Readings and Materials

required

Except for the Gee and the Abel & Glass books, file copies the following readings will be available through Dr. Selfe and in the Writing Program office. Readings that are underlined are available online.

You can obtain James Gee's book and the Abel & Glass book from whatever source is easiest for you personally (bookstore, Amazon, EBay, friends, library, your own shelf). Both are available from Amazon.com.

Bring a copy of the readings to class for the scheduled session.

Abel, Jessica and Glass, Ira (2002). Radio: An Illustrated Guide.

Akinnaso, F. Niyi (1986) "Literacy and Individual Consciousness" Literacy: A Critical Sourcebook (2001). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's (p. 138-155).

Brandt, Deborah (1995). "Accumulating Literacy," College English, 6(57), p. 648-668.

Brandt, Deborah (2001). "Parameters of the Study" and "The Setting of the Study" in Literacy in American Lives, p. 9-17.

Brown, Nichole, Hawisher, Gail E.; Selfe, Cynthia L. (forthcoming, March 2003). "Those Who Share: Three Generations of Black Women" Literate Lives in the Information Age: Stories from the U.S. Mahweh, NJ: Lawrence Erlebaum.

DeVoss, Danielle; Hawisher, Gail E.; Jackson, Charles; Johansen, Joseph; Moraski, Brittney; and Selfe, Cynthia L. (forthcoming). "The Future of Literacy" Literate Lives in the Information Age: Stories from the U.S. Mahweh, NJ: Lawrence Erlebaum.

Gee, James (2003). What Video Games Can tell Us about Learning and Literacy. NY: Palgrave McMillan.

Goody, Jack (1977) "What's in a List?" Literacy: A Critical Sourcebook (2001). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's (p. 19-32).

Graff, Harvey (1987) "The Nineteenth-Century Origins of Our Times" Literacy: A Critical Sourcebook (2001). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's (p. 211-233).

Kress, Gunther (1999). "English at the Crossroads," Passions, Pedagogies, and 21st Century Technologies. Logan, UT and Urbana, IL: Utah State and NCTE (p. 66-88).

McCloud, Scott (1993). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: HarperPerennial. (p. 1-93).

Ong, Walter (1986). "Writing is a Technology that Restructures Thought," Literacy: A Critical Sourcebook (2001). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's (p. 19-32).

Schaffer, R. Murray (1977). The Soundscape: The Tuning of the World. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books (p. 9-12).

Selfe, Cynthia L. (1999). "The Role of Ideology," Technology and Literacy in the Twenty-First Century: The Importance of Paying Attention. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press (p. 114-130).

Selfe, Cynthia (1999), "Technology and Literacy: A Story about the Perils of Not Paying Attention," CCC, 50(3), p. 411-436.

Selfe, Cynthia L. and Hawisher, Gail E. (forthcoming). "Introduction," Literate Lives in the Information Age: Stories from the U.S. Mahweh, NJ: Lawrence Erlebaum.

Selfe, Cynthia L.; Walikainen, Dennis; and Woodbeck, Dean (forthcoming). "Complicating Access " Literate Lives in the Information Age: Stories from the U.S. Mahweh, NJ: Lawrence Erlebaum.

Street, Brian (1993) "The New Literacy Studies" Literacy: A Critical Sourcebook (2001). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's (p. 430-442).

The New London Group (1999). "A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures," Harvaard Educational Review, 60 (1), p. 60-92.

 

optional materials/equipment

We will be making short movies and audio documentaries in this class, so there are several optional pieces of equipment that will make your lives easier. They are not required, but—believe me—they will make your task easier!!

• a cheap pair of headphones

• a portable hard drive that operates at 40 megabytes a second and uses a firewire connection. (This is an expensive item, and we will have a couple of them available for your use. So, I wouldn't suggest that you go out an buy one of these unless you need it for other projects. Conisder borrowing a friend's or family member's drive if this is possible.)

WEB MATERIALS

<http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/courses/Louisville/Literacy.html>

FOCUS

Students who enroll in this course should be interested in the intersection of literacy studies and technology studies as they apply to educational settings. The course is designed to introduce students to readings and involve them in practices that attempt to explore the following key questions:

• What is literacy? What is literacy in digital environments?

• What relationship does literacy have to culture, social and ideological formations, history, and technology—the cultural ecology of literacy?

• Does literacy shape identity? If so, how?

• How have—or have—computer technologies helped shape literacy practices, values, expectations, identity? And how have literacy practices and values helped shape computer technologies?

• What kinds of digital literacy practices and values should we be teaching students? Learning from students?

• What is the possibility of (and the specific routes for/means of) humans making productive change, in digital environments for literacy within educational settings?

•How can we investigate about individual's literacy practices and values?

GOALS

Students will become familiar with readings assigned to the class.

Students will explore key terms in the intersection of literacy and technology studies: among them, literacy, texts, reading, composing, design, multimodal, technology.

Students will design and create texts in various modes of literacy: alphabetic, visual, audio, and multimodal.

Students will explore the cultural ecology of digital literacy in educational settings.

Students will gain experience in conducting and reporting on individual's literacy practices and values using life history research.

Students will explore the key questions informing the class—actively and intellectually.

PROFESSIONALISM

Professionalism will be gauged by attendance, participation, and engagement with the work of the class. All of these are crucial to making the class succeed. Missing more than two classes this term will result in a lower course grade. Active, voluntary, and regular participation in discussions is expected of students for a passing participation grade.

Students will be responsible for leading at least one—and maybe more than on— readings discussion. This assignment will be part of the professionalism grade.

COMPUTER AND TECHNOLOGY COMPONENTS

This course will require that you use several kinds of computer applications. If any of these are unfamiliar to you, please see me as soon as possible so that you can access the course materials:

listserv: (for course updates, assignment changes, questions of general interest to all students in the course).

e-mail: cyselfe@mtu.edu (please use this address for questions that should go directly to the teacher; you will also use e-mail for several of your class assignments).

word processing: (for making handouts).

audio editing software (like Audacity for Literacy Autobiography/Sound project).

video editing software (like Ulead's VideoStudio).

In the class, you will also be composing a sound essay and a movie about literacy.We will have a limited number of minidisc recorders and a movie camera to check out for students, but if you have—or can borrow— a digital audio recorder (like a minidisc recorder) or a digital movie camera, it will be helpful. Please be sure to borrow the documentation as well—so that you can learn to work the technology!

You will need to purchase an inexpensive pair of headphones to use as you work on your sound project.

 

 

SPECIAL NOTES

If you have a disability covered under the Americans with Disability Act, or any other special needs, please see me during the first week of class—or as soon as possible—so that we can arrange a reasonable accommodation.

As the instructor, I reserve the right to modify the content and syllabus of this class throughout the term to meet the needs of students as I understand them.