There was a time when the teaching of writing resembled something similar to the video below:
In some instances, surely, instructors still explain writing in this manner: a teacher in front of a blackboard diagramming the intricate minutia of a sentence. But, for the most part, our contemporary context for writing has altered dramatically. Merely understanding the relative positions of particular grammatical-formations has shifted to a focus on global and procedural issues, as well as pragmatic usage. Or stated in other words, nowadays the teaching of writing primarily concerns itself with the writing process' recursive nature (a non-linear cycle of invention, drafting, and revision) and its ability to communicate so as to positively affect our futures. While this alteration of focus does not preclude grammar, it certainly does not situate it as a primary concern.
But the swerve from sentence level constructs to global-level issues does not encompass the totality of changes brought on by today's contexts. Writers of all types (whether they be students, teachers, journalists, business persons, copy-editors, travel writers, etc.) must now consider, adapt, operate proficiently in, and experiment with the possibilities of digital and online environments. Take for instance the below video:
As you saw, the video begins with a disembodied hand writing a seemingly simple statement about texts on a piece of white paper, then erasing and revising. Afterward, we are taken on a whirl-wind of visual stimuli that begins with hyperlinking, flows into HTML coding, XML coding, blogs, search engines, etc. No doubt, it can all be a bit overwhelming, especially given the rapid pace at which we are supposed to ingest the information.
While you are by no means required to comprehend everything we just watched, I do hope you come away with an understanding that writing in the digital age is both different, powerful, and necessary. With the creation of your blogs in class today, it is my hope that we can take that first step into producing texts that harness the capabilities of these new contexts, yet simultaneously grounds such advancement in the tried-and-true concepts of both rhetoric and argument. Certainly, as with any new material, there will be some technical and conceptual difficulties that we will need to overcome as a class, but these should be nothing we cannot deal with as a group and individually. Good luck and have fun.
In some instances, surely, instructors still explain writing in this manner: a teacher in front of a blackboard diagramming the intricate minutia of a sentence. But, for the most part, our contemporary context for writing has altered dramatically. Merely understanding the relative positions of particular grammatical-formations has shifted to a focus on global and procedural issues, as well as pragmatic usage. Or stated in other words, nowadays the teaching of writing primarily concerns itself with the writing process' recursive nature (a non-linear cycle of invention, drafting, and revision) and its ability to communicate so as to positively affect our futures. While this alteration of focus does not preclude grammar, it certainly does not situate it as a primary concern.
But the swerve from sentence level constructs to global-level issues does not encompass the totality of changes brought on by today's contexts. Writers of all types (whether they be students, teachers, journalists, business persons, copy-editors, travel writers, etc.) must now consider, adapt, operate proficiently in, and experiment with the possibilities of digital and online environments. Take for instance the below video:
As you saw, the video begins with a disembodied hand writing a seemingly simple statement about texts on a piece of white paper, then erasing and revising. Afterward, we are taken on a whirl-wind of visual stimuli that begins with hyperlinking, flows into HTML coding, XML coding, blogs, search engines, etc. No doubt, it can all be a bit overwhelming, especially given the rapid pace at which we are supposed to ingest the information.
While you are by no means required to comprehend everything we just watched, I do hope you come away with an understanding that writing in the digital age is both different, powerful, and necessary. With the creation of your blogs in class today, it is my hope that we can take that first step into producing texts that harness the capabilities of these new contexts, yet simultaneously grounds such advancement in the tried-and-true concepts of both rhetoric and argument. Certainly, as with any new material, there will be some technical and conceptual difficulties that we will need to overcome as a class, but these should be nothing we cannot deal with as a group and individually. Good luck and have fun.
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