Category: 16) Negotiating Access To New Media


This chapter addresses the ways in which faculty, administrators, program directors, those involved in faculty development, and other stakeholders might evaluate access to new media and approach barriers to access within their unique institutional contexts. Acknowledging the issues that can stall or subvert efforts to update the writing curriculum and offer students the multimodal composing experiences advocated by experts, Laura McGrath presents an action-oriented framework for individuals who are negotiating access within low-support situations or systems in which efforts to create a facilitative infrastructure have been stalled. The chapter features concrete examples of a negotiation process that begins with developing relationships with change agents and building critical mass, and leads to the establishment of an appropriate foundation on which to build a digital media program.

Laura McGrath

McGrath

Laura McGrath is an associate professor of English at Kennesaw State University. She teaches a variety of rhetoric and composition and professional writing courses. As a technology specialist, her scholarship and service activities focus on online learning, new media, and computers and writing. Laura’s scholarship reflects her interest in eLearning, digital media, computers and writing, and issues of faculty development and support. Currently, she is editing a collection entitled Collaborative Approaches to the Digital in English Studies. The collection explains why technology-driven changes within the field create an impetus for employing collaborative methods.

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