Rebecca Burnett, the Director of Writing and Communication at Georgia Tech, and Brittain Fellows Jesse Stommel, Lauren Curtright, Melanie Kohnen, and Roger Whitson applied for the award, which will be presented at the NCTE Annual Convention in Chicago (November 2011). The team will also receive a check for $2000 given on behalf… Continue reading
Second-year Brittain Fellow Andy Frazee read from his poetry as part of the Carr Reading Series at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on Wednesday, October 19. In addition, Frazee was asked to present his work in the Introduction to Creative Writing class co-taught by poetry professor Michael Madonick and… Continue reading
The Writing and Communication Program’s Research Colloquium, originally scheduled for Thursday at 11 AM, has been resecheduled for this Thursday, Oct 27 from 11-12 in Skiles 002. Michelle Gibbons will present on “The Speech Examplar in the Multimodal Classroom”, which discusses using “I have a Dream” and other MLK speeches… Continue reading
I’m putting together a book proposal and would love advice/feedback/comments from those of you who have been through this before. What is the most helpful thing someone told you when you started working on one? What did you learn from the process? What do you think is the most important… Continue reading
On Saturday, October 22, I attended the 2011 Media Law in the Digital Age conference, co-sponsored by Kennesaw State University’s Center for Sustainable Journalism and Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. After the morning’s plenary session, I attended a panel on “Online Community Building and Managing: What are the Legal and Editorial Concerns You Need to Know?” Continue reading
An interview with poet and second-year Brittain Fellow Andy Frazee has been published online at the literary site HTMLGIANT (http://htmlgiant.com/author-spotlight/an-interview-with-andy-frazee/). In the interview conducted by poet Stephen Lewis, Frazee discusses his recent book of poetry, The Body, The Rooms (Subito Press, 2011), poetry and poetics, and small-press publishing. Continue reading
Ready for the next installment of our discussion about the digital divide, access, and privilege? This time, we’ll focus more of our attention on how issues of gender, sexuality, and ability should be addressed when we incorporate new media and technologies into the communication classroom. We’ll start the seminar off… Continue reading
Last week I ventured into largely-unknown territory for me – speech analysis and a consideration of the oral mode. Unknown, I say, because even though teaching involves vast amounts of time standing before an audience and, well, speaking, I have never formally studied speech at length: no speech communication class,… Continue reading
This is the first installment of what I’m hoping will be a recurring discussion about breaking students of a nasty habit: the tendency to rely on harmful preconceptions when engaging with literatures, cultures, and traditions that they aren’t very familiar with. In the title of my column, I’m using “myth” in two (of the many) meanings of the term: as stereotype (a widely circulated falsehood); and as culturally significant narrative (a local, communal, or national “true” story). My research explores the way twentieth-century US writers of color incorporate culturally specific mythic narratives in their literature. When I bring aspects of this research into the literature and communication classrooms, I inevitably come up against significant hurdles… Continue reading
Check out this great video on infographics (and y’all know how much I love infographics): The Value of Data Visualization from Column Five on Vimeo. Continue reading
In Jade Simmon’s discussion on the necessity of rhythm in human interaction to the Brittain Fellows on Monday, October 10th, I was reminded of a Radiolab podcast from a while back on how two physicists explained the nature of urban life based on the rhythm created by its inhabitants. For… Continue reading
Hello all, The digital divide! This week we question how issues of power, privilege, and access intersect and collide with categories like race and class. While “the digital divide” is commonly discussed in terms of global access, we would like to limit our examination of the phenomenon to America for… Continue reading
Brittain Fellows participate in semester-long postdoctoral seminars that address the theory and practice of digital pedagogy as well as the theory and practice of technical communication. Fellows may choose to complete Postdoctoral Certification Programs in Digital Pedagogy and Technical Communication. In the fall, all new Brittain Fellows take part in the D-Ped seminar, in which they discuss theories and methodologies to help them develop innovative teaching and scholarship in communication. Several members of this seminar often voluntarily extend their discussions in the spring.
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The Writing and Communication Program offers the course LCC 3403, Technical Communication Practices, which introduces third and fourth year students to basic skills and strategies necessary for effective communication in technical and scientific fields. Continue reading
This week I’m teaching Francis Beaumont’s The Knight of the Burning Pestle as part of my English 1102 course on London City Comedy. The play is usually identified as a breakthrough Early Modern parody (of other plays like The Shoemaker’s Holiday and The Four Prentises) and one of the first English plays to break the fourth wall. Continue reading
One of the pleasures of being a teacher is seeing the often surprisingly varied, original work that students produce—particularly on projects that may seem challenging to us (“Will they grasp the assignment’s complexities? Is this too much to ask of freshmen?”), and to them (“How will I get this done?!”). Often in LCC courses, we ask our students to “Think Big,” and encourage them to do so with assignments that are creative, challenging, and broadly conceived (that is, we don’t spoon-feed them a specific essay topic or conventional, straightforward assignment outline). Continue reading
(by Katy Hanggi, Aron Pease, and Michelle DiMeo) Assessment figures centrally into our teaching in many ways: we assess our students’ work, but we also reflect upon our roles in the classroom. When we incorporate technology into our classes, we introduce assignments that use new modes of communication which demand… Continue reading
From teleconferencing to YouTube videos, project posters to green-screen presentations, slide design to report writing, the new Communication Center is designed to help Georgia Tech students develop professional competence in 21st century communication. The center has been designed as a leading-edge model for communication education. It uses conventional technology in unconventional ways.
“This is a creative space,” explains Karen Head, who is Director of the Communication Center. “Yes, we are coaching students in processes and strategies and techniques, but we are also providing the space and equipment needed to practice.” Continue reading
Moods on Twitter Follow Biological Rhythms, Study Finds – NYTimes.com. I wonder how this approach to parsing Twitter usage extends to the classroom. I have observed that many students groan when I tell them at the beginning of course that they will be using Twitter for peer feedback and evaluation… Continue reading
Ever since Baudrillard found his way into my dissertation (I have no memory of inviting him—suddenly he was there, like Jack Nicholson in that picture at the end of The Shining), I’ve been curious about how he’d fare in an undergraduate classroom. His postmodern and Nietzschean sympathies make him entertaining… Continue reading
The nearly ubiquitous phrase “technology in the classroom” both invokes and elides a great deal. When we use this term—whether in an article, a job interview, or a hallway—we usually mean things like Twitter, blogs, course management software, or the actual computers that we or our students may use during a class session. In other words, “tech in the classroom” is often translatable as “digital pedagogy,” and indeed this is the central concept we intend to invoke: progressive newness—new media, new ways of teaching. Continue reading
We have scheduled two bootcamps for Fall 2011. The subject of the first is “Electronic Publishing” and will cover the following: 1) Accessing your personal/professional server space on the LCC web server; 2) Developing your LCC web profile (template web pages for your bio, course information, blog links, etc.); 3)… Continue reading
Communication Center: Our Space We designed Georgia Tech’s Communication Center to be a leading-edge model for communication education. From its design in the Communication Center Task Force Report in 2007, the Communication Center has presented a strong vision: It not only includes CommLab (with multiple kinds of tutoring and practice… Continue reading
This semester I have the privilege to be a participant in the Class of 1969 Teaching Scholars program here at Georgia Tech. We (a small group of faculty members, instructors, and staff from a variety of disciplines) meet once a week to discuss issues related to our seminar topic, “student engagement.” I am learning so much from our sessions, not only from the readings and discussions, but from the techniques our seminar leaders use to engage us with the topic at hand.
his week I took part in an exercise that I’m now excited to try in my class: the gallery walk.
The exercise required us to read an article on how students learn, looking at the way the brain changes when new information is stored and recalled. Continue reading
This semester, I am teaching an honors section of ENGL1101, aka first-year composition. The students are awesome, and I am really enjoying the experience. Recently, though, I discovered that in addition to providing an opportunity to work with great, motivated students drawn from a close-knit learning community, Georgia Tech’s honors… Continue reading
