Are Visuals in Essays Necessary/Helpful?

In Words are the Ultimate Abstraction, Robert Watkins states, "multimodality and visual rhetoric are emerging genres of which compositionists should take note". True to every extent! More than ever, in our advance technological era, our population is accustomed to visuals, which surround us everywhere through ads, computers, television, and so on. Therefore, permitting visuals in essays or making visual analysis a standard genre of academia becomes necessary.

A picture says a million words, right? As seen with advertisement, one simple picture can persuade us to purchase something or a charismatic image can convince us to follow a certain direction. My point is that visual literacy is yet another form of communication, so it is essential to acquire visual rhetoric skills in order to become an effective communicator....sooooo....the answer to my title is "yes".

Designing a Web Based Writing Course--C. Gouge

What online chats/classes demand is that students write...this is essentially what we want our students to do in writing classes, so from this perspective, chats are healthy writing exercises. Gouge puts it like this: "web based writing courses are uniquely situated to generate more--and more text-based participation".

Pros and Cons:
Pros to online courses: For those whom anxiety is a huge barrier like shy students, online work removes that barrier. For those who need the face to face interaction, we can now utilize pod cast videos to interact.

pros to online courses: it engages every student to practice writing constantly and consistently.


cons to online courses: students who are not tech savvy get lost or behind.


pros to online courses: students learn to think quickly and precisely, a skill especially good for interviewing.


cons to online courses: tough to read tone and non verbal cues..not being able to receive an answer to a question immediatley...


Another con: academic honesty (BIG ONE)...perhaps podcast works for this, confirming academic integrity

TWWC: Blackmon

What about Blackmon's real world becomes the newest "ghettos" when technology is absent...is this possible? I think it is...Blackmon voiced a valid concern regarding technology deprevation (p.96). With all the useful information and the facilitations that technology provides, more and more we become dependant of it. People who don't like or understand technology lose out on the perks and connectedness to the rest of the world. To prove to this point, just think about the job market: a big percentage of companies now days require an online application. If one doesn't associate with computers and e-mailing, the job opportunity is gone. On the other hand, the tech savvy will have a better shot. So, from this sense, the non-technology individual becomes alienated and restricted from advancement, forming communities of technology ghettos.

Blackmon voices an actual possibility.

Trupe's Reading

In reading Alice Trupe's article, I become more apparent on some valuable components of using technology with writing. For example, writing with technology has taught me additional skills from those taught to me through traditional writing. I’ve learned to be more concise, precise, and clear in my writing when using computers; with work e-mails, for example, I cannot ramble on an issue or take the luxury to write an expository report. Instead I have to go straight to the point in a clear fashion. As Alice L. Trupe mentions in Academic Literacy in a Wired World, “since electronically developed genres require briefer texts than traditional academic writing does, they require that the writer make his point(s) quickly, concisely, and clearly. To be concise and precise is not easy. Technology demanded that I acquired these skills.

Still, there are valuable skills that can be learned not only from computerized writing but also traditionalized writing. The following are necessary skill taught and valued by traditional writing:

1. Length - provide as much information as possible
2. Thesis - a sentence that informs the reader the focus of the essay and that sets the foundation for the rest of the paper.
3. Organization and structure - unison thoughts
4. Voice- consider a specific audience
5. Details - support your topic
6. Transitions - allows ideas and sentences to flow organizedly and smoothly
7. Independance - be a able to consruct and back up owns view point


The following are positive skills taught and valued by computerized writing:

1. Brevity - get straight to the point; be precise, concise, and clear
2. Graphics - use visuals to depict thoughts
3. Linking - link to others work
4. Audio capacity
5. Multi conversation - ability to conversate in several topics
6. Multi voices - create different persona's/faces
7.collaboration - use others to depict and back up your point; this allows specialization

I say use and teach all; let's get the best of both worlds!

Technological Literacy

In my early years of education, I was not exposed to computers much, since we could not afford one. Computers were neither a friend nor an enemy of mine; I simply didn’t consider them much (although I do remember my childhood church saying that computers were the devil). My first encounter with computers was in my computer information systems class in high school. There, I learned basic Microsoft software and internet processes. I was not that impressed though at that time; plus computer literacy was never reinforced at home. It was until college that I was forced to use them for reading and writing in my composition courses and for email purposes and understood the overall purpose of computers..

I was somewhat shy using computers at first. Hesitant but curious, I started playing with the machine, thinking it was going to explode if I pressed the “escape” button: I don’t where I got that from. It was not easy to adjust. It took me a good year to get to an intermediate level. Nevertheless, I got comfortable using the not so “dangerous” device. Here is what really hooked me though: the simple fact that I could make payments via the internet fascinated me. This meant no more going to the postal office and no more paying for stamps. I thought this was so handy and convenient. That day forward computers became my best friend.

Today, everything that I do revolves around a computer—my life is consumed so much by a computer that ninety-percent of my interaction is computerized (that’s terrible!). I have two computers at home, a pc and a laptop, and a computer at work. All my family member uses and owns computers, even my mother, who is very old-fashioned. At this point, I have to admit that computers make my life easier by saving me time and money. The sad part though, I was thinking recently, that as a result of having more time in my hands, I force myself to work more. At the end, this results in less time for me and more time with my “electronic” friend. I’m sacred to know how far digital technology can go—or take over our lives.

First impression of on-line chatting

Our online discussion held in the last class meeting was catching and interesting, although I have to admit that prior to it the idea did not dwell on me much (I thought it would be a tidious process)...

In our non-face conversation, It felt easier to say whatever came to mind, whereas in in-class, face-to-face discussions, I tend to be more careful and thoughtful of what I'm going to say; in our on-line chat, I simply didn't care, which was cool. One of the downfalls, however, was that I felt forced to think faster than usual since the text flowed so quickly. Trying to keep up with the conversation and trying to provide input on interesting topics--but then suddenly another good one pops up-- was difficult to keep up with. A second pitfall, and maybe this was just for me, but I felt that when I published a message too late, my message or the meaning/purpose of the message came out odd due to the lateness--by the time is was posted, a new topic was in place.

Most interesting to me were the discussions about making student moderators of online conversation for accountability purposes and about using text as a form of formal writing (wouldn't that be great!). I would still like to know more about what measurements to take for students who don't attain basic computer skills and as a result fall behind in this type of project.

All in all, the online discussion was effective in that everyone participated and provided great ideas about the given topic: does on-line discussion really work? I'd like to say "yes" for right now. We'll see after a few try-outs.