Design Ltd.: Renovated Myths for the Development of Socially Embedded Technologies

This paper argues that traditional and mainstream mythologies, which have been continually told within the Information Technology domain among designers and advocators of conceptual modelling since the 1960s in different fields of computing sciences, could now be renovated or substituted in the mould of more recent discourses about performativity, complexity and end-user creativity that have been constructed across different fields in the meanwhile. In the paper, it is submitted that these discourses could motivate IT professionals in undertaking alternative approaches toward the co-construction of socio-technical systems, i.e., social settings where humans cooperate to reach common goals by means of mediating computational tools. The authors advocate further discussion about and consolidation of some concepts in design research, design practice and more generally Information Technology (IT) development, like those of: task-artifact entanglement, universatility (sic) of End-User Development (EUD) environments, bricolant/bricoleur end-user, logic of bricolage, maieuta-designers (sic), and laissez-faire method to socio-technical construction. Points backing these and similar concepts are made to promote further discussion on the need to rethink the main assumptions underlying IT design and development some fifty years later the coming of age of software and modern IT in the organizational domain.Comment: This is the peer-unreviewed of a manuscript that is to appear in D. Randall, K. Schmidt, & V. Wulf (Eds.), Designing Socially Embedded Technologies: A European Challenge (2013, forthcoming) with the title "Building Socially Embedded Technologies: Implications on Design" within an EUSSET editorial initiative (www.eusset.eu/

The World Made Meme: Discourse and Identity in Participatory Media

This project explores internet memes as public discourse. `Meme' is a term coined by biologist Richard Dawkins to describe the flow, flux, mutation, and evolution of culture, a cultural counter to the gene. But the term has evolved within many online collectives, and is shifting in public discourse. In this emerging sense, `memes' are amateur media artifacts, extensively remixed and recirculated by different participants on social media networks. But there is reason to doubt how broad and inclusive this amateur participation is. If the networks producing memes are truly participatory, they will definitionally facilitate diverse discourses and represent diverse identities. Therefore, we need detailed empirical work on specific participatory sites in order to clarify questions of mediated cultural participation. My goal was a better understanding of discourse and identity in participatory media through an investigation of memes and the collectives producing them. To answer this question of mediated cultural participation, I used a critical discourse analytic method and focused on three criteria indicative of cultural participation: processes, identities, and politics. The results were mixed. First, while the formal processes necessary for making memes were open, they required literacy to engage. Second, while meme collectives were readily and broadly accessible by diverse identities and perspectives, they were gatekept by subcultural insiders who privileged some and marginalized others. Third, while diverse political commentary did occur, it happened in a relatively narrow frame of perspectives. However, these inequalities did not mean polyvocal public participation was absent in meme collectives. Memes were a means to transform established cultural texts into new ones, to negotiate the worth of diverse identities, and to engage in unconventional arguments about public policy and current events. Memes were a mix of old inequalities and new participation

Already Writers : A Case Study in Assessment and Visual Rhetoric Connections in Digital Multimodal Composition

English language arts must respond to shifts in literacy practices that reflect changes in ‘college and career ready’ that are more than technologically mediated, but also emphasize creative and social skills. The case study in this dissertation is a small part of a larger, ongoing formative experiment in digital multimodal composition (DMC). A formative experiment is a methodological approach that favors a collaborative, iterative research process that is centered on an instructional goal in authentic classroom settings (Reinking & Bradley, 2008). The intention of the larger research study was to support students’ learning through DMC. This dissertation explored one of the research questions from the larger study: In what ways do students experience the process of digital multimodal composition? The primary participants in this case study were Mrs. Kelly, an English teacher with 10 years experience in education and Aubrey, a 10th grade student. Elements of visual rhetoric and visual culture were employed as a lens to frame an exploration of Aubrey’s DMC, a digital comic and self-portrait, Offline. When technology and multimodal composing processes are integrated into curriculum centered on rhetoric and composition, social, academic, and visual languages coalesce. There was no artificial separation between in- and out-of-school literacies in the intervention. Aubrey brought multiple resources to digital composing from diverse discourse communities. Aubrey made intentional choices, but was not always conscious of how she was using rhetorical tools and languages, including social media and gaming conventions. Findings suggest that assessment can be part of an iterative composing process in DMC that supports awareness of rhetorical purposes. The study reflects the teacher’s assertion that “our students are already writers” and has implications for developing DMC curriculum that values student agency

Film Annotation for the L2 Classroom: A Tech-Mediated Model for Intercultural Learning

abstract: With the fast pace of globalization and the rise of encounters in digital spaces, CALL scholars have become increasingly interested in how digital tools mediate intercultural encounters. However, despite their evident success in connecting students from around the world, current online intercultural exchanges continue to present problems such a promotion of positive experiences over deep intercultural learning and lack of real-life value (O’ Dowd, 2018). In addition, digitally-mediated intercultural learning research is based on the same theoretical approaches to learning that guide CALL research (Firth & Wagner, 1997; Lafford, 2017). Although such frameworks are successful in allowing researchers to conceive of digital tools as mediators for human interaction, they have yet to embrace the potential of digital artifacts themselves as intercultural interlocutors. Aiming to address this gap in the research, this investigation used Atkinson’s (2010, 2014) sociocognitive approach to language learning to understand the role that digital tools have in intercultural learning. Also integrating Dervin’s (2011) liquid approach to interculturality—which focuses on understanding intercultural learning as a co-constructed process—the research questions that guided this investigation asked: (a) does film annotation mediate intercultural learning? and, (b) in what ways does film annotation mediate intercultural learning? In answering these questions, the study looked at the intercultural learning process of five advanced learners of Spanish, as they interacted with annotated film clips, and engaged in peer discussion around the themes of colonialism and coloniality presented in the film clips. Data were collected through pre and post-tests, video recordings of peer discussions, and screen recordings of participants’ interaction with the annotated film clips. Findings showed that film annotation allowed participants to notice, retrieve and take notes on important cultural information, which they later incorporated in discussion with peers. Based on this evidence, and aligned with the aforementioned theoretical frameworks, this investigation poses that intercultural learning is a fluid, iterative process. The study also suggests that digital artifacts—as well as human interlocutors—play an important role in enabling learning processes, therefore, the role of such artifacts should be studied more in depth.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Spanish 201

Rhetorical Analysis of Public Policy Rhetoric: Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act of 2004 and 2010

In this research, I employed content analysis using the constant comparative method to examine and comment on the rhetoric of public policy and its audiences of specialists and generalists in the context of participative government. I examined the specific case of the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act (CNR) by comparing technical report texts from 2004 and 2010 to reveal and contrast their specialist and generalist features. Unique attributes of the rhetoric of public policy are discussed, particularly authorship and recursion. I organized the research findings into physical features, affective features, and cognitive features according to Carliner\u27s framework of information design (2000). According to my findings, the CNR report from 2010 has significantly more generalist-friendly features. Generalist-friendly features at the physical level are as follows: the location of very technical information in appendices, an extensive resources section, and the heavy use of colored charts and figures. Generalist-friendly features at the affective level are: the use of emotional language in definition/naming and the use of metaphor. Generalist-friendly features at the cognitive level are: the use of metaphor and limited use of jargon. Ideology and cultural artifacts in the documents are discussed, but were determined to more likely reflect audience values and/or the political environment from which public policy rhetoric arose than specialist or generalist attributes

Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English

Since 2003, RTE has published the annual “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English,” and we are proud to share these curated and annotated citations once again. The goal of the annual bibliography is to offer a synthesis of the research published in the area of English language arts within the past year that may be of interest to RTE readers. Abstracted citations and those featured in the “Other Related Research” sections were published, either in print or online, between June 2019 and June 2020. The bibliography is divided into nine subject area sections. A three-person team of scholars with diverse research interests and background experiences in preK–16 educational settings reviewed and selected the manuscripts for each section using library databases and leading empirical journals. Each team abstracted significant contributions to the body of peer-reviewed studies that addressed the current research questions and concerns in their topic area

The Intersection of Writing Process Pedagogy and Prolepsis: A Phenomenological Case Study of Secondary Writing Instruction

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the lived experiences and essences of secondary high school students and participating teachers in a three-week summer journalism camp sponsored by the National Writing Project and funded by the MacArthur T. Foundation. This study employs Moustakas\u27 (1994) modification of the van Kaam method for phenomenological data analysis in order to reveal the intersection of writing process pedagogy and prolepsis, a writing framework I developed. Data sources included pre-and-post writing samples, semi-structured interviews, field notes and student writing artifacts which were collected between May 27, 2019 and June 14, 2019. Data were analyzed in order to examine how students’ attitudes and beliefs about writing and their own writer identity shifted and changed throughout the camp as they experienced the learning activities crafted for them. Analysis resulted in the identification of three essential themes: (1) curating a supportive learning environment through purposeful pedagogy is crucial for helping to shape students’ beliefs about writing; this happens through co-construction of knowledge and experiencing a sociocultural space; (2) reflection is vital for learning; and (3) prolepsis can be an effective mediational tool for developing student writers because it fosters a writing process pedagogy that gives student agency and choice. These results provide supporting evidence for the argument that writing instruction is inherently sociocultural, in that a co-construction of knowledge between teachers and students, a focus on fostering and sustaining a community of practice and a curation of learning activities to develop students’ writing skills are the necessary mediative tools for instruction

Stop, Collaborate and Listen: Co-Designing Social Justice Teacher Education Programs with Preservice Teachers

This three-article dissertation includes a book proposal and two articles. First, in the book proposal I tell the story of collaboratively designing and teaching a practice-based teacher education course called “Studio" with secondary English and History teacher candidates. This book provides examples of curriculum and clear and accessible approaches to the development of social justice teacher dispositions and practice. In the second article, I draw on research on anti-oppressive practice and theoretical work on the dialogical self. I follow one candidate through the yearlong process of co-designing and participating in Studio. Specifically, I analyze how video recordings of Studio class activities, candidate audio journals, and video recordings of Studio co-design meetings offered a complex mix of discursive opportunities that allowed one candidate to create and improvise as they co-negotiated and narrated their own development as a social justice educator. Finally, in the third article I highlight one Studio engagement (audio journals) as a reflective practice within social justice teacher education as a way for candidates to question their assumptions around oppressive structures within and outside of schools. In examining how another candidate spoke about her experiences in her practicum site, I analyze how ideas around race, ethnicity, gender, and ability were negotiated and explored. Throughout this dissertation, across all three articles, I argue that in order to move candidates from passive observers to critical agents who dissect how power indexes and is indexed through learning, it is important for candidates to have a flexible and co-constructed way to reflect on who they are as social justice teachers and who they want to become