Template for Presentation
Topic: Computers and Composition
Derek and Janine
class format | readings | questions & issues
We plan to devote the class almost entirely to discussion of the readings. We will likely make some opening remarks about the readings themselves, to situate them in the context of the field of Composition, and to explain why we chose them. We will also distribute a list of the questions/issues that framed our own reading of the selected articles.
Duffelmeyer, Barbara Blakely. "Critical Computer Literacy: Computer in
First-Year Composition as Topic and Environment" Computers in Composition.
Online. http://corax.cwrl.utexas.edu/cac/Current_Issue/dufflemeyer.htmlWysocki, Anne, and Johnson-Eilola, Johndan. “Blinded by the Letter: Why Are We Using Literacy as a Metaphor for Everything Else?” In Gail E. Hawisher and Cynthia L. Selfe (Eds.), Passions, Pedagogies, and 21st Century Technologies. Urbana, IL: U of Illinois Press, 349-368. (Janine and Derek will photocopy and distribute)
Bruce, B. C. (1998, November). Dewey and Technology. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 42(3), 222-226. Online. http://www.readingonline.org/electronic/JAAL/Nov_Column.html
In addition to the readings above, we hope to draw on the readings we’ve done thus far in the class, particularly Dewey’s writings on education and technology.
Suggested/Supplemental Readings:
Bruce, B. C. (1997). Literacy Technologies: What Stance Should We Take? Journal of Literacy Research, 29(2), 289-309. Online. http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~chip/pubs/stance/
Bruce, B. C., & Hogan, M. P. (1998). The Disappearance of Technology: Toward an Ecological Model of Literacy. In D. Reinking, M. McKenna, L. Labbo, and R. Kieffer (Eds.), Handbook of literacy and technology: Transformations in a post-typographic world (pp. 269-281). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Online. http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/%7Echip/pubs/disappearance.shtml
A) We see a tension between what corporate culture and society as a whole want education to do, versus Dewey's notion of of public space, democratic dialogue, and the common good. In terms of Composition, the question/notion of "literacy" is a good place to begin addressing this tension.
B) One of the "literacies" that has gotten a lot of attention as of late is computer literacy. Although the widely held belief that giving computers to the so-called "have nots" will somehow erase deeply entrenched inequities is highly problematic, many scholars in Composition do advance more modest arguements in favor of teaching students to be critical users of technology (as well as critical users of discourse).
C) Within the context of A) and B), how do we approach the creative potential afforded by technology (e.g., unconventional kinds of compositions)?
D) How might Dewey help us articulate a justification for (or advise against) the presence of computer-related instruction in the composition classroom? In what ways is technology (related to writing, communication, and composition) becoming invisible, and how does/should that invisibility dictate what happens in the writing classroom.