Author: caitlincholmes

Write Nerdy to Me: Utilizing Fanfiction in WAC/WID Courses

Post author By caitlincholmes
Post date October 9, 2014

By Caitlin Dungan

Caitlin Dungan is a PhD student in Mason’s Writing and Rhetoric PhD Program. Caitlin is a Graduate Research Assistant for Mason’s Writing Across the Curriculum Program, and her current research interests include fanfiction, digital media and rhetoric, online feedback practices, and participatory culture.

It’s interesting, perplexing, and – I think – exciting that geek culture has emerged as mainstream. Realms previously reserved for a few indoctrinated fans are now open for participation to the many. One of the side effects of this growth in fandoms is the increasing number of emergent writers embracing fanfiction as a creative outlet. As young fans pursue this unique composition practice and post their works on online forums like fanfiction.net or Archive of Our Own, how much of this self-sponsored writing is informing their writing practice in the classroom?

Tags College Composition, composition, digital media, digital rhetoric, fan culture, fan fiction, fandom, fanfiction, fanfiction writing, Feedback, higher education, nerds, pedagogy, transfer, Writing, Writing Across the Curriculum, writing feedback, writing pedagogy

Evaluating Writing Teaching Writing Technology

An Attempt at “Teaching Naked”: Implementing José Bowen in ENGH 302

Post author By caitlincholmes
Post date October 2, 2014

By Caitlin Holmes

Caitlin Holmes is the Assistant Director of Writing Across the Curriculum at George Mason University. She blogs regularly about teaching here at thewritingcampus.com. You can reach her via email at wac@gmu.edu.

Dr. José Bowen, President of Goucher College and author of Teaching Naked, came to George Mason’s Innovations in Teaching and Learning Conference sponsored by the Center for Teaching and Faculty Excellence on September 18-19. During his visit, he led a 4-hour long workshop and then delivered a keynote presentation. During his presentations, Dr. Bowen spoke passionately about the importance of integrating technology more effectively into and out of the classroom as a way to encourage student accountability for learning and – most importantly – to transform the classroom into a site of thinking, not just knowledge acquisition.

Tags College Composition, composition, higher education, pedagogy, Teaching, Writing, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing in the Disciplines

Teaching Writing Technology

Guest Post: Gaming Across the Curriculum

Post author By caitlincholmes
Post date September 25, 2014

By Steve Holmes

Steve Holmes is an Assistant Professor of English at George Mason University. His primary research areas include classical and contemporary rhetorical theory, continental philosophy, digital rhetoric, videogames, mobile and handheld media, and multimodal composition. His most recent publications appear in Rhetoric Review, Enculturation, and the Fibreculture Journal.

One aspect that writing teachers are increasingly facing is the need to address the role of medium in student composition. Our students communicate through different technologies (laptops, mobile phones, tablets) and social media (SnapChat, Instagram, Twitter, Yik Yak). In turn, a greater number of professional, industry, and academic communication situations are demanding ever greater familiarity with a variety of digital literacies. Since Gail E. Hawisher and Cynthia L. Selfe published Gaming Lives in the 21^st Century in 2007, a growing number of composition scholars have sought to make videogames an object of inquiry (Waggoner et al.; Colby-Shultz et al.). Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) scholarship has commendably begun to address these forms of digital writing, but lags behind in attention to videogames and gaming.

Tags College Composition, education, Gaming, higher education, MMORPGs, pedagogy, RPGs, video games, Writing, Writing Across the Curriculum, writing pedagogy

Evaluating Writing Teaching Writing

Small-Group Writing Conferences for Better Feedback and Student Peer Review

Post author By caitlincholmes
Post date September 18, 2014

By Steven J. Corbett

Almost everyone who teaches writing has an opinion about peer review and response. We’ve heard teachers bemoan how students just don’t take it seriously. We’ve struggled with trying to make it fit in an already over-loaded curriculum. Yet student peer review and response can become a writing teacher’s most promising pedagogy . . . if we approach it with the right attitude and a few helpful strategies and resources.

Tags Peer Review, Teaching Strategies, Writing Across the Curriculum