KairosWikis | CCCCReviews / Session B11

Riding the Web 2.0 Wave with Tried and True Rhet/Comp Practices
reviewed by Joel Wingard
jwingard@moravian.edu

In this session, only the first listed speaker, Lillian Bridwell-Bowles of Louisiana State U., was present. I did not hear an explanation for that situation. This was disappointing because the titles of the other talks were appealing. However the first speaker filled the time well without belaboring anything, and she had much of interest to say.

Prof. Bowles offered a report on the communication-across-the-curriculum(CxC) program at her institution. She said that in planning for 2009, several CxC questions had arisen:

How can faculty and students best interact to create knowledge communities on campus?
What new technologies should students use for different rhetorical purposes as they communicate their accomplishments to a public?
How can student accomplishments in text, video, audio, etc. be assessed?

She gave a descriptive outline of what makes a course “communication-intensive”:

emphasis on at least two of four modes of communication
emphasis on writing- (or communicating-) to-learn as well as “writing-to-communicate”
emphasis on communication as a process
class time spent on communication work
“small” class size (limit of 35)
40 percent of the student’s grade based on communication work

As an example of the kind of Web 2.0 modalities students were working with, showed a clip from a student project in a communication-intensive course that documented a service-learning assignment at a local public TV station. She also described the “communication studios” that her campus has – places where video can be edited and video equipment used; where technical assistance is available on a one-to-one basis; where advanced software and equipment is available; and where a series of workshops is held. Then she discussed the university’s student exemplars or “distinguished communicators.” These students must submit a digital portfolio of their work, and she mentioned that one gratifying aspect of this program was that it attracted good participation from African-American students.

Overall, this session made plain a number of features of a well-articulated CxC program and the communication studios that support it.