The nature of literacy — of what it means to “read” and to “write” — have fundamentally changed in response to the emergence of digital tools and environments, which provide today’s writers with access to rhetorical situations and strategies previously available only in theory.
If we intend to educate students for the future of writing and not the past, we must address the changing nature of literacy in writing classes.
RELEVANCE TO RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION
This section provides some FYI’s about the role digital composition has played in the discipline of Rhetoric and Composition.
Did you know that…
(1) “Computers & writing” as a sub-field of Rhetoric and Composition dates back over 20 years.
See: Computers in the Composition Classroom: A Critical Sourcebook (full citation on Digital Composition Bibliography)
(2) The sub-field has permeated nearly every area of writing instruction, to the point that “sub-field” is accurate only to describe scholarly work done in this area, not necessarily the pedagogy, as the pedagogy is evident throughout the field of Rhetoric and Composition. (For that matter, the pedagogy of digital literacy, as defined more broadly, permeates nearly every discipline.)
(3) Digital composition has its own:
Conference: Computers & Writing
(offshoot of the 4 C’s and where most C&W scholars present, instead of at 4 C’s)
Digital press: Computers and Composition Digital Press
Academic journals:
Blogs:
- Computers and Composition Blog
- Computers and Writing blog
- Rhetoric and Composition Blogs (list compiled by Traci Gardner)
Professional Development Workshops:
National Parent Organization Position Statements:
EXPLANATION FOR STUDENTS
Below is a passage I included on my WRTG 3020 syllabus for Fall 2012, on the Learning Goals: Digital Literacies section.
Teachers of writing have always focused on helping students develop proficiency at composing messages using the writing tools available at the time.
When your grandparents were in school, those tools were handwriting and typewriters. When your parents were in school, those tools included word processors as well as word processing software on early computers. For both generations, writing was “published” in the form of a typed or printed page, and it was “distributed” in a single copy to the teacher.
But when most of you were in school and now in college, those tools have expanded to include a variety of composing tools available on computers as well as a wide range of publishing and distribution options.
So it makes sense that writing instruction would now focus on helping you compose messages using the digital tools available at the time, which include traditional alphabetic text as well as hypertext, audio, images, and video.