AcademHack from OutsidetheText.com has a post entitled “A Model for Teaching College Writing” which focuses on the concepts of emerging media and higher education.
For a standard FYC course, Barbara, a grad student, was told her students needed more structure.
Essentially, Barbara turned the class into a documentary production class where the students spent the semester producing a film, working collaboratively on one project. Where is the writing you ask? Well read on, but Barbara had them write about their experiences the whole time, giving them a reason and context to write. The results are pretty amazing. The post is a bit on the long side, but worth the read as Barbara covers not only the “what†but the “why.†Also check out the two embedded video the one below is the video from the students, and at the end is an interview with Barbara. This is a bold, risky approach, especially given Barbara’s status as a graduate student, not tenured faculty, but I think if college rhetoric and indeed college education is to remain relevant over the coming years this is the type of experimentation and adaptation that will be necessary.
Barbara is the author of the post which follows this introduction.
There are some ideas I really want to incorporate or at least ponder incorporating in my next class.