The deadline for your abstract submission to this edited collection is tomorrow by midnight, Central Time. We really hope to get plenty of good submissions from the people who hang out here, so if you have been thinking about what to submit, now's the time to write it up and send it on.

Lanette Cadle
Elizabeth Monske

The call:

Technology in the Composition Classroom: Teaching on the Frontlines of the Have/Have Not Technology Battle

In a time where budget cuts are the norm, the dream of computer-mediated classrooms for all writing students, with some lucky exceptions, is just that—a dream. For the vast majority of our peers, desks, chairs, and maybe a whiteboard is their reality. At the same time, if they take the initiative to use the digital tools available, a more traditional classroom setting can extend beyond the classroom walls. This collection seeks proposals from teachers on the composition frontlines who have found ways to work technology/new media into their classes even when funds or equipment don’t exist. Click "read more" for section areas and due dates. We anticipate including essays representing a variety of areas, including but not limited to the following:

• Pedagogy: What are your hard-won ways to teach with technology in a non-tech setting?
• When things go wrong: What are your battle stories? Much can be learned by analyzing the dynamics and speculating theoretically about those semi-comical days you tell war stories about.
• What to do with one computer or one hundred: Do you still hear from your colleagues “I have students type their drafts in class or do research, but I don’t know what else I can do with them” or “I only have a computer at the podium to project my ppts; anything else is impossible”? What do you tell them in return? How do you answer the question “in a room full [or void] of computers, what do YOU DO with your students”?
• Open Source software and the open source ethos: How can we best inform, train, implement these possibilities to our peers?
• They made me do it: When faced with a university-mandated overarching technology such as wireless, Turnitin, or Blackboard, what are your options? How do you deal with systems that are a poor fit for your pedagogy? How can writing teachers find out how to use these systems effectively when tech support lacks the context for writing instruction?
• Making do: How have you revived, reexamined, or repurposed existing technologies (i.e., overhead projectors, notecards, texting, Facebook)?
• Show me the money: How do you get and write technology grants? Where do they look? How can you articulate technology needs to administration or other faculty members who may be technophobic?

Please send proposals of up to 500 words in an attached file (Open Office preferred, but Microsoft Word also accepted). The file name should include your last name and initial. Send a single email to both Lanette Cadle (lanette.cadle@gmail.com) and Elizabeth Monske (drlizm@gmail.com) by April 30, 2007 at 11:59 p.m., Central Time. Also include within the proposal document your name, contact information (address, phone, email), and institutional affiliation. Those with accepted proposals will be notified May 21, 2007. Completed manuscripts are expected by August 13, 2007.

Dr. Lanette Cadle is an assistant professor and Acting Director of Composition at Missouri State University. Currently Senior Editor of Computers and Composition Online, she maintains a keen interest in all things digital, but is particularly interested in blog theory and pedagogy.

Dr. Elizabeth A. Monske is an assistant professor and Technical Writing Coordinator at Louisiana Tech University. Elizabeth enjoys researching computers and writing, especially eportfolios, development of professional edentities, and faculty training.