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With the economy in its current state, money -or the lack thereof- is a constant concern. The world of Higher Education is not immune to this problem, sadly. How do we create a model that’s sustainable and still provides the tools and education for the next generation of students to become part of the global community? What about technology as a lifeline?

FOSSELs (Free and Open Source Software Equipped Libraries) could point the way toward a potential source for shrinking expenses in a vital area: technology. By adopting a model that embraces Free and Open Source as its inspiration, Higher Ed institutions could explore lower operating expenses without sacrificing access to technology for students and faculty. Without the large expense of “brand-name” software, a significant amount of funding could be applied to the mission of education.

I have worked in a FOSSEL in my previous life in public libraries. The model, when properly implemented and maintained, has the potential to be a great asset with implications in all areas of education. Is there a real possibility that this could become a defining (or redefining) movement in education? If so, where does that movement start? What are the roadblocks to such an effort?

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Much of the conversation on the utilization of technology in the classroom revolves around undergraduate classes, but in this Talk session, I’d like to discuss whether graduate students can or should likewise be asked to use Twitter, ebooks, blogs, Premiere, etc. in their seminars. Should graduate students create posters about Derrida, for instance, or digital stories about a Dostoevsky novel (or a historical, political, sociological text, depending on the discipline)? Practicing the use of particular tools can certainly help graduate students shape their assignments for the undergraduate classes they are set to teach, but many graduate students might (understandably) be wary of the prospect of devoting less time to writing traditional papers.

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Materialist theories in the area of Composition in the last 10-12 years have reveled that much of the way we talk about what happens in our classrooms controls how we act toward our students, how they respond, and what the public sphere thinks about the work we do in classrooms. Linda Adler-Kassner argues in her 2008 book, The Activist WPA, that the way we frame our discussions of writers and writing can have an effect on everything from our day-to-day teaching to the funding that comes from up on high.

I currently teach a New Media Literacy course tied to the required beginning composition courses at Georgia State University. I am constantly embroiled in discussion over how much students already know about new media, and how much they could learn and actually use it in a classroom. These discussions happen IN my classroom, as well as with colleagues, and even with the gentleman I end up riding next to on a plane when I visit my brother for the holidays.

My proposal fits within the talk and play areas of the conference. I propose we have a session to discuss how ‘native’ our young adult learners are when it comes to digital and new media literacy. What do they bring to the classroom, and what is it important that they take away? As we have this open discussion, the group will sit in a circle, with a small gap between the first person and the last. Any time a person in the discussion says something negative about their work, they move to the end of the circle. This way, as we have the discussion, we can also visually see (and stay kinetically interested) what kinds of values we deploy more often as we discuss. The simple rules for this game, of course are up for discussion within the group.

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Archives have gone digital. From the Modernist Journals Project to bloggers with a knack for collecting rare books, the archive itself no longer has a stable relationship to space, place, or institution. I propose a discussion about successful integration of online digital archives in the everyday classroom. What do digital documents do that the traditional archive cannot do? How do we as teachers emphasize the importance of such documents when access is at the tip of our fingers? How do you use digital archives in your classroom? How do we teach an ethics of the archive that also teaches respect for copyrighted materials?

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I’m proposing a Talk  about how digital publishing, blogging, creating ebooks, and research guides can be incorporated into undergraduate course work as assignments. Specifically, how publishing projects work pedagogically and practically. I’ll be discussing how this type of activity is promotes engaged learning. I’ve recently work with several groups/classes on ebook and digital publishing assignments. Some have worked great and some not so great, and would like to hear if anyone has suggestions or personal experiences.There can also be a little bit about how libraries can work with faculty on projects like these to promote literacy.

Here’s a research guide I had student create in a course last semester: libguides.gcsu.edu/sevenrevolutions This guide was then the springboard for an e-book.

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Teaching “Academic” Writing in the 21^st Century: a collaborative talking group in which we identify (and perhaps begin to articulate solutions for) the challenges of teaching academic writing in the digital age. Some framing questions might be: What constitutes “academic” writing today? What (and who) determines if a non-peer-reviewed source is “scholarly”? How do we make space for teaching digital writing literacy in a traditional academic writing course? What are the similarities and differences in teaching how to research and write an analog critical essay and a multimodal one?