Digital writing is an increasingly hot buzzword in writing pedagogy, especially in Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) and Writing in the Disciplines (WID). It is rather loosely defined, and a broad working definition can be taken from the Introduction to Because Digital Writing Matters :
“… compositions created with, and oftentimes for reading or viewing on, a computer or other device that is connected to the Internet."
Although "composition” can also be a vague term, if it is also used loosely, it can comprise any textual production done on a computer or mobile device that has the possibility of being transmitted to others.
As undergraduates are increasingly reliant on smart phone technology, and are very likely to engage in some form of text-based communication on a daily basis, they are arguably writing more than ever before.
Employing new technologies for digital writing, and allowing for short twitter-style micro-essays and multimedia expressions of writing (including digital storytelling) can both tap into a more natural style of writing for students, as well as revive tired writing prompts.
Blogging and discussion forums (through Blackboard, etc.) are obvious venues for digital writing, but encouraging students to interact with social media platforms they already use may add a layer of intrinsic motivation. This need not be done in a public forum, but can be through private Facebook groups, or locked Twitter accounts, for example. Students could also mimic Facebook status updates, as in this funny example of a Facebook history of World War II.
Prezi, video essays through a user-friendly application like iMovie, or an animation web tool like GoAnimate can provide alternatives to tired digital slide show presentations during class time, while still developing public speaking skills (whether live or recorded).
Even for people in courses that typically have less writing, such as those in the computer sciences, writing in clean and carefully commented code can be assigned and assessed separately from the function of the code itself (as form rather than content), and funny comments can be encouraged with examples.
While I know there is a lot of distress among educators surrounding txtspk, I would like to remind anyone who has studied Latin paleography that textual abbreviations are very old indeed. Some examples:
కామెంట్లు లేవు:
కామెంట్ను పోస్ట్ చేయండి