RWS 100 Fall 2016


 


 

 

Sample Syllabi, Assignment Prompts, Schedule & Course Reader

 

Overviews and Detailed Descriptions of Teaching Activities

 

First Weeks: Introducing the Course & Applying Concepts to Short texts

 

Critical Digital Literacies

 

Unit 1: Thompson's "Public Thinking"

 

The Text

 

Background & Links

 

Collected Teaching Materials for Unit 1

 

Examples of Public Thinking

Thompson talks about the importance of “public thinking” and “networked” reading and writing of texts. At the end of his chapter he asks, “What tools will create new forms of public thinking in the years to come?” His answer is that “as more forms of media become digital, they'll become sites for public thinking… Marginalia may become a new type of public thinking, with the smartest remarks from other readers becoming part of how we make sense of a book.” Thompson also discusses how reading and writing are becoming “blended,” and quotes literacy theorist Debbie Brandt: “People read in order to generate writing; we read from the posture of the writer.”


We can examine some contemporary examples of tools and publishing experiments that embody Thompson's ideas. These may help us understand what Thompson is on about, but also determine the extent to which his claims are plausible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unit 2: Carr's "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

 

Collected Teaching Materials for Unit 2

  

Responses, Extensions & Challenges to Carr

 

Unit 3: Boyd's "Literacy: Are Today's Youth Digital Natives?'"

 

Collected Teaching Materials for Unit 3

 

Background on Boyd & her book

 

Videos of Boyd and other Writers discussing Digital Natives

 

 

 

Election Texts and Links that Students Could Use to Explore Critical Digital Literacy

  

Exercise: In groups, examine one of the links below. Answer the following questions A) What does the story or post say?  B) Does it seem credible? Why or why not? C) How can you tell? What criteria or tools did you use to determine credibility?

  1. Pope Endorsement
  2. Benton Strategy Group Leaked Report, "Salvage" Plan
  3. Private Email Server and Police Raid
  4. Amnesty Plans 
  5. Clinton Adviser Scandal (skim report, but look at the first 10 comments - what are they like? 
  6. Twitter post about Scandal 
  7. Election results 
  8. Now: are protests against Trump staged and full of paid protesters? Trump retweeted that this is true, then later tweeted something more conciliatory. His son earlier tweeted something similar, then deleted it after the site he linked to was revealed to be a hoax.
  9. Many users of Facebook and many political sites shared "news" that BLM and Trump protests are Soros-funded hate groups designed to overthrow the US. These seem to be having an impact on groups like the Oath keepers. Do we (students, citizens, academics) need tools to track the flow, reach and distribution of such stories?

 

Election Rhetoric & Social Media

 

Videos and Articles on Election and Social Media News Sites

 

Do there Need to be Dramatic Changes to the Way Facebook & Social Media Operate?