ERIC Number: EJ1063924
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 7
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1740-4622
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Pinvention: Updating Commonplace Books for the Digital Age
Geraths, Cory; Kennerly, Michele
Communication Teacher, v29 n3 p166-172 2015
The purpose of this course is to revive the commonplace book and revise it for the digital age. Though by the early modern period (c. 1500-1800) assembling quotations and other material had long been a trusted means of moral and rhetorical development, it was during that time that so-called "commonplace books" came into being as recognizable "tools that lay at the intersection between practices of collecting, reading, classifying, learning, and the arts of rhetoric" (Dacome, 2004). A keeper of a commonplace book would stock it--"it" typically being a notebook--with the sayings of others, musings of one's own, newspaper clippings, drawings, musical notations, and more. Such items would be ordered and organized according to themes or headings of the bookkeeper's devising that would help her more easily locate a given item when it became relevant. This semester-length project suits the following courses, although instructors may find it applicable to others as well: Public Speaking, Speechwriting, Introduction to Communication, Rhetorical Criticism, and Communication and Technology. This digital project helps students achieve the following objectives: (1) to organize digitally abundant sources during the research process (for multiple assignments over the course of a semester or for one only); (2) to visualize and spatialize their findings; and (3) to incorporate images and other non-traditional scholarly sources into their presentations or projects, or at least into their preliminary planning stages. The activity illustrates the pedagogical potential of Pinterest, which has not enjoyed the same academic take-up as other digital tools or social networking sites.
Descriptors: Public Speaking, Speech Communication, Introductory Courses, Rhetorical Criticism, Technological Literacy, Learning Activities, Teaching Methods, Educational Practices, Student Research, Visual Aids, Information Sources, Critical Path Method, Social Networks
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive; Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A