Understanding and Creating Digital Texts : An Activity-Based Approach

Given the increased use of digital reading and writing tools in the classroom, this book provides secondary and college English language arts teachers with activities and classroom examples for using a range of different digital tools―blogs, wikis, websites, annotations, Twitter, mapping, forum discussions, etc.―to engage students in understanding and creating digital texts. It therefore integrates reading and writing instruction through goal-driven activities supported by uses and affordances of digital tools.

This book also provides a framework for designing these activities that encourage students to define purpose and audience, make connections between digital texts and people, collaborate with others, employ alternative modes of communication and gain new perspectives, and constructing identities; practices that are linked to addressing the high school English Language Arts Common Core State Standards.

The book also describes ways to use digital tools to support these practices―for example, using digital tools to foster students’ collaborative reading and writing. The book also describes use of digital feedback and e-portfolio tools to foster students’ reflection on their uses of these practices.

Richard Beach is professor emeritus of English education at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Beach was also president of the Literacy Research Association from 2012 to 2013, and has co-authored numerous titles on literacy including Using Apps for Learning Across the Curriculum (2014) and Teaching to Exceed the English Language Arts Common Core State Standards (2012).

Chris Anson is University Distinguished Professor and director of the Campus Writing and Speaking Program in the department of English at North Carolina State University. Anson is also chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, as well as the co-author of The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers, 6th ed. (2011) and the editor of 75 Readings Across the Curriculum: An Anthology (2006).

Lee-Ann Breuch is associate professor in the department of Writing Studies, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and the author of Virtual Peer Review: Teaching and Learning about Writing in Online Environments (2004).

Thomas Reynolds is associate professor, in the department of Writing Studies, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and has written journal articles and book chapters on student writers and their work.