ERIC Number: EJ1184369
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 26
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0007-8034
EISSN: N/A
Ideas Worth Spreading?: TED's Rhetorical Position in College Composition
Howard, Shannon
CEA Forum, v46 n2 p62-87 Sum-Fall 2017
Beginning in 1984 as an annual conference event, Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED)--a nonprofit organization based on forging new connections among technology, entertainment, and design--started as an invitation-only affair and then grew to have an online presence in the 2000s. At that time TED.com launched an audio and video podcast series that made possible "a clearinghouse of free knowledge from the world's most inspired thinkers." People now share their favorite TED talks online via social networks and use them to enhance motivational training sessions with groups of employees or students. The organization, whose goal is "to make great ideas accessible and to spark conversation," has gained an international audience with the talks also featured in over 100 languages ("About"). These talks, always eighteen minutes or shorter, claim to highlight some of the major thinkers of our time and make their central arguments short and portable to the public. At the author's institution, a regional university (approximate student population of 5,000) located in the Deep South, some instructors regularly use TED Talks in their writing pedagogy. Proof of this digital tool's influence may be seen in Facebook posts (especially in 2014-15, the year of this study) to the department's composition group--a private community reserved for questions and concerns about teaching. The author describes a microstudy that was conducted in which three instructors were interviewed who identified as TED enthusiasts. The department of composition teachers was surveyed about their practices involving TED. While the most seasoned instructor interviewed praised TED for its interdisciplinarity and its ability to generate critical thinking, others with less experience were honest about the videos functioning as a fun "break" from lecture or class. Consequently, this study examines the moments when tools of pedagogy indirectly become the heart of pedagogy and highlights how technology fads might generate a misleading impression of the writing process in general, particularly in the idea generating and brainstorming stages of writing. Additionally, by focusing on idea generation and brainstorming as elements in the writing culture of many composition classrooms, the author specifically calls into question the TED slogan's premise of "ideas worth spreading" and emphasizes the need to follow through on ideas rather than simply disseminate them.
Descriptors: Video Technology, College English, Rhetoric, College Faculty, Critical Thinking, Thinking Skills, Instructional Innovation, College Freshmen, English Instruction, Surveys
College English Association. Web site: http://www.cea-web.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A