12: Trackback Composition Ideas

I'm thinking about addressing audience. I know that some other classmates are addressing this too, so I may try to think of something else. The reason why I want to talk about audience is because I am very intrigued in how society has steadily accepted more and more types of people into the considered audience. In some ways it is parallel with the progression of civil rights. I definitely want to connect the two a little bit as well as address the influence of technology and globalism on today's definition of audience. This subject starts with Aristotle and develops many times throughout history to become the audience we know today. I do appreciate the acceptance of a more varied audience and I think that it has brought to light how much just one person can contribute to an idea or issue.

I may try writing a report, but I do not feel that my writing skills are very strong. Instead I will probably do a multi-modal piece or short film. I definitely want to incorporate lots of images to visually show the evolution of "audience." I am also still reading up on rhetors and deciding which ones to use.

11: Shifting Language Leads to Shifting Instruction

If language is ever shifting, and if we have more recently seen a massive shift in communication practices both in terms of presentation tools and global connections, how should rhetoric shift in terms of its instruction?

I think that in teaching rhetoric we need to be very hands-on and have our students practice these "shifts" by demonstrations. If how we communicate is mostly electronic then we need to incorporate these electronic methods into our teaching. Students should be given various options on how to complete an assignment, so they can better express themselves and practice using today's technology. By doing this, most likely students would have more passion or interest in their assignments because we are "keeping up to date" with the times. PowerPoint presentations, multi-modal pages, social media, blogs, and webcasts are things that could be incorporated into the classroom. Things used in the business world and modes used in personal communication are all important for young people to learn and use correctly. Just because we are using different modes to communicate, doesn't mean we stop teaching traditional elements of communication. When students have these basic fundamentals they can use these new communication modes even better. Because technology is evolving so quickly, most likely people will use these new modes regardless if they actually know how to or not. It is more effective if we incorporate these things into the classroom so people can use these things to their full potential and in the best possible manner.