Home | Introduction | Case Study 1 | Case Study 2 | Concluding Thoughts | References


Abstract




In this webtext, we explore how games’ unique material affordances and constraints add to rhetorical theory and online and multimodal pedagogical design. Specifically, we investigate what games' material affordances and constraints can add to rhetorical theory on designing for user experience in online and/or hybrid pedagogical contexts. We pose the question "What can we learn from games’ materiality about rhetorical delivery and information design in pedagogical contexts, especially when it comes to designing online course interfaces?" As one response, we offer the figure of the mannerist-rhetor GM/instructor and their basic curricular design strategies as guiding principles for game-based courses. Our analysis focuses on two main case studies unpacking avatar embodiment and spatial environments as important rhetorical dimensions of games’ materiality with implications for online pedagogical design. In closing, we offer a set of basic principles of GM-inspired pedagogy as informed by games’ material rhetorics.


Co-Author Bios




Erin Kathleen Bahl is an Assistant Professor of Applied and Professional Writing in the Department of English at Kennesaw State University. She explores the possibilities digital technologies afford for creating knowledge and telling stories. Her publications include articles in Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy ; enculturation: a journal of writing, rhetoric, and culture ; and the Smithsonian’s Folklife Magazine.


Sergio C. Figueiredo is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Kennesaw State University where he conducts research and teaches courses related to rhetorical histories and theory, digital rhetoric, new media poetics, and cultural studies. He is the author and translator of Inventing Comics (Parlor Press, 2017) and co-editor of Immigrant Scholars in Rhetoric, Composition, and Communication (NCTE, 2019).


Jeffrey D. Greene is an Associate Professor of Creative and Professional Writing in the Department of English at Kennesaw State University. His scholarly research focuses on game studies, multimodal composition, and narratology. His recent publications include chapters in Beyond the Frontiers: Innovations in First-Year Composition Volume 3 (Cambridge Scholars, 2021) and Multimodal Composition: Faculty Development and Institutional Change (Routledge, 2022).