The Digital Composition Studio at UAA was developed by the Department of English to serve students in the development, composition, and revision of multimodal texts directly associated with course curriculum. We are not an open computer lab. The main thrust of the DCS is in the collaborative function of the space; when you come to the DCS with a multimodal project, our tutors will help you to learn, navigate and use relevant technologies in order to create an effective, rhetorically successful text.
LOCATION, HOURS, AND RESERVATIONS
We are located in Room 103Q of the ADM building, inside the English Department, and are open from 8:30 a.m. through 5:30 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays. The DCS operates in one-hour-and-thirty-minute sessions concurrent with the dominant UAA course schedule. Our session cycle runs as follows (Monday through Friday):
- 08:30-10:00
- 10:00-11:30
- 11:30-01:00
- 01:00-02:30
- 02:30-04:00
- 04:00-05:30
Students are welcome to reserve a station for a specific session by calling us at 907-786-4324. You can also schedule a reservation by email us at thedcs@uaa.alaska.edu. Of course, we also openly welcome and serve walk-ins. If you want to make a reservation, please be sure to request a specific session on a specific day.
If you would like to schedule a session at the Digital Composition Studio outside of our normal operating hours, please contact Heather Caldwell (afhmc1@uaa.alaska.edu) with your request. We will do our best to accommodate your needs.
USING THE DCS
When you come to the DCS, you should have a general idea of the following:
- Purpose. What is the purpose of your text? What is the point? What is the message you wish to relay to your audience? Why is this text being generated and what do you hope to accomplish with it?
- Audience. Who is your audience or audiences for this text? Though your instructor is one obvious answer, in our courses we usually write for other audiences. You need to understand to whom you are generating this text in order to understand what content choices you'll need to make.
- Context. Give serious thought as to how your audience will actually "read" your text. Will they watch it on a computer screen? See it in a movie theater? And so on. Understanding the context of how your text will actually be "read" by your audience also helps you understand what content you'll need and you should most-effectively present that content to your audience
When you come in to the DCS, we'll likely ask you about your purpose, your audience, and your context. Without considering these elements closely, it is difficult to strategize and to plan a rhetrically effective text. Our job is to help you use technologies in order to create rhetorically effective multi-modal texts, but in order to do that we need to first understand your rhetorical situation.
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