Call for Participation: Soundwriting Pedagogies

 

Call for Chapter Proposals: Soundwriting Pedagogies: Strategies, Lessons, Practices

 

Editors: Courtney Danforth, College of Southern Nevada, and Kyle Stedman, Rockford University

 

The availability of digital tools has made it easier than ever to record and edit sound, and teachers of composition have noticed. We record sonic texts for our students, and we give aural assignments in many genres: audio essays, podcasts, sonic remediations, interviews, radio shows, think-alouds, experimental pieces, and much more. We’re entering an age of soundwriting, where the affordances of sound intersect the pedagogies and practices of writing and rhetoric.

 

However, many of these pedagogies are scattered--mentioned quickly in an article or conference presentation, posted on a blog or course site, or distributed within the confines of a closed course management system. As an emergent method in composition curricula, soundwriting is still experimental. No single source exists for the instructor of multimodal composition who is searching for new ideas to expand her pedagogical methods and tools.

 

This born-digital edited collection, designed for Computers and Composition Digital Press, proposes to fill that gap by collecting soundwriting pedagogies for classes related to the field of rhetoric and composition (including but not limited to developmental, first-year, and advanced composition, writing center studies, the history and practice of rhetoric, professional and technical communication, creative writing, and graduate-level classes). The distinctives of this collection include:

• A preference for practical strategies and documents (syllabi, assignment sheets, informal reflections) over lengthy theorizing

• The inclusion of multiple modalities, including creative layout and embedded audio/video that take advantage of our digital publication venue

• Honest reflections on successes and failures from the voices of both instructors and students (with documented permission to include student voices)

 

We’re eager to accept both traditional-length chapters/webtexts and shorter pieces (i.e. the loose equivalent of a ten-page essay). We expect all pieces to include audio segments of some kind, which must be transcribed to make the collection accessible to all audiences. These pieces might focus on any of the following:

• Your sound-focused assignments with undergraduate or graduate students, paired with instructor and student reflections on the successes and failures of these assignments

• How you use digital sound as an instructor when communicating to your students

• A focused exploration of one aspect of sound in the composition classroom (e.g. accessibility, layering, interview techniques, immediacy/intimacy, production quality, delivery, etc.)

• A review piece summarizing and responding to soundwriting pedagogies found online, in other publications, or in other fields

• Practical pieces on best practices for using the tools, technologies, digital libraries, and other websites that support soundwriting pedagogies, focusing especially on rhetorical/pedagogical  moves that will outlast changing technologies and websites

• Studies assessing the value of soundwriting in supporting overall student success

• Anything else related to using sound in composition/writing/rhetoric classes

 

Your 300-500-word proposal should describe your project, how you plan to use the affordances of the digital environment (including sound files), and your technical proficiency at enacting your plans. The editors are happy to discuss your project at any time, offering responses to your proposal ideas and suggestions about your drafting/design/technical issues. We’d also like to implement a peer review system that gives you the chance to engage with the drafts of other chapters in the collection and get feedback for your own work too; you’ll find an option to volunteer as a peer reviewer (or not) on the submission form.

 

Proposals are due October 1, 2015 with completed drafts tentatively due March 1, 2016 for a projected publication date of Summer or Fall 2016. Please submit your proposals by filling out the form at  http://tinyurl.com/q9jxouz.