Playskool background re-inventing the possibilities (title)
A New Media University

As we have shown in the comparison between the WPA Council's statement on letteracy goals and new media literacy goals, as well as in the first course/student description, writing a research paper isn't the only possibility for students to learn to think critically and compose a persuasive text with attention to appropriate processes and conventions. Schroeder used oral and written variants of academic literacies, and Sirc used written and (found-)image-based variants to show critical learning.

Below we offer a full-text draft of the WPA Outcomes updated to consider new media literacies. We hope that readers will be able to see the subtle shifts and to use these outcomes for the many kinds of assignments, including written and new media ones, that students produce.

New Media Literacies Outcomes for General-Education Courses

(adopted from WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition)

Rhetorical Knowledge
By the end of first-year composition, students should

Faculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by helping students learn

Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing
By the end of first year composition, students should

Faculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by helping students learn

Processes
By the end of first year composition, students should

Faculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by helping students learn

Knowledge of Conventions
By the end of first year composition, students should

Faculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by helping students learn

 

In this webtext, we focus on digital new media texts as a way to change the writing-based commonplaces of general-education classes by introducing new media topoi (the components of a text), thus opening Academic Literacy to notions of composing beyond just writing, which can change the way students engage in their learning processes within the university, a new media university. In the next section, we turn to describing how a graduate class—those who will eventually teach first-year composition classes, if they aren't already—can enact similar literacies.

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Abstract/Index Shared Introduction Coming to Commonplaces New Media in English Programs Consider This Evidence Outside the Classroom Theorizing Commonplaces New Media Topoi New Media Commonplaces A Course in Which This Is Possible, Part I Students, Showing the Possibilities, Part I New Media Literacies Written Outcomes New Media Outcomes A New Media University A Course in Which This Is Possible, Part II Students, Showing the Possibilities, Part II Conclusion References Site Map