Course Title: Digital Writing with Data
Author: Kati Ahern, SUNY Cortland
Date Published: 2025
Course Level: Lower-Level Undergraduate
Course Description: In this course we will confront what it means to read, write, and research with/among/against many possible digital environments. Some of our exploration will focus on the “new” kinds of writing made possible through digital tools and platforms, and some of our exploration will involve planning, design, evaluating data, and the creation of research-based webtexts. Throughout we will question our position in relation to data, empirical design, science and technology research and who we are as researchers, scholars, and citizens of our various “so-called digital” worlds.
Learning Outcomes:
- Students will demonstrate rhetorical awareness of genre, audience, purpose, and context.
- Students will compose writing that increases the visibility of their work, whether through online environments, publishing, workshops, or other venues inside or outside of the classroom.
- Students will use data to evaluate and make judgements about research.
Teaching Philosophy: This is one of the required courses in our Professional Writing and Rhetoric major and one that our Adolescent Ed Majors in English often take to accomplish their “teaching with technology” competencies. It also serves our students across the university in our GE category related to Science, Technology, Values, and Society. As such, the course deals a lot at first with familiarizing students with discourses of science, empirical design and data collection, and numeracy. However, as the course proceeds students also learn to adapt inclusive values in their research and design principles, foundations of UDL and accessibility in document design, and a questioning/critical attitude toward work with data. The course sits at the intersection of creative/design work and technical/professional writing in our program and teacher preparation for future ELA teachers.
