Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture
Volume 6, Number 2 doi 10.1215/15314200-2005-003 © 2006 by Duke University Press


Recommendations for teaching digital rhetoric can inform us as teachers of composition and professional writing. This article specifically points to the impact of technology on writing pedagogy and the resulting need for change. The authors define digital rhetoric as written communications created using handheld or desktop technologies and distributed through either wireless or wired networks. Digital writing incorporates words, motion, graphics, and interactivity, all of which contribute to constructing meaning.

Writing for a desktop computer screen holds different considerations than writing for a PDA or cell phone screen, and certainly different considerations than writing for a magazine/journal article, news article, or book. There may be considerations for products such as Kindle and NOOK as well. The authors state that writing today means integrating text, images, sound and video, for delivery across multiple media. They say that few advances have had a truly sweeping impact on writing, including the printing press as one, and networked computers as another. I’d have to agree with them on this point. Access to self-publishing and dissemination tools afforded by computer technology and the Internet have created a flood of written communications worldwide at unprecedented levels. What we write, the audiences we write for, and the means of delivering that writing is ever-changing and must be addressed in how we teach writing. Teaching writing online is especially compatible with writing in this new environment. The authors also describe the shift in technology as requiring a shift in how we emphasize the canons of rhetoric. The state, “Digital rhetoric also shifts the productive techne of the rhetorical process (as typically instantiated in composition and other writing courses) from primarily invention-driven to a broader rhetorical approach that privileges arrangement as a focal activity and reclaims the importance of delivery and memory as key areas of rhetorical practice.”

In teaching digital rhetoric, authors found three things necessary that I feel equally apply to composition or professional writing: community, critical engagement, and application. Students need to feel they belong and have a connection with their peers, to begin building trust needed for true collaboration and peer review. Critical engagement is also necessary to the effectiveness of these processes. Application is essential to develop higher-order knowledge by bringing real situations, immediate purpose, and the nuances of situational analysis and decision-making into the classroom.

The teacher of writing needs to facilitate community to strengthen the collaboration needed in an effective writing process. I look forward to research that my own peers in English 7/895 are doing on this topic. The writers in this article suggest activities to foster share goals and similar interests, such as small groups to explore topics, sharing experiences, and pooling knowledge. They speak of the need for comfort in both physical and virtual spaces, but offer no specific suggestions for achieving it. They discuss use of mentors in the form of other faculty researching topics of interest to the student or more experienced students. The authors also recommend online ethnographies to help create community, and suggest that students be asked to research other online groups, discussion forums, bogs, etc. to look for evidence of community. This is a helpful activity, as it provides possible frameworks that can be modified for the students’ own learning community, provides a visual of what a community might look like, and also helps students apply the theory of community by critically examining others as they grow their own. In fact, this type of activity combines creating community and critical engagement with practical application.

One approach to creating community, critical engagement and experimentation suggested getting students comfortable with doing routine things in a digital environment that they may normally do in other ways. For example, reading a paper online vs. a physical newspaper, or texting/chatting instead of telephoning. This may apply to some students, but this article was written four years ago and it’s becoming more and more common for students and many adults to use this approach as a daily routine anyway. More importantly, the authors suggest involving the student in critical analysis of the media, which is important in writing instruction as well, to use in decision-making for arrangement and delivery of content. They encourage exploration of different media as well, which also translates to teaching of writing. The classroom of all places is a safe environment to try things out and experiment, and a great opportunity to incorporate this in different methods of engaging with teacher and peers in a distance environment. One suggestion I really like is having the teacher model trying out new technologies, without feeling a need to be an expert. This gives students “permission” for trial and error and adds to the exploratory atmosphere that should be part of the educational experience.

To connect and engage, however, students need access and skill in using quality technology solutions. This may be more of a challenge on the investment and provision of infrastructure and teacher education, and individual needs of certain adult learners and students in economic situations affecting access and familiarity with these solutions.

The suggestions provided reflect a student-centered pedagogy. Structured assignments are connected to the needs and interests of the students. Experimenting is encouraged, with modeling by the instructor in a safe environment. The students are prompted to assess technology themselves to determine what is and isn’t effective for specific purposes. This helps engage the student in the course, as there is an immediate purpose and application of the learning, and the individual student’s perspective is valued and respected.

The authors make what I feel is a very important point, that disciplines are “living entities.” Technology, economy, and many other cultural shifts create new opportunities, challenges and needs. These certainly impact writing and other communication practices, and consequently, how we teach.


Notes
DigiRhet.org is a collective of individuals interested in digital writing practices.
Contributors to this manuscript are Dànielle Nicole DeVoss, R. Joy Durding, Douglas
Eyman, Kristen Flory, Angela Haas, Mike McLeod, Chad O’Neil, Jim Ridolfo, Martine
Rife, Suzanne Rumsey, Stephanie Sheffield, and Tina Urbain.