Hello, my name is Donna Decker. I am Associate Professor in English at Franklin Pierce. I directs both the Women in Leadership Program and the Honors Program. I have been teaching at the college/university for a dozen years.
Like Wini, I am interested in discourse, though I have not broadened my study into online discourse. I find challenging and compelling the idea of public/private discourse, and particularly the notion that we construct personas online -- that may or may not sync w/ our "real" personalities. Does technology allow us a greater freedom to try on personality costumes? Have we always done this? does technology allow us to do somore easily and publicly -- seemingly without consequence?
Just a few morning musings. See you all next week.
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Interesting about online personae. We've found here at Wellesley that only SOME people have the freedom to construct online personae. Students are the most free (but sometimes run into trouble); faculty construct personae more deliberately (and sometimes playfully); staff and administrators find that they are never able to step out of role to create different online personae. It's all shaped by the hierarchies of academia....
But we'll look at a couple of assignments during the workshop that deliberately address constructed personae online...
Wini
Hi Donna,
I have spent the last 57 years trying to figure out who I am and what I want to be when I grow up. The idea of creating yet another self to contemplate and be baffled by is very unattractive. I think I'll stick with the real deal.
Looking forward to being in class with you. I am so pysched that I figured out how to respond!
Hi, everyone, I'm Trent Batson -- the real-life me (I think). I'll be seeing you all on Wednesday.
I have taught writing at 7 universities, but most notably to deaf students at Gallaudet University in Wash DC. The challenges students with normal hearing have in learning to write are even more difficult for deaf students. In fact, writing is what holds back deaf people in the workplace more than any other factor. Deaf students are in a way "canaries in the mine," revealing writing issues more poignantly and obviously than others.
In desperation as a writing teacher at Gallaudet, I turned to technology in 1984 and discovered magic: writing in the then unknown technology of real-time chat, my students experienced the flow of English as never before and became engaged with English sufficiently over time to improve astonishingly in their writing skills.
Following on that canary metaphor, this approach was equally engaging for hearing students in composition classes at other colleages. Many grant projects later, I moved into technology administration in higher ed.
I'm enjoying reading your posts and to meeting each of you on Wednesday.
--Trent
Donna:
I see that Wini & Zan in all their wisdom have put me in the group with two English Professors. They must have figured that I needed all the writing help I could get
:- )!
Scott
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