Ruefman and Scheg, 2016 Applied Pedagogies: Strategies for Online Writing Instruction, Daniel Ruefman, Abigail G. Scheg (Eds.). Utah State University Press, Logan, UT (2016). 202 pp

摘要

Applied Pedagogies: Strategies for Online Writing Instruction is a collection of essays that explores the benefits and challenges of online writing instruction. With topics ranging from the need for more multimodality in online writing courses to the question of how and whether Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) may be effectively employed in writing instruction, Daniel Ruefman and Abigail G. Scheg's compilation covers a wide swath of current topics for online writing instructors. However, even more than the breadth of topics, the strength of Applied Pedagogies lies in its emphasis upon both instructors and administrators' practical application of the digital technologies and theories addressed throughout the collection's eleven essays. Like the still-influential Multimodal Composition: Resources for Teachers, edited by Cynthia Selfe (2007), Applied Pedagogies is both an overview of digital and multimodal learning resources and a call to instructors and administrators to consciously use those resources. Yet, the call to action presented by Applied Pedagogies is not identical to the one made approximately nine years earlier in Multimodal Composition, mainly in the sense that Applied Pedagogies begins with the expectation that instructors are already using online learning resources. This variation in emphasis likely reflects a larger shift in which online learning has become an expected component of writing instruction. Indeed, whereas Multimodal Composition begins with Pamela Takayoshi and Cynthia Selfe (2007) emphasizing how the shift from print-based to digital writing "promise[s] to be disruptive for many teachers of English composition," Applied Pedagogies begins with the assumption that such skills are expected (p. 1). In their introduction, Ruefman and Scheg outline the field's shift from viewing online teaching skills as a preference to viewing such skills as necessary components of a new normal in which "writing instructors and administrators adapt to the demands of the digital classroom or risk marginalization within the profession" (p. ⅶ). In this sense, Applied Pedagogies serves as a snapshot of the digital efforts and concerns of our field today, and its essays appeal most to instructors and administrators who already have some experience with online writing instruction, but who are seeking to expand their knowledge and use of digital learning resources.