ENGLISH 604: TEACHING TECHNOLOGIES1 MAY 2008

“Can You Hear Me Now?”: Valuing Cell Phones in the

Composition Classroom

My Cell Phone

Engaged Pedagogy: Discourses & Epistemologies

“Each mode demands […] epistemological commitments” (Kress 57).

Discourse, “has no outward existence other than in […] modal fixing” (47).

“Each mode demands […] epistemological commitments” (Kress 57).

Discourse, “has no outward existence other than in […] modal fixing” (47).

Discourses – Our ways of communicating as well as what can be communicated in distinct social contexts

Epistemologies – Our ways of knowing, or structuring knowledge, influenced by our discourses and social contexts.

http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/textmessageabbreviations.asp

Engaged Pedagogy: Discourses & Epistemologies

“A functionally literate student makes use of the specialized discourses associated with computers” within “social conventions that help determine computer use” (45).

“A functionally literate student makes use of the specialized discourses associated with computers” within “social conventions that help determine computer use” (45).

Functional Literacy – “Students as users of technology” “effective[ly] employ[ing]” that technology “as tools” (Selber 25).

Critical Literacy – “Students as questioners of technology” “critiquing” technology “as cultural artifacts” (25).

Rhetorical Literacy – “Students as producers of technology” reflecting upon and effectively communicating via technology, “as hypertextual media” (25).

Functional Literacy – “Students as users of technology” “effective[ly] employ[ing]” that technology “as tools” (Selber 25).

Critical Literacy – “Students as questioners of technology” “critiquing” technology “as cultural artifacts” (25).

Rhetorical Literacy – “Students as producers of technology” reflecting upon and effectively communicating via technology, “as hypertextual media” (25).

Engaged Pedagogy: Discourses & Epistemologies

“Teaching is a performative act” (hooks 11).

Valuing student, “speech […] forges a space for alternative cultural production and alternative epistemologies—different ways of thinking and knowing” (171).

“There is little or no discussion of the way in which the attitudes of those from materially privileged classes are imposed upon everyone via biased pedagogical strategies” (179-80).

“[C]ritical pedagogy seeks to transform consciousness, to provide students with ways of knowing that enable them to know themselves better and live in the world more fully” (194).

“Teaching is a performative act” (hooks 11).

Valuing student, “speech […] forges a space for alternative cultural production and alternative epistemologies—different ways of thinking and knowing” (171).

“There is little or no discussion of the way in which the attitudes of those from materially privileged classes are imposed upon everyone via biased pedagogical strategies” (179-80).

“[C]ritical pedagogy seeks to transform consciousness, to provide students with ways of knowing that enable them to know themselves better and live in the world more fully” (194).

Cell Phones & Students

Students’ Views of Cell Phones

• Students both appreciate use of cell phones in classrooms and acknowledge the problems (Campbell 286).

• Students use mobile technology disconnect and reconnect (Starkman).

British Journal of Sociology of Education

• Socialization , learning, and ideology formation move out physical institutions and into autonomous, digital spaces (Holmes and Russel 71-73).

• Learning moves from normalization to individuation (Selwyn133-34, 135-37).

Cell Phones & the Classroom

Marked by Negative Discourse

• National Education Association - 85% of “higher education instructors in the U.S. agreed that professors should ban mobile phones from being used in university classrooms” (Campbell 281).

Concern Expressed…• “[E]moticons and other informal styles have crept in” to student writing (“BTW…”)• Classroom distraction s (ringing, texting, talking, gaming)• Cheating• Cyber-bullying• Decreased Learning• Policies on Cell Phone Use in schools and classrooms• Student and Teacher Privacy• Legal problems

Cell Phones & the Classroom

Educational/Academic Uses of Cell Phones

•Teacher/Institutional access to students

• Emergency communication

• Transfer of course materials

• Student-student and student-teacher discussion

Problems

• Not designed for educational use

• Access/Cost – Socio-economic barriers to devices in general as well as to specific tools

Reading, Analyzing, & Writing the Cell Phone

Project: Reading, Analyzing, and Writing the Cell Phone

Reading Analyzing Writing

Multiliteracy: Functional Critical Rhetorical

Composition Activity:

User’s Log Critical Essay Multimodal Presentation

Tools:

CallingVoicemailTexting

• Used or unused?• Familiarity with function?• Record/transcribe messages• When? How frequently? • With Whom?• What are messages about? • For What Purpose?

• What impedes/ encourages use?• In what contexts are they used?• How do these contexts influence what is talked about?• How do contexts constrain use?• Relationship to correspondents? • How do these relationships influence what is talked about?• Prevalent patterns of use

• In what new contexts could features be used delimit/empower my discourse?• How can I more effectively communicate/persuade using these features in old/new contexts? • What new messages should I communicate to others? How do I do this?• How can I maximize my use of these features to benefit me/others? • How do I unify my rhetorical use of these with other features?

Reading, Analyzing, & Writing the Cell Phone

Concerns (Addressed):

Access:

• Students need access, but project does not rely upon uniform technology, unlike educational communication uses.

• Not all students have cell phones, but project can be extended to other student technologies/discourses

Student as Consumer:

• Steve Westbrook, in College English, is concerned about “a pedagogy of viewer- or reader-reception. In other words, to ‘do’ visual rhetoric in composition too often means not to work with students on authoring multimedia visual texts that combine words and images but, rather, to work on critically reading visual artifacts and demonstrating this critical reading through the evidence of a print essay” (460).

Works Cited

“BTW, Teen Writing May Cause Teachers to :(.” CNN.com. 24 Apr. 2008. 25 Apr. 2008. http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/24/teen.writing.ap/index.html.

Campbell, Scott. “Perception of Mobile Phones in College Classrooms: Ringing, Cheating, and Classroom Policies.” Communication Education. 55.3 (2006): 280-94.

Fischman, Josh. “The Campus in the Palm of Your Hand.” Chronicle of Higher Education. 11 May 2007. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Ball State Univ. Lib., Muncie, IN. 20 April 2008.

Galuska, Peter. “Technology’s Latest Wave: Colleges and Universities Are Increasingly Exploring the Academic Use of Digital Mobile Devices-But Lack of Money Sometimes Stands in the Way.” Black Issues in Higher Education. 22.2 (2005). ERIC. EBSCO. Ball State Univ. Lib., Muncie, IN. 20 Apr. 2008.

Gerard, Vanessa. “Updating Policy on Latest Risks for Students with Cell Phones in the School.” Education Digest. Dec. 2006. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Ball State Univ. Lib., Muncie, IN. 20 Apr. 2008.

Gilroy, Marilyn. “Invasion of the Classroom Cell Phones.” Education Digest. Feb. 2004. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Ball State Univ. Lib., Muncie, IN. 20 Apr. 2008.

Honawar, Vaishali. “Cell Phones in Classrooms Land Teachers on Online Video Sites.” Education Digest. Feb. 2008: 29-33.

hooks, bell. Teaching to Transgress. NY: Routledge, 1994.

Holmes, David, and Glenn Russell. “Adolescent CIT Use: Paradigm Shifts for Educational and Cultural Practices?” British Journal of Sociology of Education. 20.1 (1999): 69-78.

Johnson, Clarence, and William Allan Kritsonis. “National School Debate: Banning Cell Phones on Public School Campuses in America.” National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision Journals. 25.4 (2007): 1-6.

Kim, Sang Hyun, Kerry Holmes, and Clif Mims. “Mobile Wireless Technology Use and Implementation: Opening a Dialogue on the New Technologies in Education.” TechTrends. 49.3 (2005): 54-64.

Works Cited

Kress, Gunther. Literacy in the New Media Age. NY: Routledge, 2003.

“Mobile Learning and the Connected Campus.” Abilene Christian University. 2008. 23 Apr. 2008. http://www.acu.edu/technology/mobilelearning/index.html.

Parry, Gareth. “Camera/Video Phones in Schools: Law and Practice.” Education and the Law. 17.3 (2005): 73-85.

Pickett, A. Dean, and Christopher Thomas. “Turn Off That Phone: Legal Responses to Cell Phones, Cameras, and Other Electronic Distractions.” American School Board Journal. Apr. 2006: 40-4.

Reid, Axel. “Tuning In: Infusing Media Networks into Professional Writing Curriculum.” Kairos 12.2 (2008). 22 Apr. 2008. http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/12.2/binder.html?praxis/reid/ index.html.

Rismark, Marit, et al. “Using Mobile Phones to Prepare for University Lectures: Student’s Experiences.” The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology. 6.4 (2007) ERIC. EBSCO. Ball State Univ. Lib., Muncie, IN. 20 Apr. 2008.

Selber, Stuart. Multiliteracies for a Digital Age. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP, 2004.

Selwyn, Neil. “Schooling the Mobile Generation: The Future for Schools in the Mobile-Networked Society.” British Journal of Sociology of Education. 24.2 (2003): 131-44.

Starkman, Neal. “What Students Want: Leave Me Alone…I’m Socializing.” T.H.E. Journal. 34.3 (2007) ERIC. EBSCO. Ball State Univ. Lib., Muncie, IN. 20 Apr. 2008.

Strom, Peter, and Robert Strom. “Curbing Cheating, Raising Integrity.” Education Digest. Apr. 2007. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Ball State Univ. Lib., Muncie, IN. 20 Apr. 2008.

Westbrook, Steve. “Visual Rhetoric in a Culture of Fear: Impediments to Multimedia Production.” College English. 68.5 (2006): 457-80.

Young, Jeffrey. “Abilene Christian U. to Give iPhones or iPods to All Freshmen.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. 28 Feb. 2008. 23 Apr. 2008. http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2782/university-to-give-iphones-or-ipods-to-all-incoming-freshmen.

Works Cited

Images

“CellPhones.” Houston’s Clear Thinkers. 4 Oct. 2007. 25 Apr. 2008. http://blog.kir.com/ archives/2007/10/the_cell_phone_distraction.asp.  Dietrich, Donna. “bell hooks.” VG: Critque. 2006. 25 Apr. 2008. http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/ Bios/entries/hooks_bell.html.  “From Connected: The Movie.” Abilene Christian University. 2008. 25 Apr. 2008. http://www.acu.edu/technology/mobilelearning/researchers/video/connected.html.  “Gunther Kress.” Allborg Universitet. 19 Feb. 2007. 25 Apr. 2008. http://diskurs.hum.aau.dk/ english/dexus2/dexus.htm.  “Stuart Selber.” Penn State University. 2008. 25 Apr. 2008. http://ist.psu.edu/ist/directory/ faculty/?EmployeeID=408.