Studies in Technology and Writing (Eng 6480/7480)
This is a special-topics seminar for masters students in the Literature and Writing program and for PhD students in the Theory and Practice of Professional Communication program. My focus is on multimodal composition pedagogies.
Fall 2006 semester summary
I was asked last spring to prep for this new course, which was easy considering this is my dream syllabus. The readings and assignments of this onsite class focus on composition pedagogies from the last 20-ish years. Assignments include reviewing journals in the field, writing an academic paper, and producing a multimodal project, along with reading an average of 200 pages of theory each week. We also cover professional development in the field.
- sections taught in department this term: 1
- number of students enrolled: 5 masters and 3 PhD students
teaching innovations
This course is still in-progress, and I am pleased with the students initial understandings of the course concepts. I would like to note two innovations in this class. The first is an in-class assignment that we are working on throughout the semester. This assignment includes having the students map out their understandings of the readings (in relation to composition pedagogies) on the wall of our classroom. We have constructed a large board on which students continue to post index cards filled with major and minor theories, themes, important authors and articles, and other useful information, all of which is helping them to visually conceive of the scope of composition studies as an academic field. Although we are unable to keep the map on the wall as a permanent display throughout the semester, the impact that its presence has made on the students’ learning (and within the department) is certainly noticeable.
The second innovation is the inclusion of professional development discussions that enhance the students knowledge about becoming an academic, joining the field of writing studies (as many of them will, in some form), and demystifying that process. These disussions started informally, based on some in-class comments and questions, but have now become part of our weekly meetings. Some of the assignments have included searching the MLA job ads to find an academic position the students would be interested in applying for (in the future). We discussed what they’d need to study in order to meet their job qualifications, what the process of applying for and then getting tenure in a job is like, and basics on job negotiation. We have also discussed issues such as how writing textbooks get published and why (for what markets). Students initiated all of these questions, which led me to believe that they wanted more professional development opportunities in their graduate work, a topic I hope to cover in part in this class.
narrative evaluations
This course is in-progress and so evaluations are not available yet, although students’ in-class feedback has been favorable.
accompanying materials
- Fall 2006 syllabus [doc]
- photograph of the student-produced ‘map’ of composition pedagogies