RESEARCH INTERESTS
Rebecca Burnett’s research interests are diverse, all falling under the umbrella of rhetoric. These interests, often overlapping in productive ways, are listed below, each illustrated with a relatively recent presentation, grant, or publication.
Assessment: Processes involved in evaluating written, oral, visual, electronic, and nonverbal (WOVEN) communication, for individual communicators, classes, and programs.
Representative Journal Publication — Burnett, Rebecca E., Andy Frazee, Kathleen Hanggi, and Amanda Madden. (2014, March). A programmatic ecology of assessment: using a common rubric to evaluate multimodal processes and artifacts. Computers & Composition (special issue on multimodal assessment). Ed. Carl Whithaus. 31: 53–66. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S8755461513000789
Collaboration: Classroom, workplace, and community groups and teams, with particular attention to the ways in which productive conflict affects the quality of the resulting product.
Representative Publication in an Edited Collection — Burnett, Rebecca E., L. Andrew Cooper, and Candice A. Welhausen. (2013). How can technical communicators develop strategies for effective collaboration? In Johndan Johnson-Eilola and Stuart A. Selber (Eds.), Solving problems in technical communication (454-478). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Constructed environments: The ways physical spaces affect teaching, learning, and working.
Representative Publication in a Digital Edited Collection — Head, Karen A., & Rebecca E. Burnett. (2015). Imagining it. Building it. Living it. A new model for flexible learning environments. In R. Carpenter, D. Selfe, S. Apostel, & K. Apostel (Eds.), Sustainable next-gen learning spaces. Logan, UT: Computers and Composition Digital Press/Utah State University Press.
Digital pedagogy: Considering the affordances of various technologies to promote teaching and learning.
Representative Small Grant — PI: Burnett, Rebecca E. Co-PIs: Lisa Dusenberry, Andy Frazee, Liz Hutter, and Joy Robinson. (2014-16). Attitudes, preferences, and practices of college writing instructors toward digital pedagogy. Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC). ($6,950)
Innovation: Ways to push against the status quo to create effective ways to encourage teaching and learning.
Representative Conference Presentation — Burnett, Rebecca E. Composition MOOCs and pedagogy by the thousands: Reflections on four open education innovations. Co-presenters: Denise Comer (Duke), Kay Halasek (Ohio State), Karen Head (Georgia Tech), and Joe Moxley (S. Florida). Conference on College Composition and Communication, March 19-22, 2014, Indianapolis, IN.
Interdisciplinarity: The ways in which rhetoric, multimodality, and digital pedagogy intersect for teaching, learning, and program development, especially in STEAM disciplines.
Representative Keynote Address — Rebecca E. Burnett. (2011). The critical role of writing in a multimodal curriculum. Ministry of Higher Education: National Center for e-Learning & Distance Learning. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Literacy studies: The ways in which text and design conventions affect limited-literacy audiences, especially when performing high-risk tasks.
Representative Publication in an Edited Collection — Mendelson, Michael and Rebecca E. Burnett. (2008). Rhetorical knowledge, practice, and citizenship. Apuntes de economía, finanzas y desarrollo sustentable en Colima y México. Seminario anual de la Cuenca del Pacífico, Colima. Universidad de Colima.
Multimodality: The synergy of written, oral, visual, electronic, and nonverbal (WOVEN) communication in classrooms, workplaces, and communities.
Representative Conference Presentation — Burnett, Rebecca E. Multimodality: Emphasizing workplace realities in business communication. Association for Business Communication International Convention. October 23-26, 2013. New Orleans, LA.
Rhetoric of risk: Creation, interpretation, and use of verbal and visual aspects of safety information (e.g., instructions and warnings commonly considered instrumental).
Representative Presentation — Burnett, Rebecca E. Hawthorne and fictional authenticity: Culture, context, and poison. Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-Century Studies Conference. April 2015. Atlanta, GA.
Representative Publication in an Edited Collection — Welhausen, Candice A. and & Rebecca E. Burnett. (In press). Visualizing public health: Communicating risk in depictions of smallpox in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries In Charles Kostelnick and Miles Kimball (Eds.), Essays on the History of Statistical Graphics. Surrey, UK: Ashgate Press.
Technical communication: The communication of business, government, and industry around the world, including written, oral, and visual artifacts for diverse audiences, purposes, contexts, and situations.
Representative Journal Publication — Watts, Julie & Rebecca E. Burnett. (2012). Pairing courses across the disciplines: Effects on writing performance. Written Communication, 29(2), 208-235. http://wcx.sagepub.com/content/29/2/208.abstract
Visual rhetoric: The rhetoric of images, especially the ways in which visual information and design replace and supplement verbal information, both in the classroom and the workplace.
Representative Conference Presentation — Burnett, Rebecca E. In full view: Public exhibitions as a critical part of multimodal classrooms. Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) Annual Convention. March 13-16, 2013. Las Vegas, NV.