Overall, I am looking to improve students’ abilities to: (1) recognize that discourse presented through news, social media, scholarly publications, faceâ€toâ€face talk, and other forms of cultural expression are part of longer and wider conversations about issues marked by differing perspectives that have a history/unfold over time; (2) consider how that conversation is differently advanced across different media; (3) engage in that conversation themselves in ways that skillfully, intelligently, and ethically recognize issues, audiences, situations, and communication forms; (4) critically reflect on their engagements making use of key concepts for the course and with an eye toward what makes for a vibrant and diverse participatory democracy.
These interrelated goals point to a pedagogical problem insofar as students: often do not connect what they read or experience as audience members and what they say or write as communicators to larger social discourses; often do not fully recognize varied and competing perspectives on issues or the ways they can be expressed through affordances of different media and communication forms; and often do not participate in them as skilfully or reflectively as they might.