Chapter 3: Hawisher & Selfe

Hawisher, Gail, and Cynthia Selfe. "The Rhetoric of Technology and the Electronic Writing Class." College Composition and Communication. 42.1 (1991): 55-65. Web. 5 Sep. 2011. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/357539>.

Hawisher and Selfe discuss the lack of critical analysis of the use of technology in the writing classroom. They begin by explaining and examining the positive feedback that instructors have on the use of the technology based on a survey they conducted. After we are introduced to the overly positive "rhetoric of technology," the authors explain the results of a series of observations they made about the actual use of technology in the classroom. They found that not only did the use of computers not support the perceptions of the instructors that were surveyed, they found that many times they enforced the power structure that these instructors assumed they were getting away from; therefore, creating a conflict between theory and practice.

What I liked about the article was that I assume it was one of the first looks at criticizing the use of technology, which is always important. The concerns that they had were very relevant to the time period. In fact, some issues are still relevant. As far as dislikes, I took issue with the question they asked in their survey "Do you prefer teaching writing with traditional methods or with computers?" (58) simply because it anticipates an either/or dichotomy.

I got the overall impression that teaching with technology is ultimately teaching with a word processor, like I said above, changing the technology won't change the practices when you don't know what you're doing. If students were given time to write in class with pen/paper, they would be making the same observations. This means that the issue is with the teaching, not necessarily the technology. Don't get me wrong, technology can and does change dynamics, etc. but if you have instructors that are poorly prepared, it will show regardless of the technology. Ultimately, it comes down to a question of whether or not the technology being used (pencil, computer, etc.) is the best technology for the purpose of the activity.

The electronic bulletin board is essentially the backbone to distance learning as we know it. The Discussion Board of Blackboard (BB) is recreated in other educational platforms as well as in blogging. This is a tough issue as far as "power" in the classroom is concerned. All I can do is share what I have done to balance the power. In my discussions for courses, I require students to answer certain questions (typically involving reading and reacting as we are doing here), and then they are required to respond to two classmates. During the week, as they are responding, I only read and respond to those I need to. I respond to their introductions, to their posts when they're choosing topics, and everything else I simply skim for problem students. This is an area that I'm not sure Hawisher and Selfe anticipated. "Flaming" is easier when you have to come f2f with a classmate or an instructor. I've had more student issues teaching online courses then f2f courses. Finding the best solution to discussions in online courses is something I'm still working out, and I think this article will overall be helpful in that pursuit.

A question that this reading made me thing of is: Will multi-media composition help to shake up the authority structures? Multi-media tend to have less perceived "correct" answers than traditional word processing. This isn't something I found confusing, but maybe something for future research.

The internet link that I found actually just lists this article in a collection of new media research. It looks to be a wiki kept by a class. I thought it would be interesting to include since there seems to be additional articles read.