Dear Professors,
My name is Cameron Becker, and I am a doctoral candidate in English Rhetoric and Composition at Ball State University. I am currently conducting a study for my dissertation, entitled Critical Embodiment Pedagogy in Online Writing Instruction, and I would like to invite you to participate. You are also welcome and encouraged to distribute this message or the accompanying questionnaire to colleagues whom you believe may qualify for participation.
My dissertation is a qualitative study of how and why instructors adopt embodied pedagogies in online writing courses. I would like to understand more about the scholarly inspiration, motivation, and experiences of professors, lecturers, instructors, graduate teaching assistants, and other instructors of record who incorporate embodied pedagogies in their undergraduate online (asynchronous, synchronous, or hybrid) first-year writing, professional writing, digital writing, or technical writing classes.
For the purpose of this study, I am defining “embodied pedagogies” as pedagogies that incorporate somatic, kinesthetic, spatial, or experiential learning, and foster critical analysis of how embodied identity informs the production and reception of writing. Some examples of embodied pedagogies include, but are certainly not limited to:
- Mindfulness pedagogy
- Experiential, immersive, and community-based learning
- Decolonial pedagogy
- Anti-racist pedagogy
- Feminist pedagogy
- Queer pedagogy
- “Flipped” pedagogy
- UDL, critical disability studies, cripped, and/or mad-positive teaching
- “Maker”/handcrafted pedagogy
- Critical multimodality
This study will analyze course materials including syllabi, assignment sheets, discussion prompts, and instructional material, either from participant-uploaded files or course review. This course material analysis will be followed by a one-hour interview, with the option to participate in an additional one-hour follow-up interview. The total time commitment to participate in this study is between 1.5–3 hours.
You may access the consent form and the survey here.
Please email me at cnturney if you have any questions about this study. This study is approved by the BSU IRB #2053937-1.
I hope that you can help me understand more about how you incorporate theories and principles of embodiment in your online writing course. I look forward to working with you.
Sincerely,
Student Co-Investigator: Cameron Becker
Graduate Assistant Director of the Writing Program
English Department
Ball State University
Telephone: 765-285-0035
Email: cnturney
Principal Investigator: Allison Hitt, PhD
Assistant Professor of English
English Department
Ball State University
Telephone: 765-285-8539
Co-Principal Investigator: Jackie Grutsch McKinney, PhD
Director of Immersive Learning and High Impact Practices and Professor of English
Ball State University
Telephone: 765-285-2870
Cameron Becker | she/her
Graduate Assistant Director of the Writing Program
Department of English | Ball State University
Robert Bell 249 | Email: cnturney
