ENGL - 216 Digital Literacies

Credits: 3

Students in this class will consider a central question: what does it mean to be a reader and writer in the twenty-first century? Technology is changing not only the way we read and write, but also what we read and write. Some people fear the effects of these changes: they argue that written forms like blog posts, email chains, and tweets showcase a dangerous informality. While many new reading and writing styles challenge traditional ideals, they arguably make up for this by extending our capacity for, and investment in, literacy: the average American writes, and reads, dramatically more during the course of a single day than they did twenty years ago.

In this class, we will explore digital forms of literacy and expression, including: searching for and classifying digital texts, blogging, online resumes and social media profiles, writing for websites, wikis and forums, and other digital literature platforms.