Since this week was given as a freebie, I think I'm going to use it to sort of layout a map for the work that I'm going to be doing for the rest of the semester. As fall draws to a close, my first semester in PhD coursework is, suitably, ending in hella papers.
One thing that I wish I would have done better in my master's program is used my coursework to develop one main idea-- in seminar papers, I discussed topics ranging from the rhetoric in the DSM for PTSD to Marxist theory in composition pedagogy. I'm trying to streamline my scholarship more, which feels appropriate as someone trying to get their groove in research interests.
So far, I've been focusing on, and thinking about, accessibility and how we relate to space. I think that's what I want to keep building on as I go into beast-mode and crank out some essays and lit review.
My main projects right now:
Research Methods: For my final project in this class, I have to conduct a microstudy. I think that this assignment is the most developed-- I'm looking at web standards for accessibility (WCAG) and how they apply to campus maps. This project has me started on how space and its depictions are rhetorically constructed (see: Barton & Barton) and how that determines where people can access communities and environments.
Foundations of Tech Comm: Exploring how physical space is rhetorical, and investigating materialist & activity theory in addition to methods of agency and human interpretation (basically, I've never studied this stuff before-- I want to see how it might work)
Web Accessibility & Disability Studies: Still hemming this one out!
Comp Theory: I have... a lot going on. Bullet points!
- Universal Design for Learning....UDL
- PBL, Problem-Based Learning
- So Andragogy, aw yeah
- Composition as a place for service learning
- Service learning -> community engagement
- Community engagement -> community writing
- Community writing -> Neosophistic pedagogy
- Community engagement...digital style
- Social epistemic pedagogy
- Throw all of this in a blender
To try and parse this out a little more:
I want to try and look at how FYC might be used to develop civic engagement through community-based writing. One way to do this is to reinforce how composition can be used to problem solve (andragogy/PBL), and how problems can be solved in multiple ways via critical thinking of over perspectives-- neosophistic pedagogy connects to this by investigating both models of social epistemology (how we make meaning is dependent on our community/environment) and pluralistic approaches to problem-solving (we're not trying to offer linear solutions, but rather see how a variety of solutions might be used to convince a variety of audiences). UDL, or Universal Design for Learning, could be a way to explore such engagements by finding multiple ways to compose for communities--particularly with multimodal approaches to composition. This can make community engagement more accessible to a wider population of students. Digital communities, like social media, have an even greater accessibility for a broader base of content.
Ah! So many wonderful Leah-isms here! "Hella papers." "Beast-mode."
ReplyDeleteI agree that I wish I'd been more focused during my master's program. I was a little scattershot, trying to become proficient at too many things instead of zeroing in on what mattered most to me and how I could best utilize my skill set. I'm really interested in your aspirations to bring a higher level of civic engagement into FYC. I feel like it's the perfect moment to teach students that they have power, and a voice in their society, and that writing is a spectacular way to get things done.
I'm still not totally sure what community-based writing is but I know you will drop that knowledge on me!
Sounds like you're making some very good connections here! Now, what we need is a universal theory, a string to hold together all of these ideas! Well, that's called a career I suppose.
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