Will Hochman’s remarks to professors attending the 2nd Interdisciplinary Forum at SCSU on Teaching and Learning through General Education, October 25, 2002, 2-4 P.M., EN 1

First, let me say that I believe any vision of general education for Southern must include first year writing instruction. That’s my job. I’m a compositionist. I strongly believe that our current attempts to teach academic discourse, and teach with it, must continue to be supported. Synchronous to participating in, and respecting the work of our writing faculty, I spend more and more of my time thinking about teaching college literacy skills with computers.

In her keynote address to the largest gathering of composition teachers in l998, Cynthia Selfe taught us to pay close critical attention to the challenges of teaching technological and traditional literacies. In her words, "We have, as a culture, watched the twin strands of technology and literacy become woven into the fabric of our lives–they are now inscribed in legislation, in the law–in the warp and woof of our culture. But, recognizing this context, we cannot allow ourselves to lose sight of either formation. We must remind ourselves that laws write the texts of people’s lives, that they constantly inscribe their intent and power on individuals." Selfe (who later developed her remarks into her award winning book, Technology and Literacy in the Twenty-First Century) stressed several key issues in her ongoing call for active, critical thinking and teaching with computers.

First, she advised us to avoid overly narrow, official versions of literacy practices or skills. (Historically, literacy standards have been used by dominant groups to oppress others.)

Second, Selfe understood that if we see that written language and literacy skills are the professional business of all educators, then so too is technology. In my opinion, it is no longer acceptable for professors to claim ignorance of using computers and the WWW while claiming to be literacy teachers in the 21^st Century.

Third, "we have to resist the tendential force that continues to link technological literacy with patterns of racism and poverty." Here at Southern, I understand this concern and believe we must make it our mission to ensure that our students have access and encouragement to participate in 21^st Century cyberspace. Our students must not be left behind because they came to school without their own personal laptops or computers.

Finally, Selfe stresses the idea that humanists must also become technologists "to construct a robust and accurate understanding of the ways in which technology functions in our culture." Not only must we improve our own technological literacy, but we must improve our ability to understand and criticize technology. Computers are no longer the learning responsibility of one department or field.

As we heed Selfe’s advice at Southern, we might begin to think about how technological and traditional college literacies have converged. Are we asleep at the wheel? Do we stay in our safe, traditional worlds of literacy or will we greet our new century with new learning?

Today, I’m calling for a stronger approach to improve our students’ literacy acumen by finding ways for Southern’s faculty to understand, criticize, teach and integrate computers more actively in our teaching. Al Chai, our chief IT officer, and John Daponte, the Chair of ETAC and an Southern’s Computer Science Department have lead the progression towards technological literacy here, but their work must be supported across the curriculum. Humanists must no longer delimit computers from their learning lives.

When we teachers understand that students benefit from computer instruction and collaboration that may simply involve word processing guidance,

when we learn to use email as part of our classes,

when we become better readers, writers and users of the WWW,

and most important, when we recognize that literacy is dynamic and evolving technologically,

we will understand that we must focus on doing a better job to integrate technology as a learning resource in our approach to general education.

Thank you for letting me speak to you today.

Works Cited

Selfe, Cynthia. Technology and Literacy in the Twenty-First Century: The Importance of Paying Attention. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1999.