Abstract

This article examines how the Digital Media and Composition Institute (DMAC) influences participants’ approaches to facilitating technological professional development and to teaching multimodal composing. The authors, alumnae of the 2006 DMAC institute, explain how they identified and adapted effective practices from DMAC “in support of their own educational and professional goals, in light of the specific context at their home institutions and within their varied personal experiences” (DMAC, 2014). The authors trace the influence of DMAC, first, on their approaches to facilitating professional technological development in their department, describing lessons learned about framing, hands-on learning, and community building. Second, the authors discuss DMAC's influence on their approaches to teaching an upper-level Writing in Digital Environments course that emphasizes the digital writing course as a makerspace and community of practice in which enactive learning is encouraged as a method of promoting self-efficacy.

Citation

McGrath, L. & Guglielmo, L. (2015). Communities of Practice and Makerspaces: DMAC's Influence on Technological Professional Development and Teaching Multimodal Composing. Computers and Composition, 36(1), 44-53. Elsevier Ltd. Retrieved May 29, 2023 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/204699/.

Keywords

• communities of practice
• digital composition
• digital literacy
• DMAC
• Multimodal composing
• new media
• pedagogy
• professional development