During my undergrad years at California state university Northridge, I took many English classes—no doubt since I focused, and still am focusing, on composition. But to my surprise there was a constant theme that most of my English professors, holding doctorates and MFA’s, would constantly say when they turned on a projector, “oh I’m sorry, I am not good with technology.” And I had never question the inability of many literate individuals, who think abstract concepts and critical thoughts, and yet were unable to know how a machine—a piece of steel and glass with a light bulb—worked, much less how to use anything other than the basic word document on a computer. Would I, going into this field, might also fall prey to this constant theme of inadequacy towards new age technology?
Sure my professors where highly intelligent people, who shined once they figured out where the power button was to a machine, but would lose track of their thoughts or get discombobulated when PowerPoint did not work how they wanted PowerPoint to work. And sure, I learned and owe my degree to these individual who were constantly encouraging their students to question the world, to question institutions, to question cultures, to question… Well, to question questions. So, I did just that: I questioned. Why is it that we, as English educators, are unable to showcase our students how to use new age technology so they can also think critically, and also be able to question? Why can we bring in technology to the English classroom?
During my last semester of undergrad. I encounter Professor Barnard. He was tall, thin, and eccentric; he always wore a colorful shirt, and was highly theoretical. He loved Eminem, and constantly brought in lyrics and article, among other pop culture references, to provide examples of how to engage with modern day texts. Above all, he welcomed technology and used technology within the classroom. He gave projects dealing with website creations, video creations, and even creating your own advertisement on Publisher or Illustrator. He emphasized that these exercise showcase the basics of writing, basics that historically where showcased in the English classroom. He argued that creating a website is similar to creating an essay; formatting the virtual space is similar to formatting the physical page. We do not simply plop anything anywhere, there has to be thought behind the structure. Additionally, the website is an argument—there are videos, pictures, and other media that work as evidence to support claims. He suggested that creating a video highlights the point of view of the author, and demonstrates how the author collects and edits segments to create a video. Much like an author of an essay, there needs to be a collection of data and sift through the data to make a point. He suggested that rhetorical situations are learned in visual components. Through working with Photoshop, illustrator, and publisher, the author learns to use rhetorical situations to get our point across.
Now, before taking this class I knew that we could use technology within an English classroom—I just didn’t know how. But Dr. Barnard made it very clear how digital technology allows for learning to be part of the English classroom. More importantly, it was his relentless emphasis that he did not want us to become experts in using technology (that was not the point), but rather how technology is very similar to the writing process, and how it can be used effective in teaching. HE also suggested that many professors are against technology in their classroom because they themselves are not comfortable using technology, or do not know how to engage with technology.
There’s a stereotype that English majors are always reading and writing. IN essence, that is our identity that is our being. But, this stereotype can be challenged by simple allowing multimodal components into the classroom. In a class during my first year as a Graduate student on rhetoric and composition. The class was talking about the use of technology within the English college classroom. Our Professor posed a simple question, “should we, as educators, use technology within our curriculum?” the room was immediately divided. 80% of the classroom looked up from their notebooks and put down their pens in such a way to suggest that the question itself was completely inappropriate. It was almost taboo to ask if we should let the T-Word into the classroom. It was almost like our professor had asked if we should burn books instead of reading them. That part of the classroom said that we, as educators, should teach them how to write, and how to write well and effectively. They added that technology had a limited space within the English classroom.
The other 20%, on their laptops and tablets said, “technology is not going anywhere; we should embrace it!” And I can give you a guess to what side I was on. To this I started remebering how Dr. Barnard used technology is his classroom, and how i could model my classroom in a similar way. I voiced that i had created novice websites, and PowerPoints that where not so noviced, and some students responded with, “well, you like technology because you know how to use it.” This dawn on me, through the eyes of others, I was tech savvy. I knew how to do more than power on a computer! But I only knew this because I was taught how to do it by Dr. Barnard. Most importantly. I knew how digital literacy can be used within the classroom to showcases English students a practical technique to use in our modern day, while encompassing the concepts of a regular English class. I was branded digitally literate—even though I think you can always learn more—but at that point I figured out that I knew how to use technology within an English classroom. More importantly, I wanted to to use technology in a way for students to gain access to composition, and genre awareness. I wanted to to teach with technology, to not only engage students, but also make them aware of current trends and topics within technology and multi model works. I wanted to show that technology can exist within the English classroom.