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Engaging Ideological Infrastructures: The Challenge of Implementing a Digital First-Year Writing Curriculum

By Michele Ninacs.

Published by The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society

Miami University of Ohio has recently created and implemented an institutionally sanctioned, multimodal first-year composition curriculum. This curricular innovation is significant in a number of ways. Firstly, expansion into first-year writing curriculum signals a greater, and perhaps more mainstream, acceptance of Multiliteracies and New Media Literacy pedagogies. Additionally, inclusion of this practice in first-year writing suggests the possibility of further expansion of multimodal practice across disciplines. If students have the tools to compose multimodally, other disciplines may be more inclined to capitalize upon the skills brought by the students. Most importantly, if first-year composition is designed to enculturate students into the conventions of academic discourse, the inclusion of multimodal composition practice in first-year writing courses, by extension formalizes the role of multimodality within the academy and redefines academic discourse itself as multimodally constructed. This shift demands an ideological re-alignment that involves not only the re-conceptualization of literacy as multiple, but also a re-conceptualization of the function of digital technology within literacy instruction.

From 2007 through 2008 I studied the consensus building strategies employed by the Digital Writing Collaborative at Miami University of Ohio as they sought to implement a multimodal writing curriculum. The aforementioned study focused on circumstances within the institution that facilitated the curricular shift, specific strategies employed in developing institutional consensus, and how institutional stakeholders worked toward sustainability of the new curriculum. This paper presents findings from this case-study, specifically focusing on the significance of activating existing ideological infrastructures and articulating curricular objectives consistent with disparate stakeholders’ ideological orientations.

The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society, Volume 5, Issue 5, pp.91-100. Article: Print (Spiral Bound). Article: Electronic (PDF File; 1.245MB).

Michele Ninacs

Full-Time Lecturer,, College Writing Program, University College, Buffalo State College, Buffalo, New York, USA