Aligning Student Expectations of Writing with the Implementation of Multimodal, Digital Tasks in the Writing Classroom 

Jenae Cohn

 

In the twenty-first century, we have become increasingly concerned with the practices of reading and writing, specifically the practices of composing with digital tools and technologies. In 2004, Gail Hawisher and Cynthia Selfe  documented individuals’ memories of how computer use impacts everyday literacy practices. Cohn will extend Hawisher and Selfe’s project by sharing the experiences of students enrolled in computer-assisted first-year composition. While we already know that the incorporation of new technology into the classroom can open up new avenues for critical thought, and can, indeed, transform the way we communicate, we have not yet considered how students perceive their changing classrooms. 
By examining how educational technology affects our writing students’ experiences and perceptions of themselves, we can challenge ourselves to consider how we transfer knowledge from multimodal and digital assignments to their conceptions of writing selves. If, as writing instructors, we are now committed to helping students develop twenty-first century literacies, how do we help them to see the importance of these literacies on the development of their other writing tasks in the university? This presentation will explore how instructors may frame the incorporation of twenty-first century literacies into the writing classroom in order to help students develop the transferable skills necessary to become literate in the digital age.