Working in Patches, Groups, and Spaces: A Task-Based Study of Literacy Ecologies for Digital Composing

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Voss, Julia Ann
Language:English
Published: The Ohio State University / OhioLINK 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1370957339
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record_format oai_dc
collection NDLTD
language English
sources NDLTD
topic Composition
Higher Education
Pedagogy
Technology
literacy
digital literacy
composition
pedagogy
writing
technology
group composing
space
foraging
ecology
classroom design
distributed workplace
transfer
cooperation
collaboration
spellingShingle Composition
Higher Education
Pedagogy
Technology
literacy
digital literacy
composition
pedagogy
writing
technology
group composing
space
foraging
ecology
classroom design
distributed workplace
transfer
cooperation
collaboration
Voss, Julia Ann
Working in Patches, Groups, and Spaces: A Task-Based Study of Literacy Ecologies for Digital Composing
author Voss, Julia Ann
author_facet Voss, Julia Ann
author_sort Voss, Julia Ann
title Working in Patches, Groups, and Spaces: A Task-Based Study of Literacy Ecologies for Digital Composing
title_short Working in Patches, Groups, and Spaces: A Task-Based Study of Literacy Ecologies for Digital Composing
title_full Working in Patches, Groups, and Spaces: A Task-Based Study of Literacy Ecologies for Digital Composing
title_fullStr Working in Patches, Groups, and Spaces: A Task-Based Study of Literacy Ecologies for Digital Composing
title_full_unstemmed Working in Patches, Groups, and Spaces: A Task-Based Study of Literacy Ecologies for Digital Composing
title_sort working in patches, groups, and spaces: a task-based study of literacy ecologies for digital composing
publisher The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
publishDate 2013
url http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1370957339
work_keys_str_mv AT vossjuliaann workinginpatchesgroupsandspacesataskbasedstudyofliteracyecologiesfordigitalcomposing
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spelling ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu13709573392021-08-03T05:24:02Z Working in Patches, Groups, and Spaces: A Task-Based Study of Literacy Ecologies for Digital Composing Voss, Julia Ann Composition Higher Education Pedagogy Technology literacy digital literacy composition pedagogy writing technology group composing space foraging ecology classroom design distributed workplace transfer cooperation collaboration Digital literacy learning has become a fundamental, mainstream concern for teachers and researchers because of the increasingly central roles played by writing in digital environments and multimodal composing in twenty-first century literacy and literacy instruction. Digital composing draws on many of the processes that apply to print composing (planning, drafting, revising, et cetera), but its medium makes additional technical and rhetorical demands on composers which print-based models of the composing process do not fully address. This study describes a process-based approach to group digital composing tasks that accounts for access to digital literacy resources, methods for sharing task responsibilities between group members, and workspaces for digital composing. The material resources (including hardware, software, and physical/virtual workspaces) and intellectual resources (the functional literacy skills to operate these material resources and the rhetorical sensibilities concerning design, mode, and audience according to which composers create digital texts) digital composing relies on recommend approaching digital composing tasks in terms of component parts, while situating these components within complex literacy ecologies. The case studies of student and faculty digital composing groups featured in this study focus on how groups approached and worked through their tasks. I analyze participants’ methods of digital literacy resource foraging, task structuring, and workspace selection/structuring to recommend strategies for teaching digital composing. Rather than offering sample assignments or rubrics, this study proposes metacognitive exercises designed to help students draw on the literacy resources present in their literacy ecologies and approach digital composing tasks as learning opportunities. Building on Selfe and Hawisher’s work on conditions of access to technology, I offer “foraging” as a metaphor for describing how digital composers access digital literacy resources and discuss how foraging works in physical and virtual ecological spheres with differing degrees of resource density. Once gathered around the group task, digital literacy resources help shape how groups use cooperative and collaborative methods to structure their composing task. Gathered literacy resources create the potential for members to accumulate new digital literacy resources, which they can potentially transfer to future digital composing tasks. Although dividing task responsibilities according to previous experience can discourage resource transfer between group members, in-group techne-mentoring can encourage digital literacy learning during collaborative task phases. The material and symbolic dimensions of the physical and virtual spaces in which digital composing groups worked also function as material digital literacy resources that shape groups’ composing processes. Studying how groups produce (work)spaces by inhabiting them considers the extent to which digital composers can alter literacy resources as they apply them to specific tasks. Positioning workspace as a digital literacy examines how resources change as they circulate in a literacy ecology through application to diverse composing tasks. Finally, groups’ physical and virtual workspaces also functioned as important digital literacy resources. Building on Paul Prior and Jody Shipka’s description of writers’ environment selecting and structuring practices, I look at how groups both follow and redefine the learning behavior cues designed into the physical and virtual environments in which they worked. 2013-08-29 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1370957339 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1370957339 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.