Across global Rhetoric and Composition Studies teaching and professional communities and their allied fields, the impact of digitalization and multimodal literacy is undeniable (Bhutoria, 2022; Nazari, 2021; Sevnarayan & Potter, 2024). This influence has significantly shaped writing program pedagogies and theories (Fyfe, 2023; Graham, 2023; Mohammed, 2023); the writing center is no exception (Buck & Botvin, 2024; Essid, 2023). Scholars have highlighted how digital transformation, including AI and online teaching, has sparked reflective discussions among directors and writing center tutors. This literacy amalgamation has led tutors and administrators to adapt their philosophies and tutoring strategies, empowering writers and fostering community building.
Therefore, in this blog carnival proposal (a sample of a blog carnival is here), we invite writing center staff (directors, administrators, tutors, etc.) across geographical, linguistic, and cultural contexts to join us in a collaborative effort. We invite your reflections on how you have integrated digitalization and multimodal literacy into your writing center tutoring and administrative everyday practices and plans. We are eager to learn from your teaching artifacts and brief reflections on your experiences. This repository could also be a starting point for current and prospective writing center professionals and literacy advocates to collectively think about the interconnectedness and interrelatedness of digital literacies and writing center studies to evolve the future of writing center epistemologies.
Some of the questions for reflection might be included from our inexhaustible list:
- How has digital literacy impacted your writing center work personally and professionally?
- The shift towards the multiliteracy center was prevalent in the 2010s, but where are we now? How do you see its potential impact on the evolving writing center’s future?
- Do you have experience with which you can advise current educators or literacy advocates to keep in mind when they are in writing center spaces across contexts?
- After the pandemic ushered in waves of digital pedagogies and projects, and generative AI now impacts conceptions of writing more than ever before, what role do writing centers play in digital literacy and multimodal composition?
- What significant challenges or successes have you faced in your writing center work due to digitalization?
- How are digitalization and multimodal literacy discussed in your tutor training courses?
- How do you reconcile departmental and institutional policies on multimodality literacy and/or generative AI with your writing center’s policies?
Timeline/Submission
- 100-word proposal – June 15, 2024
- Acceptance notices – June 20, 2024
- Full blog entries – July 11, 2024
- Final publication – July 28, 2024
If you’re interested in contributing to this blog carnival, please submit your contact information and 100-word proposal to this Google Form (link) by June 15, 2024.
Full blog posts will be due approximately three weeks after you’ve been notified that your proposal has been accepted. The blog post should be about 750-1000 words when completed, but we have some flexibility as we’re on a digital platform. Please feel free to include visuals or other multimedia.
Contact
If you have any questions or if you have a submission in mind but need more guidance, please do not hesitate to reach out to the editors, Sarah Fischer (samafisc@iu.edu) and/or Saurabh Anand (saurabh.anand@uga.edu)
References
Bhutoria, A. (2022). Personalized education and artificial intelligence in the United States,
China, and India: A systematic review using a human-in-the-loop model. Computers and
Education: Artificial Intelligence, 3, 100068.
Bryan, M. D. (2023). Bringing AI to the Center: What Historical Writing Center Software
Discourse Can Teach Us about Responses to Artificial Intelligence-Based Writing Tools.
In Proceedings of the Computers & Writing Conference (p. 16).
Buck, E. & Botvin, J. (2024). Writing Centers and AI: Generating Early Conversations: An Edited
Collection.
Essid, J. (2023). Writing centers & the dark warehouse university: Generative AI, three human
advantages. Interdisciplinary Journal of Leadership Studies, 2(3).
Fyfe, P. (2023). How to cheat on your final paper: Assigning AI for student writing. AI &
SOCIETY, 38(4), 1395-1405.
Graham, S. S. (2023). Post-Process but Not Post-Writing: Large Language Models and a Future
for Composition Pedagogy. Composition Studies, 51(1), 162-168.
Mohammed, A. A., Al-ghazali, A., & Alqohfa, K. A. (2023). Exploring ChatGPT uses in higher
studies: a case study of Arab postgraduates in India. Journal of English Studies in Arabia Felix, 2(2), 9-17.
Nazari, N., Shabbir, M. S., & Setiawan, R. (2021). Application of Artificial Intelligence powered
digital writing assistant in higher education: randomized controlled trial. Heliyon, 7(5).
Sevnarayan, K., & Potter, M. A. (2024). Generative Artificial Intelligence in distance education:
Transformations, challenges, and impact on academic integrity and student voice.
Journal of Applied Learning and Teaching, 7(1).
