Help me prepare for next term!

(I actually posted this message on the tech-rhet mailing list; I figured I’d “reposition” it here, too).

I received an email from an eager future graduate student the other day asking me what books I was going to use for the graduate course I teach regularly here, “Computers and Writing, Theory and Practice.” It’s a course I’ve taught several times before. The last time I taught it was Fall 2004; the web site is at http://krause.emich.edu/eng516 One other thing I’ll mention: despite its title, the course is supposed to have a pedagogical spin to it since it is a required course for our MA in the Teaching of Writing. While this has shifted in recent years, a significant portion of the students in this program are practicing high school or junior high teachers, so I try to include materials that have some K-12 relevance.

Anyway, that future student’s email got me thinking about this and another course, so I thought I’d throw it out there to see what folks think:

  • Are there any recommendations for an anthology of current readings on the “state of affairs” in computers and composition studies? I have a lot of pieces in my class from past anthologies and such, but I guess I’m looking to see if there are newer (2003 +) collections that folks like.
  • Any single-authored and/or collaboratively written texts out there on the subject that people like? For example, one book I will probably include is Literate Lives in the Information Age: Narratives of Literacy from the United States by Selfe and Hawisher and many “et al” (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004 ). I just think it’s a really interesting and original collection. I’ve thought about using Gee’s book on video games and Selber’s book about multimedia literacy. Any other ideas?
  • Speaking of book ideas: for a different class (“Writing for the World Wide Web”), I’m looking for a sort of CSS for beginners kind of text. If I decide to go that route; I might just use resources on the web to facilitate this. Last year, I used Eric Meyer’s Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition, which is an excellent book, but complete overkill for this class. So I’m looking for something that isn’t “for dummies” (if you get my drift) but that is focused for relative beginners, too.
  • Any ideas?

3 thoughts on “Help me prepare for next term!”

  1. I like the Wysocki / Johnson-Eilola / Selfe / Sirc volume, Writing New Media (2004). It might be a little too far “out there” for a teaching course, but maybe not.

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