The Digital Imperative:
Making a Case for a 21st-Century Pedagogy
Clark, J.E. (2010). The digital imperative: Making a case for a 21st-century pedagogy. Computers and Composition, 27, 27-35. doi: 10.1016/j.compcom.2009.12.004
In this article, Clark
presents a reshaping of composition pedagogy that considers new uses of
technology to address the “digital imperative” (p. 28) outlined by scholars
such as Yancey and Vaidjyanathan. Reshaping our pedagogy, she argues, requires
understanding the flux of technology and that the current go-tos (e.g.,
ePortfolios, wikis, social networking) are “not the final development of in
composition pedagogy” (p. 28). Furthermore,
this reshaping should immerse composition students in digital media—analysis,
exploration, and creation of digital personae and civic literacy (p. 28).
To frame her argument,
Clark compares the impact of the technological shift to that of the invention
of the printing press. Developments in communicative technology foreground
questions of authorship and authority. Citing Yancey, Balkin, Vaidhyanathan,
Lanham, and Gee, Clark explains how she has reconfigured her composition
classroom “as an emerging space for digital rhetoric” (p. 29).
To illustrate this
reconfiguration, Clark describes various Web 2.0 technologies that she has
incorporated into the classroom and their different rhetorical considerations.
ePortfolios, for example, allow students to “experiment with the malleability
and hyperactivity of text as they revise and alter their writing over time” (p.
29). Additionally, ePortfolios provoke questions of authorship, ownership, and
private/public artifacts.
Clark also shares
experiences with digital stories as an approach to visual rhetoric and
political freedom, Second Life as a site of interaction and activism, and blogs
as “quick and dirty argumentation in action” (p.p. 32-34). These approaches,
she claims, acknowledge the public domain of digital writing and invite
students to participate in generating public content.
Clark’s article provides
a practical approach to integrating technology in the classroom. Including specific
examples of student products and realizations helps to demonstrate the impact
of reconfiguring composition pedagogy. Composition instructors interested in
incorporating Web 2.0 technologies would benefit from Clark’s article. Because
Clark argues for a shift in pedagogical paradigm, she does not address many of
the practical challenges, such as technical skill for manipulating technology
or grading these digital texts.
One of the most useful aspects of this article was its citation of digirhet.org which led me to this Zappen's bibliography for rhetorical studies.
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