The last two weeks witnessed the last two student-led facilitations of the semester. The respective areas of focus were basic writing and technology. Each facilitation began with an excellent distillation of the assigned readings before moving into discussions and exercises. What I find of interesting note now are the similarities. There were discussions of literacy and what constituted "necessary skills." There was talk of the importance of and need for immersion for both students and teachers, how the underpinnings of basic writing pedagogy as well as teaching with technology stress empathy and interaction. That just as we are all users of technology, we are also basic writers, communicating via symbols in a variety of interfaces, screens, and windows. That we have myriad opportunities to learn from students now about their own language as well as more about ours, to realize the differences might not be so great.
Perhaps it is because of these similarities that we do not have a unified theory of basic writing or teaching with technology. Our ways and means of writing are so apparent and so many now. Technology is so ubiquitous. And academicats are so persistent in our pecha kucha presentations (which lie ahead this week!).
