She Didn't Make the Case

The Digital Imperative: Making the Case for a 21st-Century Pedagogy

J. Elizabeth Clark
Computers and Composition
Volume 27, Issue 1, March 2010, Pages 27-35

This article attracted me because I thought it would provide some creative ideas for teaching writing online. I was excited by an early statement in the article, in which the author stated, “The future of writing—based on a global, collaborative text, where all writing has the potential to become public—informs our classrooms and forms a new, “digital” imperative, one that asks how we can reshape our pedagogy with new uses of the technologies that are changing our personal and professional lives.” However, it turned out to be quite limited in scope. My impression was that most of the writing space was devoted to touting the wonders of creating an ePortfolio, protecting undocumented students, and using an online digital persona in an activist role to pursue a political agenda. Persuading others to move to action is certainly one role of rhetoric dating back to the classical period, however, we write in the 21st century for a myriad of reasons. After reading the ambitious article title, I was frankly “turned off” by what followed.

The author believes that the “essayistic literacy” still prevalent in composition classes is outmoded and should be replaced by an action-oriented civic focus on the “the now” through digital rhetoric. That could be one track of writing, but it is far too limited to completely replace traditional composition pedagogy. We write for many other purposes. For example, we write to inform, to please or entertain, to reflect, to inspire, to express our thoughts and emotions, and to capture visions for the future. There is no certainty that every text will eventually be compressed into the digital world. There are still plenty of applications for printed text, and there are worlds of communication beyond the virtual environment we haven’t yet imagined! And yet, the author has converted her composition classroom to a laboratory for activist digital rhetoric. Some of the teaching methods are sound enough, but I did not find anything out of the ordinary.

The author emphasizes using ePortfolios and brings up the related issues of audience, the quite public sharing of private information, and questions of ownership. A portfolio of work is not a new idea, and I don’t feel the digitizing of a portfolio is a radically fresh idea. Considering the audience who will be reading the work is an age-old rhetorical concept. The twist comes from considering the questions of privacy and ownership.

There is a short discussion of incorporating visuals with storytelling, but I didn’t see any new ideas here either. The author quotes The Center for Digital Storytelling (n.d.) as follows: “We have found that writing into the images, narrating the story, and bringing the images to life using the power of digital media design tools, creates a powerful medium for presenting a story.” I don’t see how this is different from writing for a cartoon, animated movie, or perhaps a nature documentary. Except that the graphics are superior. Or, in this author’s case, the purpose serves a political agenda.

Online gaming is mentioned, and it, too, cannot escape being sucked into a world of activism. In the author’s case, it is used to crusade against a world overtaken by evil corporations. Using games for teaching or training is another antiquated idea recycled here in digital form.

The one statement in the article that makes a good point, in my opinion, is in reference to blogging. The author states, “Because of the comment function and the ability to dialogue online with audiences they both know and do not know, students feel pressured to create effective arguments and to respond to critiques of those arguments. Their work gets stronger because these visible critiques ask them to take ownership over their argument, and more often, their research.” Although blogging is already widespread, at least the author explains clearly how it directly contributes to teaching writing.

This article does nothing to add to my beginner-level knowledge of teaching writing online, so I will keep exploring the literature for more fresh and more objective perspectives.