Thirteenth International Conference on The Arts in Society

Abstract

Falling within the Art in Society’s conference “Theme 3: New Media, Technology, and the Arts,” this paper discusses the value of exploring “digital media arts and education” within twenty-first-century college literature courses and presents case studies involving the development of a “‘Do-It-Yourself’ Multicultural Podcast” assignment. Along with other pedagogical questions, this project works to challenge the self-imposed boundaries that have become cemented in university programs between more creative and artistic writing and the academic study of literature; at its core, my contextualization of this interview-based podcast assignment probes into the nature of how constructive and hands-on artistic learning about digital narrative production might help to reap more effectively some educational benefits surrounding the teaching of literature, including critical and intercultural literacy. The project lays out the challenges of articulating to students and administrators the more creative learning objectives of digital narrative production, and it walks through the evolution of the DIY Multicultural Podcast Assignment through two different literature courses and one co-curricular university program involving civic engagement. It discusses both the value of outside-the-box digital literacy skills developed in such contexts as well as the real challenges of bridging the creative enterprises to the traditional research-paper-model college course. The project thus looks at this assignment as an expansion of literary-studies skills through the integration of an “arts” assignment. The paper concludes by reflecting on how studying artistic digital media is thus breathing new life into the traditional literary studies curriculum and asking students to reflect upon the professional implications of the connections between the academic, social/civic, and artistic realms.