In Cynthia Selfe's essay entitled "Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution" she talks about how the changing of teaching styles to the new technology of computers brings benefits as well as several fears to this change. On one side, she talks about how she hopes that "computers will make the students and the teachers more productive in the classroom...more effective as communicators and more responsibilities involved as literate citizens in world affairs.(p.293)" But on the other hand, the power of technology is very limited to what life is in the natural world. Selfe talks about how Americans are "the smart ones who use technological expertise to connect the world's peoples, to supply them with technology and train them to use it. (p.295)" Technology has invented a Land of Equal Opportunity as well as a Land of Difference. People invent ads that look like the 50's saying and showing how the things/objects you use in the ad will feel likes it's easier and/or simpler to use, and thus using the product in the commercial makes people in the real world think that using said thing/object will make your life simpler. Much like a figure shown on page 303 where a man with his dog talks about how Microsoft makes things in his life "as comfortable as an old shoe." Other ads make people feel like they are powerful and above everyone else, such as the Cisco Systems ad on page 304. Lastly, She talks about how ads similar to these have patterns of sexism, where men are shown doing things a stereotypical man doing such as riding a motorcycle and making comments about how they are rebuilding City Hall (both references found on page 319). As for women, they show them in rather sensual positions thinking that buying the computer screen a naked women is caressing (p.315) will make people (most likely men) want to buy that specific computer.
One claim that Selfe makes is "it is clear, for instance, that fewer girls use computers in public secondary schools than do boys, especially in the upper grades... (p.306)" The evidence shown by this claim is that first, this essay was made back in the 90's where computers were fairly new, so computers were aimed toward men and that games on the computer are designed for boys, as well as computing environments, which are constructed for males, by males (p.306.)
Another Claim made by Selfe was "at some level, English Departments have come to terms with technological change (p.292)" This is true concerning the fact where English teachers adjust their budgets for equipment to "accommodate an ongoing program of purchases and upgrades, accepted computer studies as a new area [as of the early 90's] of scholarly focus, integrated technology into various curricula, and modified many programs to include technology training and use. (p.292)" Even to today, technology evolves an also evolving teaching society where teachers at a number of public and private schools as well as number of colleges moved from an analog way of teaching, to a digital version.
Welcome!
Welcome to our Eng 100 Blog “Conversations Beyond the Classroom”! The title of this blog refers to the community of active readers & collaborative learners we are creating by sharing our academic writing for Eng 100 with each other + a larger group of students, instructors, academics, and just about anybody who chooses to follow our blog! When you write and post your reader responses here (and, later, as you write your essays for the course), I encourage you to use this audience to conceptualize who you are writing for and, most important, how to communicate your ideas so that this group of academic readers and writers can easily follow your line of thinking. Think about it this way: What do you need to explain and articulate in order for the other bloggers to understand your response to the essays we’ve read in class? What does your audience need to know about those essays and the authors who wrote them? And how can you show your readers, in writing, which ideas you add to these “conversations” that take place in the texts we study?
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
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