of the following throughout the entire 8 weeks of the summer online course: either a laptop or desktop computer, a high-speed internet connection, your CCA Google account, Moodle, and Microsoft Word. (IMPORTANT: If you will be outside the U.S., in another country, during the summer course dates, be absolutely sure you are in a place where you will have Google access and be able to reliably access your CCA email and Google-based materials-especially those in Google Drive and YouTube-as needed for this course. If you cannot confirm this access you should not enroll in this course.)