Jennifer L. Bowie, Ph.D.

Usability researcher and designer, technical communicator, researcher, writer, teacher, podcaster,  and digital & print media designer

 

 

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Samples of Student Work


 

Classes:

Check out my class websites and materials.

 

May 2011

 

Spring 2011

For Spring 2011 I used CompClass. The schedule & syllabus for each class are online.

 

Fall 2010

 

Summer 2010

 

Spring 2010

 

Fall 2009

 

Maymester 2009

 

Spring 2009

 

Fall 2008

 

Spring 2008

 

Fall 2007





















Teaching Statement

I approach my teaching with three main tenets—situated and contextual learning, education beyond the classroom, and multiple literacy education—that I weave into my courses with undergraduate and graduate students, and into my scholarship of teaching in and beyond the classroom. 


With my educational background in the discipline of technical communication, I ground my teaching in practical and applied contexts for student writers and material. I see my teaching role as preparing the students for their professions. I create and develop assignments modeled on what they will find in the future for those heading into industry and for those pursuing academic careers. I emphasize process-based writing with multiple-component assignments based on larger projects requiring collaboration among students. For example, I incorporate hands-on learning and collaboration by integrating workshops into my relevant classes and by giving the students projects with real audiences and peer critiquing. I encourage graduate students to see their class projects as stepping stones to publication, and so far have had one student publish a book review, several present their work at conferences, and another turn it into a published peer referred journal article.


I do not believe education should only occur in classrooms. By providing real-world projects, I engage students in real work for real clients. For example, I provided professionals with design needs as possible clients in a recent class, and one student designed logos and a corporate identity for an Atlanta rock band. Her logos are now the primary branding of the band and she learned how to negotiate real audiences and invested clients and had the pleasure of seeing her successful designs on t-shirts, business cards, and more, all while adding a great project to her portfolio of work. I use digital media, including podcasts and blogs, to encourage my students to publish their texts and reach audiences beyond the classroom walls. One senior seminar student in my Fall 2008 class created a series of audio podcasts on rhetoric for the everyday person and her podcasts are available in Georgia State University’s iTunes University, with one featured as the only student-produced podcast on their list of example academic podcasts.


Continuing my commitment to graduate education and especially mentoring, I have led a Professional Development Community (PDC) of graduate students for five years, creating a curriculum of teacher education with lectures and PowerPoint presentations, and especially preparing novice scholars to publish and create professional identities. For three years, I have participated in the semi-annual Teaching Conference sponsored by the Georgia State University Department of English, providing training and education in three presentations for graduate student teachers. As a media scholar, I also take my teaching beyond the borders of the university out to the “blogosphere”, a connected community of readers and writers, academic and independent, in a semi-public discourse space. With my podcast and blog Screen Space, I provide information and education on media design and related issues for the everyday and non-expert designer. Realizing that many people are creating media, such as websites, without the knowledge or ability to create useable, effective, and efficient designs, and they may not consider ethical and legal issues, like copyright, I use my podcast and blog to provide them with this knowledge. My site gets several thousand visitors each month and has a five star review on iTunes, showing the need and effectiveness of this educational venue.


In 2001, as a graduate student, I won the Kairos/Lore TA and Adjunct Award for Teaching, for my five literacies approach to teaching. Concerned that traditional methods of teaching writing did not include the full range of literacies students would need for their careers in the increasingly global and digital world, I developed five literacies for the writing class: Rhetorical (the ability to influence situation and audience), Visual (the ability to create, manipulate, understand, and critique visual design), Informational (the ability to construct, understand, and manage information), Technological (the ability to use, examine manipulate, and understand technology), and Human (the ability to reflect, analyze, understand and communicate self and society). Nine years later, I still incorporate these literacies into my classes, finding ways to highlight and emphasize different literacies and providing my students the knowledge they need for success in their future careers and in the world at large.


As my own scholarship focuses heavily on one of these literacies, technological literacy, I draw from my own work and the related disciplines in general to provide students with new and often cutting edge scholarship and pedagogical practices in this constantly evolving area. My two senior seminar classes have focused on social media and rhetoric, one more generally and one from a political standpoint, and I taught rhetorically situated uses and applications of social media. I have also developed a special topics class in web usability for both undergraduates and graduate students and taught several directed readings classes focusing on usability and emerging media. I take this work beyond the classroom, directing theses and dissertations in my specialties of usability, research, and emerging media. I take what I learn teaching these classes and share my pedagogical practices, theories, and more in various publications and presentations. In fact, two professors, Laura Gurak (at the University of Minnesota) and Meredith W. Zoetewey (at the University of South Florida), have begun to integrate podcasts into their classrooms after seeing different presentations I gave on this digital media.


I have enriched and developed my three tenets of teaching with training and courses. After participating in training and workshops in 2006 and 2008, I transformed two of my classes into writing-intensive Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) approved courses. I have also applied for and received technological support for two classes with a strong digital media focus, in the form of iPods and digital technology training for students, through the Digital Media Group in the University Educational Technology Services at Georgia State University. Working with this group, I pioneered Georgia State University’s presence in the iTunes University, creating a model for future classes.

In my teaching, I foster learning that is contextual, real-world-centered, and grounded in multiple literacies. I cultivate learning inside and outside the classroom, providing traditional students and other learners the knowledge and skills to be successful communicators in their professions, in a variety of contexts, and in the media of present and future.

 

See samples of student work

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

repeat of top compuer image computer image copyright of Microsoft.