Digital Commons Network^™

Portfolios And Pedagogy : An Examination Of Ideology And Use, Heather Lynn Hoffman Jordan

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Portfolio use in writing studies contexts is becoming ubiquitous and, as such, portfolios are in danger of being rendered meaningless and thus require that we more fully theorize and historicize portfolios. To this end, I examine portfolios: both the standardized portfolio used for assessment purposes and the personalized portfolio used for entering the job market. I take a critical look at portfolios as a form of technology and acknowledge some of the dangers of blindly using portfolios for gaining employment in the current economic structure of fast capitalism. As educators in the writing studies fields, it is paramount that instructors …

Place For Video Games : A Theoretical And Pedagogical Framework For Multiliteracies Learning In English Studies, Ethan T. Jordan

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Students are now involved in a vastly different textual landscape than many English scholars, one that relies on the “reading” and interpretation of multiple channels of simultaneous information. As a response to these new kinds of literate practices, my dissertation adds to the growing body of research on multimodal literacies, narratology in new media, and rhetoric through an examination of the place of video games in English teaching and research. I describe in this dissertation a hybridized theoretical basis for incorporating video games in English classrooms. This framework for textual analysis includes elements from narrative theory in literary study, rhetorical …

Adapting Health-Risk Communication To The Specific Cultural Contexts Of Diverse Populations : An Assessment Of Malaria-Treatment Programs In Liberia, Nathaniel Galarea Gbessagee

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Drawing on theories of technical communication, rhetoric, literacy, language and culture, and medical anthropology, this dissertation explores how local culture and traditions can be incorporated into health-risk-communication-program design and implementation, including the design and dissemination of health-risk messages. In a modern world with increasing global economic partnerships, mounting health and environmental risks, and cross-cultural collaborations, those who interact with people of different cultures have “a moral obligation to take those cultures seriously, including their social organization and values” (Hahn and Inhorn 10). Paradoxically, at the same time as we must carefully adapt health, safety, and environmental-risk messages to diverse cultures …

"Army Of One" To "Army Strong" : Visual Media And U.S. Army Recruitment During Bush"S "War On Terror", Shawn Paul Apostel

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

From Bush’s September 20, 2001 “War on Terror” speech to Congress to President-Elect Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on November 4, 2008, the U.S. Army produced visual recruitment material that addressed the concerns of falling enlistment numbers—due to the prolonged and difficult war in Iraq—with quickly-evolving and compelling rhetorical appeals: from the introduction of an “Army of One” (2001) to “Army Strong” (2006); from messages focused on education and individual identity to high-energy adventure and simulated combat scenarios, distributed through everything from printed posters and music videos to first-person tactical-shooter video games. These highly polished, professional visual appeals introduced to the …

Preparing Writing Centers And Tutors For Literacy Mediation For Working Class Campus-Staff, Christy M. Oslund

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Writing centers work with writers; traditionally services have been focused on undergraduates taking composition classes. More recently, centers have started to attract a wider client base including: students taking labs that require writing; graduate students; and ESL students learning the conventions of U.S. communication. There are very few centers, however, which identify themselves as open to working with all members of the campus-community. Michigan Technological University has one such center.

In the Michigan Tech writing center, doors are open to “all students, faculty and staff.” While graduate students, post docs, and professors preparing articles for publication have used the center, …

Uncovering Poiesis : The Role Of Production In Technical Communication, Work, And Public Life, Thomas E. Vosecky

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This dissertation is a report on a collaborative project between the Computer Science and the Humanities Departments to develop case studies that focus on issues of communication in the workplace, and the results of their use in the classroom. My argument is that case study teaching simulates real-world experience in a meaningful way, essentially developing a teachable way of developing phronesis, the reasoned capacity to act for the good in public.

In addition, it can be read as a "how-to" guide for educators who may wish to construct their own case studies. To that end, I have included a …

Locating American Indian Sciences : A Report On The Development, Use, And Analysis Of A Survey Of Perceptions, John Eric Holmlund

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

All students in the United States of America are required to take science. But what if there is not a science, but in fact a number of sciences? Could every culture, perhaps every different grouping of people, create its own science? This report describes a preliminary survey, the goal of which is to improve the teaching of science at American Indian Opportunities and Industrialization Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota by beginning to understand the differences between Western and American Indian sciences.

Analysis Of The Making Our Mark Project, Shaughn Kern

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

No abstract provided.

Studying Students' Opinions : Using Surveys In Writing Program Assessment, Lucus A. Palosaari

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Administrators of writing programs are regularly faced with the problem of assessing the learning that students gain in their coursework. Many methods of assessment exist, but most have some problems associated with them related to the amount of time it takes to perform the study or the scope of the knowledge gained relative to number of participants or volume of information collected. This pilot study investigates the use of surveys of student opinion for their potential to assess composition instruction at Michigan Technological University. The primary goal of this pilot study is to test the effectiveness of using data collected …