ENGL A613 DIGITAL LITERACIES Fall 2013
STUDIES IN RHETORIC & COMPOSITION:
Course Meetings Thursday 4:00-6:45 ADM 102
Instructor Information Dr. Jennifer Stone Office: ADM 101J Phone: (907) 786-4373 e-mail:
[email protected]
Office Hours Monday 2:00-3:30 Thursday 2:00-3:30 or by appointment
COURSE DESCRIPTION The emergence of digital and networked technologies is transforming how we read, write, and communicate. Digital forums such as websites, online zines, chat rooms, instant messaging, social networking sites, games, wikis, blogs, and fan fiction are just a few of the new textual practices available to us that complement, extend, and often challenge traditional understandings of composition and literacy. Digital literacies raise important questions including: 1) How are digital literacies developed and disseminated?
image source:http://dark.pozadia.org/wallpaper/Cyborg-Face/
3) What similarities and differences exist between the ways that young people and adults engage with digital texts? 4) How might digital literacies inform more traditional understandings of literacy? 5) What theoretical and methodological avenues might be productive for unpacking these literacies? 6) What implications do digital literacies have for how we teach composition and literacy?
This seminar will address these and other questions by investigating online 2) Who benefits (or not) from these changing communities, as well as by examining ways of using language and other modes of current theory and research on these new literacies. representation?
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ENGL A613 Fall 2013
COURSE REQUIREMENTS There are two main areas of course requirements: Seminar Participation ★General participation: You are expected to come to each class prepared and ready to engage with the day’s topic. Being in class is not enough; rather, you must actively participate in all class activities. Failure to attend class will affect your grade. You get one “free” absence; after that, your general participation grade will be reduced by 5 pts. for every session you are absent. (30 pts.) ★Online Participation: We will engage in several online activities throughout the semester to develop a shared set of experiences in which to ground our conversations. For a few sessions, we will meet exclusively online. On three occasions, we will have “blog jams,” where you will provide feedback and advice to classmates about their digital literacies projects. (20 pts.)
REQUIRED TEXTS All readings will be posted on Blackboard. See pp. 4-5 for a schedule of readings & p. 6 for a complete bibliography.
image source: http://www.cracked.com/ funny-6181-cyborgs/
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Digital Literacies Project During the first few weeks of class, you should select one digital literacies context of interest to you and investigate it throughout the semester. This could include a forum, social network, game, instructional implementation of a digital literacy, etc. Based on your experiences, you should complete the following: ★Digital Literacies Project Blog: Based on your investigations into a digital literacies context and feedback you gain online and in class, you will maintain a blog where weekly you will engage in a different type of writing related to your project (e.g. description of your site, data analysis memos, synthesis of related research, implications, etc.) (40 pts.) ★Final Presentation: For our final class session, you will prepare a presentation of your digital literacies project. (10 pts.)
ENGL A613 Fall 2013
GRADING POLICIES letter to me so we can discuss the accommodations you might need for the class.
Final Grading Scale: 90-100 pts. 80-89 70-79 60-69 Under 60
A B C D F
Additional Policies: I encourage you to contact me at any time during the semester with questions or concerns. If you would like to make an appointment to meet in my office, please e-mail or call me. If you have questions or concerns that do not require a face-to-face meeting please e-mail me and I will always attempt a prompt reply. If you would like to request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disability Support Services at http:// www.uaa.alaska.edu/dss/ (Located in RH 105 at 786-4530). If you have a letter from DSS indicating you have a disability that requires academic accommodations, please present the
To be considered for an incomplete, you must be passing the class, must have completed the majority of assignments, and must have attended class regularly. Once a course ends, the instructor is not obligated to provide guidance for completing assignments. If you do receive an incomplete, you are no longer eligible for an “A” in the course. You are expected to cite all sources used in your writing, noting when you are using ideas and words from a source. You must write your own papers. Plagiarism is not acceptable. If you are found to have misrepresented the work of another as your own, you will face some or all of the following consequences: 1) failing grade for the assignment, 2) failing grade for the course and permanent written record to the department chair for further disciplinary action, 3) forwarding of that record to the Dean of Students for further disciplinary action, and/or 4) recommendation for dismissal from UAA.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES Define and apply key terminology and theoretical concepts related to digital literacies Develop an understanding of how literacy is changing as a result of cultural and technological changes Examine key transformations in economic conditions, social relationships, identities, reading, writing, teaching, and learning. Develop competence in using digital literacies for personal and professional purposes image source: http://www.jedsart.com/0504Cyborg %20Portrait.jpg
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Conduct original research on a digital literacies context
ENGL A613 Fall 2013
COURSE SCHEDULE Below is a tentative schedule for our class. If I need to adjust the schedule, you will be notified in class and on Blackboard.
DATE ASSIGNMENTS DUE
TOPIC
8/29
Introductions & What are digital literacies?
9/5
*No f2f Class--Asynchronous Online Discussion* Readings: • New London Group, “A pedagogy of multiliteracies” • Bawden, “Origins and concepts of digital literacy”
A theoretical foundation for understanding digital literacies
Shared digital literacies experiences begin this week 9/12
Readings: • Brandt & Clinton, “Limits of the local” • Street, “What’s ‘new’ in New Literacy Studies?” Bring ideas for Digital Literacies Project site Blog Entry Due: Meet the author
9/19
Readings: • Merchant, “Mind the gap(s)” • Fraiberg, “Composition 2.0” Blog Entry Due: Description of your site
9/26
Readings: • Lankshear & Knobel, “Do we have your attention?” • Luke & Carrington, “Globalization, literacy, curriculum practice”
Transforming economic conditions & social relationships
Blog Jam #1 Due 10/3
Readings (2 of the following): • Jenkins, “Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars” • Knobel & Lankshear, “Digital literacy and participation” • Ellcessor & Duncan, “Forming The Guild” • Black & Steinkuehler, “Literacy in virtual worlds” Blog Entry Due: Data analysis memo #1
10/10
*No f2f Class--In-game Meeting* Readings: • Jacobs, “Fast times and digital literacy” • McLean, “A space called home” Blog Entry Due: Data analysis memo #2
10/17
Readings (2 of the following): • Thomas, “Digital literacies of the cybergirl” • Stone, Kudenov, & Combs, “Accumulating histories” • DeVoss & Selfe, “‘This page is under construction’” • Hull & Katz, “Crafting an agentive self ” Blog Jam #2
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Transforming identities
ENGL A613 Fall 2013
COURSE SCHEDULE, CONT’D DATE ASSIGNMENTS DUE
TOPIC
10/24
Transforming reading & writing
Readings: • Bowie, “Rhetorical roots & media future” • Jackson & Wallin, “Rediscovering the ‘back-and-forthness’” Blog Entry Due: Free choice
10/31
Readings (2 of the following): • Black, “Access & affiliation” • Lam, “Multiliteracies on instant messaging” • Haas, “Young people’s everyday literacies” • Stedman, “Remix literacy and fan compositions” • Stone & Veth, “Rethinking the new literatures of childhood” Catch up week/work on literature review
11/7
Readings: • Jacobs, “Complicating contexts” • Bowen, “Resisting age bias”
Transforming research
Blog Entry Due: Methodology 11/14
Readings: • Berry, Hawisher, & Selfe, Transnational literate lives Blog Entry Due: Synthesis of related research (including course readings)
11/21
Readings: • DeVoss, Cushman, & Grabill, “Infrastructure & composing” • Reading TBA
Transforming teaching & learning
Blog Entry Due: Polished analysis Blog Jam #3 (in class) 11/28
No class!!! (Thanksgiving Holiday)
12/5
Readings: • Robison, “The design is the game” • Sierra & Stedman, “Ode to Sparklepony” Blog Entry Due: Conclusions & implications
12/12
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Final Presentations Digital Literacies Project Blog Due, including 2 revised entries
image source: http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/dmitroza/dmitroza0811/ dmitroza081100277/3837194-athletic-cyborg-with-injuries-in-a-back.jpg
ENGL A613 Fall 2013
COURSE READER REFERENCES
Bawden, D. (2008). Origins and concepts of digital literacy. In C. Lankshear & M. Knobel (Eds.) Digital literacies: Concepts, policies, & practices (pp. 17-32). New York: Peter Lang. Berry, P.W., Hawisher, G.E., & Selfe, C.L. (2012). Transnational literate lives in digital times. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press/Computers & Composition Digital Press. http://ccdigitalpress.org/transnational/ Black, R.W. (2005). Access and affiliation: The literacy and composition practices of English-language learners in an online fanfiction community. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 49 (2), 118-128. Black, R. W., & Steinkuehler, C. (2009). Literacy in virtual worlds. In L. Christenbury, R. Bomer, & P. Smagorinsky (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent literacy research (pp. 271– 286). New York: Guilford. Bowen, L.M. (2011). Resisting age bias in digital literacy research. College Composition & Communication, 62 (4), 586-607. Bowie, J. (2012). Rhetorical roots and media future: How podcasting fits into the computers and writing classroom. Kairos, 16 (2), http://www.technorhetoric.net/16.2/topoi/ bowie/ Brandt, D. & Clinton, K. (2002). Limits of the local: Expanding perspectives on literacy as a social practice. Journal of Literacy Research, 34 (3), 337-356. Buck, A. (2012). Examining digital literacy practices on social network sites. Research in the Teaching of English, 47, DeVoss, D.N., Cushman, E., & Grabill, J.T. (2005). Infrastructure and composing: The when of new-media writing. College Composition & Communication, 57(1), 14-44. DeVoss, D.N., & Selfe, C.L. (2002). “This page is under construction”: Reading women shaping on-line identities. Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, & Culture, 2 (1), 31-48. Ellcessor, E, & Duncan, S.C. (2011). Forming The Guild: Star power and rethinking projective identity in affinity spaces. International Journal of Game-based Learning, 1 (2), 82-95. Fraiberg, S. (2010). Composition 2.0: Toward a multilingual and multimodal framework. College Composition and Communication, 62 (1), 100-126.
image source: http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/butryn/
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Haas, C. (2011). Young people’s everyday literacies: The language features of instant messaging. Research in the Teaching of English, 45 (4), 378-404. Hull, G.A., & Katz, M.-L. (2006). Crafting an agentive self: Case studies of digital storytelling. Research in the Teaching of English, 41 (1), 43-81. Jackson, B., & Wallin, J. (2009). Rediscovering the “backand-forthness” of rhetoric in the age of YouTube. College Composition and Communication, 61 (2), 374-396. Jacobs, G. E. (2004). Complicating contexts: Issues of methodology in researching the language and literacies of instant messaging. Reading Research Quarterly, 39(4), 394-406. Jacobs, G.E. (2006). Fast times and digital literacy: Participation roles and portfolio construction within instant messaging. Journal of Literacy Research, 38 (2), 171-196. Jenkins, H. (2003). Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars? Digital cinema, media convergence, and participatory culture. In D. Thorburn & H. Jenkins (Eds.) Rethinking media change. Cambridge: MIT Press. Knobel, M. & Lankshear, C. (2008). Digital literacy and participation in online social networking spaces. In C. Lankshear & M. Knobel (Eds.) Digital literacies: Concepts, policies, & practices (pp. 249-278). New York: Peter Lang. Lam, W.S.E. (2009). Multiliteracies on instant messaging in negotiating local, translocal, and transnational affiliations: A case of an adolescent immigrant. Reading Research Quarterly, 44 (4), 377-397. Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2002). Do we have your attention? New literacies, digital technologies, and the education of adolescents. In D.E. Alvermann (Ed.), Adolescents and literacies in a digital world (pp. 19-39). New York: Peter Lang. Luke, A. & Carrington, V. (2002). Globalisation, literacy, curriculum practice. In R. Fisher, G. Brooks, & M. Lewis (Eds.), Raising standards in literacy (pp. 231-250). London: Routledge/Falmer. McLean, C.A. (2010). A space called home: An immigrant adolescent’s digital literacy practices. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54 (1), 13-22. Merchant, G. (2007). Mind the gap(s): Discourses and discontinuity in digital literacies. e-Learning, 4 (3), 241-255. New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60-92. Robison, A.J. (2008). The design is the game: Writing games, teaching writing. Computers & Composition, 25, 359-370. Sierra, W. & Stedman, K.D. (2012). Ode to Sparklepony: Gamification in action. Kairos, 16 (2), http:// www.technorhetoric.net/16.2/disputatio/sierra-stedman/ Stedman, K.D. (2012). Remix literacy and fan compositions. Computers & Composition, 2, 107-123. Stone, J.C., Kudenov, P., & Combs, T. (2013). Accumulating histories: A social practice approach to medievalism in high-fantasy MMORPGs. in D. Kline (Ed.) Digital gaming re-imagines the Middle Ages. New York: Routledge. Stone, J.C., & Veth, E.S. (2008). Rethinking the new literatures of childhood: Cultural models of gender in popular websites. Journal of Language and Literacy Research, 4 (2), 21-39. Street, B. (2003). What’s “new” in the new literacy studies? Critical approaches to literacy theory and practice. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 5 (2), 77-91. Thomas, A. (2004). Digital literacies of the cybergirl. eLearning, 1 (3), 358-382.
