En 697—Technology and the Teaching of EnglishEllie Kutz
Spring 2006Office: W-6-29
Office Phone: 617-287-6722
Email:
Office hours: T/Th 10:30-11:30
Th. 2:30-3:30
Overview: Information Technology has affected the field of English studies in several ways: in how inquiry in different areas of the field is pursued, in how the academic discourses communities of the field are constituted and communicate, and in how teaching and learning within the field are carried out. In this seminar, we’ll consider why and how we might introduce technology into our teaching within English Studies, not just because it’s available and often encouraged if not mandated within our educational settings, but because it has altered in some significant ways the work we do and how we do it within the field. In other words, as we teach our students to become more effective readers and writers, to engage in the study of literature, to understand the workings of language, we are inviting them into a world where each of these activities is being altered in significant ways by the use of information technology.
- Does IT simply offer additional tools to make the same work easier, like moving from a pencil to a typewriter to a word processor?
- Do the tools themselves alter the nature and effect10s of the activity in ways that are significant in how we conceptualize and understand the work we have traditionally done within the field?
- Do they lead us to undertake new work in new ways?
- What effect might all of this have on the ways in which we introduce the field to our students, inviting them into the academic community that we identify with?
These are some of the questions that we will attempt to explore in this seminar. The course is not primarily a how-to course, although we’ll build some shared understandings about available technologies and how we, as English teachers, might make effective use of them. Rather, it will draw on current theorizing within New Literacy Studies to consider the following issues:
- How the multi-literacies and multiple modes of representation (including visual and audio) that students are exposed to and draw on in their technologically-mediated communication affect their experience as readers and writer, speakers and listeners;
- How we, as English teachers, can prepare our students to engage both actively and critically in a rapidly changing communicative environment while maintaining our traditional curricular focus on literature, language, reading, and writing;
- How we can most effectively use the technological resources available to us in this process.
Course goals: This course has four primary goals: 1) to reframe the work of the English classroom within a contemporary literacy context shaped by information technologies; 2) to explore a range of technological tools and teaching practices that are being used currently in the teaching of English in high school and college classrooms; 3) to consider, from a critical perspective, the ways in which these tools and practices may impact our teaching and to what extent they are compatible with the theoretical perspectives of our field; 4) to have students develop (with peer critique) actual lessons and materials that they will be able to draw on in future technologically-mediated teaching.
Instructional Approach and Expectations: In this seminar we will combine the reading and discussion of relevant texts with an introduction and application of several technologies that are being used in significant ways in English classes and the examination of relevant online resources. We will use two online sites to complement our work in the classroom. One is an interactive English Departmentcourse website that we’ve designed to reflect our discipline’s teaching priorities. The other is the Umass Online learning management system, WebCT, a generic site for all courses, across disciplines, system wide. We’ll use these sites to supplement our work in the classroom, in part to try out the features of online systems such as posting materials, threaded discussion and chat, and to reflect on what they contribute to teaching and learning and what difficulties they might pose, especially to new users.
Weekly expectations will involve completing reading, visiting online sites, and responding to a guided weekly inquiry (posting an inquiry response of approximately 500 words/week online through WebCT and responding to two inquiries from other students ten times during the semester). Many of the weekly inquiries will lead directly into the unit projects. After the first weekly inquiry, participants will develop a rubric together to set expectations and guide the evaluation of the weekly responses.
After a two-week introduction, the course will be organized into four main units, with a larger project for each unit.
Unit 1--Technology and the Teaching of Writing.
Project: Small study of a classroom with technologically-mediated writing instruction, drawing on observations done as weekly inquiries.
Unit 2--Technology, Readers, and the Web.
Project: Group design of a website (with a common home page and individual pages contributed by members of the group), focusing on a topic in English Studies that seminar members would like to teach at some time, with brief written overview of project goals and design decisions.
Unit 3-- Student Research and the Web.
Project: Individual design of WebQuests that will contribute to the topic area of the group websites and be available on those websites, with a brief written overview of project goals and choices.
Unit 4—Student Knowledge, Language, and Assessment.
Project: Group-designed curriculum unit of sequenced lessons (with each individual responsible for one lesson) linked to the website and webquests designed for units 2 and 3, with brief individual reflections on the process and product.
All of these projects will contribute to a common class website that will serve as a resource for future teaching.
Evaluation of Student Performance
Final evaluation of student work will reflect
- Weekly readings and informal inquiries, 20% of grade
- Projects
- Unit 1, study of writing class, 20% of grade
- Unit 2, website, 20% of grade
- Unit 3, webquest, 20% of grade
- Unit 4, curriculum unit and presentation, 20% of grade
Assessment of student work will be addressed as a topic throughout the course, and particularly in week 14. We’ll design grading rubrics for this work together as a class, determining shared expectations and understandings.
I anticipate that students will enter the course with very different levels of experience with technology. To accommodate those differences, I’ll ask students to complete a preliminary skills inventory, to keep a log of time put into working on projects that draw on technology skills, and to include, with their projects, any ideas that they envisioned but lacked the technical skills to realize in the short time available for the project. The above weightings are approximate, and students will have an opportunity to negotiate the balance to be used in their final grade.
Required Texts:
Kadjer, Sara B. The Tech-Savvy English Classroom. PortlandME: Stenhouse Publishers, 2003.
Other resources:
William Clyde and Andrew Delohery. Using Technology in Teaching. New Haven: YaleUniversity Press, 2005. (for those teaching in college settings, in settings with learning management systems like Blackboard and WebCT)
Hilve Firek. Ten Easy Ways to use Technology in the English Classroom.
Focused on high school settings.
Other readings will be on electronic reserve (indicated with ER), available through electronic data bases (with access info listed), or available electronically through links (indicated through underlining below) that will be active in the online version of the syllabus. To access online articles through Healey Library databases, you will need your library barcode from your student ID.
Anderson, Rebecca, John Bauer, and Bruce Speck, Eds. Assessment Strategies for the On-line Class: From Theory to Practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002. pp. 31-36 on electronic reserve.
Corrente, Richard. “Dragon Court World” in Kutz, Exploring Literacy. New York: Longman, 2004. (ER)
Crystal, David. “Weaving a Web of Linguistic Diversity.” The Guardian Weekly. January 25, 2001. [Link: ]
Dyson, Ann. “Coach Bombay’s Kids Learn to Write. Children’s Appropriation of Media Material for School Literacy.” Research in the Teaching of English 33(4),1999, 367-402. (ER)
Fay, Elizabeth. "The BluestockingArchive: Constructivism and Salon Theory Revisited."
Romanticism On the Net 10 (May 1998). [users.ox.ac.uk/~scat0385/fay.html]
Fleckenstein, Kristie. “Faceless students, virtual places: Emergence and communal accountability in online classrooms.” Computers and Composition 22 (2), 2004, pp. 149-176. Access through the Science Direct database.
Gee, James Paul. “Semiotic Domains: Is Playing Video Games a ‘Waste of Time’”? In What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. [will be added to ER]
Grabe, Mark and Cindy. “Ch. 6. “Learning with Internet Tools.” InIntegrating Technology for Meaningful Learning. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. [ER]
Grabill, Jeffrey. “On divides and interfaces: Access, class, and computers.” Computers and Composition 20 (4), December 2003, pp. 455-472. [Science Direct Database]
Haas, Christina. Ch. 4. “Materiality and Thinking: The Effects of Computer Technology on Writer’s Planning.”Writing Technology. Studies on the Materiality of Literacy. MahwahNJ: L. Erlbaum Assoc, 1996. (ER)
Herrington, Anne and Charles Moran. “What Happens When Machines Read Our Students’ Writing.” College English 63(4), March 2001, pp.480-499. [JStor Database]
Kinzer, Charles and Kevin Leander. “Technology and the Language Arts: Implications of an Expanded Definition of Literacy. In Handbook of Research on Teaching the English Language Arts. Ed. James Flood et al. Mahwah, N.J. : L. Erlbaum Associates, 2003. (ER)
Kirtley, Susan. “Students’ views on technology and writing: The power of personal history.”Computers and Composition 22 (2), 2004, pp. 209-230. [Science Direct database.]
Kress, Gunther, and Theo van Leeuwen. “The Meaning of Composition.” Reading Images. The Grammar of Visual Design. New York: Routledge, 1999. [ER]
Kutz, Eleanor and Denise Paster. “Introduction.” Instructor’s Manual for Exploring Literacy. New York: Longman, 2004. (Link)
Kutz, Eleanor and Christian Pulver. “New Technologies/New Literacies/New Communities: How An Interactive Course Website Has Reframed the Study of Literacy and Discourse Communities in Freshman Writing.” Proceedings of the Computers and Writing Conference. June 2004. (Link Talks\Computers and Writing 2005\Kutz and Pulver CW 2005 talk.doc)
New London Group. “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures.” Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60-92.Also included in Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis, eds. Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures. London: Routledge, 2000. (will be added to ER)
\Strenski, Ellen, Caley O. Feagin and Jonathan Singer. “Email small group peer review revisited.”and Composition 22 (2), 2004, pp. 191-2008. ( Science Direct database).
Warschauer, Mark. Selection from Technology and Social Inclusion. CambridgeMA: MIT Press, 2003. [To be added to ER]
Williams, Robin and John Tollett. Selection from The Non-Designer’s Web Book. 2nd ed. Berkeley: Peachpit Press, 2000. [ER]
Yancey, Kathleen B. “Looking for sources of coherence in a fragmented world: Notes toward a new assessment design.”Computers and Composition 21(1), March 2004, pp. 89-102. [Science Direct Database]
Some websites to explore (a list we’ll expand).
Student work in language arts from elementary school classrooms.
The Bluestocking Archive created by Elizabeth Fay and her students to support the study of women’s writing in the Romantic Period.
Dan Kurland’s site introduces critical reading within and across genres and provides underpinnings in the study of language with a section on grammar—on how language works to support reading and writing.
Website for Freshman English at UMB with interactive pages for individual sections (password protected). See sample sections under Teachers>Teaching with the Website>Website Course Models.
Online resources:
Webpage Templates and Tools: "Web Development"; "Teachnology: The Web Portal for Educators"; "Geocities Free"
Web-Based Crossword Puzzles, "Crossword Compiler"
On-line grammar exercises: "Visual Interactive Syntax Learning"; "Grammar Quizzes"; "Interactive Language Exercises on the Web made by HUT [Helsinki University of Technology] Students" Teaching grammar inductively: The Grammar Safari
Weblogs: Creating blogs: Blogger [ Searching blogs: bloogz [
Content and lessons: New York Times Learning Network [ ]
On authors: New York Times Audio Interviews and Recordings
An internet tutorial: [ ]
For educators:
On copyright and fair use:
Additional resources: available through library reserve (LR), or online through library catalog.
Grabe, Mark and Cindy. Integrating Technology for Meaningful Learning. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. One chapter in ER readings. Whole text offers good activities for introducing students to particular tools, developing particular skills. (LR)
Lawrence A. Tomei. Challenges of teaching with technology across the curriculum. Hershey, PA : Information Science Pub., c2003. (This is an electronic book that you can access with your UMB ID).
Proposed Schedule
Week 1 (1/25)Introduction.
Course overview. Brief overview of some current technology and teaching practices. Framing of questions and issues re.technology and English studies.
Show posting, threaded discussion, in room 64
Week 2 (2/2) Reframing the field
Readings:
Kinzer and Leander. Read pp. 546-550 carefully for an introduction to the way in which technology is affecting the definition of literacy within the field of English studies. You may skim the rest, which we’ll return to in later weeks.
Kadjer, Chapters 1 “Starting Points” & 2 “Where Are You”
Grabill, “Access” [handout]
The New London Group, “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies”
Weekly inquiry: How is technology affecting your own literacies? Observation, reflection, response to readings.
In class: We’ll meet in the computer lab. I’ll introduce Web CT, our online learning management system, and our English course website. You’ll post and respond to each other’s inquiries. Then we’ll carry out a threaded discussion about your inquiries, and one of this week’s readings. You’ll discuss another reading in small groups. We’ll compare your experiences with two modes of discussion. *Lab not available. Media Place? Work with digital photos and post to website. Other images.
Unit 1--Technology and the Teaching of Writing
Week 3 (2/9)—Writers’ Experiences: Research and Resources
Readings:
Haas, Ch. 4. “Materiality and Thinking: The Effects of Computer Technology on Writer’s Planning”
Dyson, “Coach Bombay’s Kids Learn to Write.”
Kutz and Paster, “Introduction to Instructor’s Manual for Exploring Literacy.”
Inquiry: Observe your own writing and planning in two or more technologically-mediated environments. You’ll use the readings to reflect on your own experience, drawing on guiding questions for the Week 3 inquiry. You’ll post and respond to others’ postings.
In Class: We’ll draw on your inquiries and the readings for discussion, focusing on ways in which technology has altered the experience and literacy practices of writers within and outside of the classroom. We’ll look at some tools and resources available to writers and teachers of writing. (Including MyCompLab demo, initial demo of Freshman English site). We’ll discuss Project 1—carrying out a study of writing instruction in a technologically-mediatedenvironment.
Week 4—(2/16) Incorporating Technology into the Writing Classroom
Readings:
Kadjer, Ch. 6. “Going Beyond Word Processing.”
Clyde and Delohery. Ch. 6. “Improving Student Writing”
Grabe & Grabe, “Writers, Writing, and Word Processing.” Pp. 165-172
Sites to visit: Download free trial and experiment with its invention and organization features.
Inquiry: Begin your observations of a writing instruction environment, drawing on the categories we’ve discussed in class and the detailed instructions for Project 1 observations posted to our WebCT site. Post and respond to others’ postings.
In Class: We’ll meet in the computer lab and try out a peer response method, “bunny-hopping.” For hour 2, groups will be assigned particular writing instruction contexts (including students with diverse backgrounds and needs), drawing on instructional strategies that you’ve observed and read about, you’ll decide on an instructional approach for that context, work out some of its details, and share it with the class.
Week 5—(2/23) Using Technology to Create a Community of Writers and Readers
Readings:
Kadjer, Ch. 6. “Creating Community: Telecommunication and Teleinformation Tools.”
Clyde and Delohery. Ch. 4. “Promoting Collaborative Learning.”
Fleckenstein. “Faceless students, virtual places.”
Inquiry: Continue your observation, following posted guidelines, and focusing on the ways in which collaborative activities (including discussion on or off-line, writing, peer response, etc.) support (or could support) the goals of writing instruction in this setting. If you were creating a 2nd draft of the class you’re observing, how might you revise what’s being done there, drawing on what you’ve learned from Kadjer and Clyde & Delohery. Post and respond.
In class: We’ll draw on your experience, observations, and readings to focus on collaborative learning in writing instruction, including threaded discussion, peer response, student-authored hypermedia. We’ll also consider questions of genres and registers.
Project 1: Study of an educational setting in which technology is being used for writing instruction.
Unit 2--Technology, Readers, and the Web
Week 6(3/2) Reading Online
Readings:
Haas, Ch. 3. “Reading Online.”
Sites to visit:
Words without Borders. [
Dan Kurland. [ ]
Inquiry: Before starting this week’s readings, go to Words without Borders, a rich web resource of international literature translated into English. Choose a story that interests you, read half of it on line, and reflect on your reading process. Then print out the rest and read it in hard copy. Do you find any differences in your two reading processes? How do this week’s readings help you to understand your experience. Post and respond.
In class: You’ll share your experiences as readers. We’ll consider tools, practices and resources that can make use of/support students’ online reading. I’ll introduce project 2, the design of a website that introduces students to a topic within English studies and set up groups to develop websites by topic.
Week 7(3/9) Reading the Web: Hypertext and Multimedia
Readings:
Kinzer and Leander, on literacy practice in hypermedia environments, pp. 550-556.