Ruth Page (University of Leicester) & Hannah Chapman (Birmingham City

University)

1st year, 1st semester module Aims

◦ Introduce concepts from literary theory and illustrate them through the use of digital texts

◦ Encourage the scholarly use of online resources◦ Broaden what it might mean to ‘read’ a ‘text’ in

English studies

Precedents in North American universities ‘Generation M’ (Born post 1983)

◦ Familiarity with technology Blinds spots in the use of online materials

◦ unfamiliar genres (Hyperfiction)◦ Indiscriminate use of wikipedia

Possibility for estranging ‘the text’ and ‘reading’

Illustrations from Inanimate Alice

Links to online articles and web sites

Podcasts of the lectures, PPT slides

Blog assessment

• Semiotics – narrative and gaming • Authorship – collaborative nature of writing,

Kate Pullinger’s lecture• Textuality• Readership• Defamiliarization - making a text strange• Feminism• Race

10 entries over a 12 week period

Set question each week 300-350 words long Encourage regular

engagement Enable regular feedback Support composition

skills at the level of the sentence/paragraph

What conventions should you use in an academic blog?

Do skills in online writing (adding links and images) transfer to other areas of English studies?

Does public viewing of work build confidence (or do students find this nervewracking)?

Risks of plagiarism?

Not all students (or colleagues) will see the value in using digital texts◦ Reading online will not replace reading books

Wider range of hyperfiction / genres included

Include more scholarly archives (e.g. JSTOR, primary archives)

Structure the independent learning progressively through the module

• Defamiliarizing reading practices• Extending the semiotic range of reading

material• Illustrating theoretical concepts• Access (no multiple copies needed)• Explicitly intertextual nature of hypertext

encourages students to make connections• We could have taught the theory without it,

but it was much more interesting and engaging with digital textuality throughout.

Wikipedia Blogs: LiveJournal, Belle de Jour Online Magazines Had never seen or heard of Hyperfiction.

Advantages -Relevant to who I am and the things I know. - Being able to draw new and interesting

contrasts and comparisons. - Generally more engaging.

Disadvantages - The divide between those who could not see the

relevance and those that could. - Worrying that the sources (i.e. Unknown

bloggers) were not credible. - A degree of ‘spoon feeding’ where perhaps the

less confident students would go back to the examples time after time.

Advantages: - Discipline of writing regularly and

concisely - Feedback within days - Able to see growth as a writer

Disadvantages: - Concerns about plagiarism between

students - Picking up bad habits when reading each

others’ work

The blog has opened doors and given me confidence.

Higher Education Academy Student Bloggers

Confidence building - Work Experience - Writing Competitions - This conference (obviously)