Critical Thinking About Word and .doc
A comment on why university teachers should think critically about Word and .doc:
Many of us teach cultural analysis and critical thinking in our writing classes. Our first year readers are full of cultural commentary, and we use these texts to teach our students to question the status quo and understand more deeply the implications of the choices they make in this consumer culture.
Do writing teachers do the same when they tell students to submit their documents as .doc files or tell them they need to buy Word from the campus store? Have teachers questioned the assumptions behind their personal use of MS Word?
Thinking critically about the tools we use, anything from word processors, content managers, music notation software, etc. should really be subject of the curriculum.