Teaching most any kind of writing is not only about aiding students in the construction of a composing self but also in the development a community. Appropriate use of online communicative technologies aids the formation and illumination of both. In particular, the implementation of the microblogging service Twitter and the quick blogging service Posterous can facilitate and coordinate greater attention, encourage meaningful interaction and participation, promote better collaboration, help students develop narratives of their own learning as well as hone the critical consumption and crafting of academic (and nonacademic) work. An extension of such work involves challenging students' notions of what qualifies as writing, interrogating their prior knowledge and experience while also encouraging new forms. Each course I guide is itself a digital rhetoric, making an inherent case for not only the informed, responsible use of technology in college-level courses but also working as an example of what's achievable when this happens.
The aforementioned technologies play as much a part in my research as they do in my teaching. Posterous functions as a vehicle for working through ideas in a public format and recording the directions my research interests take. Twitter provides a way to announce as well as brainstorm new work. There's an implicit encouragement to Twitter in finding community with others; it also functions as a launching pad to the other online spaces mentioned here. In essence, using online communicative technologies and social media tools like those named here can serve a dual purpose by not only scaffolding student learning in our courses but also supporting our own scholarly pursuits. An inherent aspect of this chapter, too, will be the need for educational institutions to recognize such forms of online work as important scholarship.
