Goals and Purposes

The E110 goals mesh quite fluidly with my own philosophy. Having employed writing workshops, I fully understand the importance of peer interaction in the writing process. When students genuinely engage with others’ work, valuable and purposeful results occur. Ideally, peer reviewers successfully identify the intended audience and respond to works meaningfully. If all involved have the experience of writing for a variety of audiences and purposes, the process eventuates intrinsically. While my students have served as writing communities for years, their experience largely lies in analytical essays and research papers. It may be a challenge for some of them to break out of their reinforced formulaic, analytical habits. They certainly know the research process, even though many struggle to establish their own sentiments to support. Clarifying the proper use of research presents as a challenge, but once it’s overcome, reading as a writer and vice-versa takes on greater significance.

The one goal that initially stumped me is that of creating print and digital texts. This seemed too simplistic, for I took it to mean merely printed and electronic. Upon reading the Brown Bag Multimedia Resources page, I found clarification. The method of remediation is particularly interesting to me for two key reasons. First, I strive to bring fundamental twenty-first century skills into the classroom. Debates have raged over usefulness of technology in education, ranging from the opinion that iMovie and YouTube projects waste time, to the position that students must learn how to present themselves and their positions across a host of software and social media platforms. Of the two opinions, I favor the latter. It’s been a challenge to convince others in the educational arena that this is more than just a fad that will fade in a few years. Second, I realize that I haven’t been keeping up with the jargon as I should be, especially since I have immersed myself in the world of technology in education. The term remediation was unfamiliar, and I’m disappointed in myself because I understand the concept so well and have used it with my students, but I had no idea it is so critical in collegiate success today. My limited experience in publishing and advertising enlightened me to the importance of mastering rhetoric and aesthetics from the business perspective, especially since the globalization of the marketplace has morphed so drastically since my undergrad years. It’s a completely different world, and today’s students must be digitally savvy in such a way that they can communicate in technological universals. Re-mediating texts truly overlaps and exemplifies the understanding of audience. So many factors, such as background and context, play into the visual or audio remix of a text. Few students grasp this concept inherently. The art of presentation relies heavily on voice and diction tailored to the intended audience, a crucial, controlling factor. Remediation, if guided correctly, builds confidence and success in composition. Through this, students manipulate presentations to suit the audience, consequently mastering the ability to win over any crowd. Shouldn’t this be every writer’s goal?