English 808: Technology & Literacy – Course Schedule (Fall 2024)

Course Schedule (Fall 2024)

Week 1: Aug. 26
Unit 1–Logging On

Week 2: Sep. 2
No Class–Labor Day Holiday

Week 3: Sep. 9
Unit 2–Managing Knowledge and Information

• Tiago Forte’s Building a Second Brain
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Week 4: Sep. 16
Unit 3–Managing Time, Stress, & Your Life

• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity (GTD)
  • David Allen’s seminal work on time management
  • 
• Article: “Do You Really Not Have the Time?” by David Perlmutter
  • Chronicle of Higher Education article on time management
• The Peak Time for Everything
  • Wall Street Journal article
• Inbox Zero
  • This is a website about how to better manage email
  • 
• Video: Google TechTalk by Inbox Zero Founder Merlin Mann

Week 5: Sep. 23
No Class

• Former President Trump Speaking IUP @ 7 p.m. in the KCAC

Week 6: Sep. 30 (Combination of Units 4 & 5)
Unit 4–Creating a Professional Academic Website

• Due: Technology Project Proposal
  • Technology Project
  • Technology Project Guidelines
• Article: “Why Every Academic Should Have a Website” by Bastian Grossenbacher Rieck (2019; Updated 2024)
  • A brief article that highlights how to think about your Professional Academic Website
• Article: “Why Have a Personal Academic Website” by Jonathan Aragon (2019, April 19)
  • An article outlining additional benefits to having a Professional Academic Website
• Article: “Academic Website I: Why a Personal Website Is a Great Idea” by Hendrik Erz (2023, Nov. 24)
  • This article discusses personal academic websites vs. university controlled academic websites
• Creating a Professional Academic Website
  • Wix.com

Unit 5–What is Literacy?

Walter Ong, James Gee, and Paulo Freire are 3 of the most important literacy scholars of all time, so I want you to read short articles/book chapters by each of them. I’m making the Richard Ohman and Brian Street articles optional for later when you have time. We are only touching a little on literacy research since that could easily be its own course. But these 3 articles will help us consider the nature of literacy as it gets transformed by technology.

Required Readings

• Article: Ong, W. (2001). Writing is a technology that restructures thought. In E. Cushman, E. R., Kintgen, B.M. Kroll, and M. Rose (Eds.), Literacy: A critical sourcebook (pp. 19-31, 686).
• Article: Gee, James P. (1991). What is literacy? In C. Mitchell & K. Weiler (Eds.), Rewriting literacy: Culture and the discourse of the other (pp. 3-11). New York: Bergin & Garvey.
• Article: Freire, Paulo. (1983). The importance of the act of reading. Journal of Education. Translated by Loretta Slover.

Optional Readings

• Article: Ohman, R. (2008.) Literacy, technology, and monopoly capital. In M. Sidler, R. Morris, & E. O. Smith (Eds.), Computers in the composition classroom: A critical sourcebook (pp. 20-34). New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s. (Reprinted from College English 47(7), pp. 675-89, 1985).
• Street, Brian. (2003, Jan.). Autonomous and ideological models of literacy: Approaches from new literacy studies. Current Issues in Comparative Education 5(2):1-15.

Week 7: Oct. 7
Unit 6–Tech Pedagogy

• Article: Prensky, M. (2001) “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”
• Cyberpunk Manifesto
• Article: “[Bridging the digital divide] A Manifesto for Instructional Technology: Hyperpedagogy” by Jim Dwight & Jim Garrison
• Article: “The Pedagogy of Imperfection” by Maha Bali
• Article: “What Is Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge?” (TPACK) by Matthew J. Koehler and Punya Mishra

Week 8: Oct. 14
Alternate Class Activity–Going Tech Free

• Task: Going Tech Free

Week 9: Oct. 21
No Class–Fall Break

Week 10: Oct. 28
Unit 8–Resisting Addictive Technologies

Required Reading

• Johann Hari’s Stolen Focus
  • 

Optional Materials

Big Tech & Surveillance Capitalism

• Article: De Schutter, Patrick. (Aug. 19, 2024). “Will Big Tech Mark the End of Western Democracies”
• Article: Zuboff, S. (2015). Big Other: Surveillance Capitalism and the Prospects of an Information Civilization. Journal of Information Technology, 30, 75-89. 

Social Media Isolation

• Video: Jonathan Haidt “Why Modern America Creates Fragile Children (9:59)
  • Co-Author with Greg Lukianoff of The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure
• The Social Dilemma (film; 2021)
  • 
  • Netflix “documentary-drama hybrid explores the dangerous human impact of social networking, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations.”
• Sherry Turkle’s Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age
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Groups Working to Resist Technology Addiction

• Center for Humane Technology
  • A group working to resist the harmful effects of technology
  • A Call to Minimize Distraction and Respect User’s Attention by Tristan Harris
  • This the original PowerPoint which went viral after being shared by Harris who became Google’s Design Ethicist
• Social Media: Detox the Algorithm
  • A group working to resist social media algorithms which spread misinformation
• #StopHateForProfit
  • A group working to get social media companies to be more responsible
• Turning Life On
  • A group working to keep tech in check

Week 11: Nov. 4
Unit 9–Managing (and Manipulating) the Media

• Ryan Holiday’s Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator
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  • Please note: Holiday does occasionally use some swear words/adult imagery in his book but this is not the primary focus of his work

Week 12: Nov. 11
Unit 10–Teaching Online

• Flower Darby’s Small Teaching Online
  • 

Week 13: Nov. 18
Unit 11–Teaching AI Literacy

Required Materials

A Video

• • Getting Started with AI-Enhanced Teaching: A Practical Guide for Instructors. MIT Sloan Teaching and Learning Technologies.
    • Includes this key video:
      • Video: Mollick, Ethan. (2023, Aug. 4). “Practical AI for Teachers and Students.” YouTube playlist.
      • YouTube playlist of 5 videos by Ethan Mollick of the Wharton School on the basics of generative AI aimed at teachers and students.

• • Vogelsigner, Brett. (2023, June 12). Inviting Artificial Intelligence with Curiosity. NCTE.
    • A short blog post on approaching AI positively
  • Gustafson, Anastasia. (2024, Jan. 1). Plagiarism is not on the guest list: A response to “Inviting Artificial Intelligence with Curiosity.” NCTE.
    • A short blog response to Vogelsigner’s post claiming AI writing is just a fancy term for plagiarism
  • Douma, Kara. (2023, Mar. 5). How to keep students writing in the age of AI tools. NCTE.
    • A short blog post on teaching strategies
  • Hemmelgarn, Chad. (2024, July 18). Aritificial Intelligence in Education. NCTE.
    • Short blog post on ho9w to talk about AI in courses

Optional Readings

A Report from the U.S. Department of Education

• • Cardona, Miguel A., Rodriguez, Roberto J., & Ishmael, Kristina. (2023, May). Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning: Insights and Recommendations. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology.
    • • By Miguel A. Cardona, Ed.D. Secretary, U.S. Department of Education; Roberto J. Rodríguez Assistant Secretary, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development; and Kristina Ishmael, Deputy Director, Office of Educational Technology

A Book on AI

• • Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning by Jose Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson
    • 
    • You are welcome to order the book from John Hopkins University Press  for 30% off with code HTAI24)

Week 14: Week of Nov. 25
Individual Conferences
No Regular Class Meeting–Managing Your Tech Project

• Schedule 1 conference with Dr. Pagnucci during Week 13 or Week 14
• Individual Work Week
• And Thanksgiving (Nov. 27)!

Week 15: Week of Dec. 2
Individual Conferences
No Regular Class Meeting–Managing Your Tech Project

• Schedule 1 conference with Dr. Pagnucci during Week 13 or Week 14
• Individual Work Week

Week 16: Dec. 9
Unit 12–Technology Presentations

• Technology Project Presentation

Week 17: Dec. 16
Logging Off: Technology Project DUE

• Please send Dr. Pagnucci an email with a link to your final project once you finish it
• It is ok for projects to still be in process
• Please send your email by 4 p.m. on Dec. 16 Monday
• No Regular Class Meeting!

Use Technology Humanely!

• While we must use technology with caution, it can still be a great tool for teaching, scholarship, and service