As I work to finalize my FYC Syllabus, I’ve taken time to define the terms that influenced the direction I have chosen for my project.

They are:

James Kinneavy - Author of A Theory of Discourse and Founder of University of Texas PhD program in Rhetoric that lobbied for undergraduate writing courses that served students at every level. He promoted a theory of how contexts shape the purposes of writing reestablishing important connections between writing instruction and classical rhetoric. Kinneavy used the elements of the communication situation (audience, author, text, and referent) to develop a philosophy of the aims of discourse (persuasive, self-expressive, literary, and referential).

Rhetorical triangle – A graphical image used as a metaphor for the rhetorical situation showing the relationship between writer, audience, reality, and the text that exists as a means of communication between these elements. Kinneavy developed the rhetorical triangle based on the I. A. Richards’ work on language semiotics.

Technical writing – Technical writing is a style of writing that seeks to inform a user audience using various forms of media. This media may exist as either hard-copy or electronic content and will typically describe the function, use, and/or maintenance of products. Samples of technical writing can be found in product literature, user manuals, help systems, and web content.

Writing across the curriculum – Writing Across the Curriculum, abbreviated WAC, is a subfield of composition studies that emphasizes the need to teach students theories of writing that can be applied throughout their academic career in the various courses they may encounter. Through reading and writing in many different courses, students develop critical skills that enable them to better integrate into a chosen field.

Writing center – Writing centers are areas maintained by educational institutions that provide students with additional opportunities to learn about writing. Typical services of writing centers include editing and tutoring that provides feedback to students on their projects. Many writing centers have now developed Online Writing Labs to automate the process without the necessity of face-to-face interaction. These environments act as great learning tools for both those who seek and those who provide assistance.

Collaborative Editing

Brufee mentions that a symptom of difficulty that “students had adapting to college life and work was that many refused help when it was offered” noting tutoring and counseling sessions as the type of help offered by colleges (397). One assignment that I am considering developing is requiring students to schedule an appointment at a Student Writing Center for reviewing a first draft of a paper. My rationale for this task was that this effort would simulate scheduling a review with a Subject Matter Expert, an editor, or even a peer review in the workplace. I still may try to incorporate this element into my final syllabus project, but I stumbled onto another task that would also work well for collaboration.

Bruffee builds on Rorty’s idea of “normal discourse” by discussing a “community of knowledgeable peers,” which might be accomplished in a first year writing program by separating the class into small groups based on majors or disciplines (403). While looking at different examples of coursework from First Year Composition programs, I noticed that the University of North Texas’ freshman writing program mentioned group editing sessions. I liked the idea of a collaborative group discussing an article and collectively agreeing on what aspects could be improved upon. An instructor could then easily combine this effort with the idea of utilizing digital editing capabilities to enrich the students’ technology experience. Therefore, my sample collaboration assignment might resemble the following:

Editorial Team Project – I will divide you into groups of three or more based on your majors or disciplines and together you will edit an article that I provide. Individually, you will each read the article and annotate comments using either the Track Changes function of MS Word or the editing functions of Adobe Acrobat (Note: We will have a brief overview these software packages to introduce you to the editorial capabilities of each.). Collectively, you will discuss the individual comments and work as a team to create a single edited version of the article justifying the group comments and suggested changes. Finally, each group member will participate in a brief class presentation of the results. The presentation may include various aspects of the project, the process taken to accomplish the assignment, but must include the final results of the Editorial Team’s final markup.

Deliverables:

·         Individual editing markup

·         Final group editing markup

·         Presentation

Each student will receive individual grades based on the following:

·         Individual Markup – 5 points

·         Group Participation – 5 points

·         Final Presentation – 10 points

Contributing to Technology

I'm trying to keep up with homework while on vacation, so I tell my wife, "Honey, I'm going to go down to the lobby to put some thoughts on paper."

Yet, this proverbial paper is my blog in cyberspace that I've logged into while sitting in the business center of a hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado. So, how complicated can literacy be - well, actually quite complicated.

In their article, Blinded by the Letter, Wysocki and Johnson-Eilolo note that Dianne Konawati's found almost 200 different  instances of literacy mentioned in the ERIC Database (717). I would have to imagine that many of those literacies were based around understanding a certain technology - computer literacy being only one example.

In his article, Literacy, Technology, and Monopoly Capital, Richard Ohmann asks us to consider technology as, "itself a social process, saturated with the power relations around it, continually reshaped according to so some people's intentions" (706).

Literacy might just be considered participating in technology by becoming involved in the development of technology and learning new tools and processes to further technology for our own "intentions."

Many people forget to look at written language as a technology because it has been around for so long. But from the industrial revolution forward, that technology has been used to communicate other technological advancements. So, it can be seen as a scaffolding of technology.

Peer Review

This week I reviewed many of the Extended Analysis projects created by other students in class, but chose to review Amelia’s podcast recordings about the composition theorist, James Berlin. The first of three podcasts does a wonderful job of providing a historical background on Berlin, while the next two recordings discuss the details of his works.

While I might naturally assume that his Bachelor of Arts major was English, I caught myself wondering if it might actually be in psychology or sociology instead. So, my first suggestion would be to mention this in the recording. There were several quotes that I rewound and played back until I could get them written down – the first being, “Berlin saw the English curriculum as a key vehicle for accomplishing the goal of a democratic America in which citizens participate in civic affairs.” It seems as though Berlin gave credit to participation through written dialogue and felt that it counted as a strong voice in society.

One of the more thought-provoking messages from Amelia was Berlin’s idea that “We are teaching writing as a way of ordering the world and making sense of it.” This speaks to principles of cognition through an etymological lens. Amelia also notes that Berlin claimed that “theories of teaching composition are rooted in the ways we have been taught or have chosen to see the world and to comprehend reality.” This, along with Berlin’s idea of “socially-constructed nature of knowledge” fully acknowledges his social constructivist theory of knowledge.

Berlin’s theories are well covered in the discussions covering his articles, chapters, and books. Addressing composition, Amelia notes, “Berlin envisioned an English curriculum fully expanded…one that would unfailingly foster a more open-minded attention to an increased range of topics genres, contexts and perspectives.” She continues claiming that his integrity and dedication to the field of composition impressed his colleagues. After his unexpected death, a contemporary wrote of Berlin, “[He] made the field alive and important in ways that no one else had before” and “explained why the writing of history is not mere recitation of facts, but controls how we understand the present.”

The only other critique that I would suggest is that there are a few instances where the background music overpowers the narration. (See 1:38 on Part 2), but other than this Amelia does a great job on this difficult task – Kudos!

New Pages Nav Bar Added

I've rearranged the blog and added a Nav Bar along the top. I've added an Extended Analysis page containing a link to my Prezi and my first attempt at a Teaching Philosopy. Feel free to comment and give me some tips for my philosophy. (Thanks in advance!) -clw

Lily got jealous of everyone else posting pictures of their dogs and told me she wanted to be a Dog Star too! (She also thought the video below was quite hilarious.)

Playing Cat and Mouse can be risky business!

Addressing the topic depicted in Peter Steiner’s 1993 cartoon, Hubert L. Dreyfus discusses the obscurity of people and the disintegration of knowledge in Anonymity versus Commitment: The Dangers of Education on the Internet. A more recent article by Dreyfus on this same topic can be found on his UC Berkeley page. Both of these articles discuss the leveling of information based around the writings of Kierkegaard.

To briefly summarize, the massive amount of information on the internet contributes to “desituated information…producing an anonymous, detached spectator” (579). This spectator is referred to by Kierkegaard as the Public “a phantom, its spirit, a monstrous abstraction, and all-embracing something which is nothing, a mirage” (579). This Public freely absorbs anonymous information available on the internet in the “aesthetic sphere of existence” producing “a self that has no defining content or continuity but is open to all possibilities and to constantly being drawn into new games” (580). This obscurity of information and individuals in a risk-free aesthetic sphere contradicts what Kierkegaard calls the ethical sphere in which “one has a stable identity and one is committed to involved action” (580).

The internet provides the ability to post, comment, forward, and disseminate information with a lack of commitment and identity promoting the concept that individuals get to decide what is interesting, what is true, and what knowledge is worth learning. However, for Kierkegaard, “one can only turn information into relevant meaningful knowledge….if one has a strong identity based on serious, long-lasting commitment" (582). Dreyfus points out, that “such a commitment is risky…..[t]here is no way to have a meaningful life and to develop particular skills and the skill of being a good human being without taking risks.”

The use of MOO and Skype for online classes certainly doesn’t embody the extremes of anonymity described by Dreyfus and Kierkegaard, but they do offer an alternative to personal interaction. One fellow student joked about not being “presentable” for an interactive Skype session, while another talked of the interruptions from family members. I am also “guilty” of attending online class dressed much more casually than I would dress for attendance in person and have also had side conversations with family members during class time. So these methods of technology have changed the classroom, but change is inevitable and technology is becoming more engrained in the educational process. As we experience this techno-evolution of education, we should remember to stay committed to who we are and take ownership and responsibility for how we use the technology available to us.