New Technologies and Teaching Comparative Literature

Abstract

In her article New Technologies and Teaching Comparative Literature Graciela Boruszko discusses the use of new technologies in literary studies curricula. Innovative processes are becoming fundamental components of our educational systems as students challenge faculty to immerse themselves in their rapidly changing world. Learning in the twenty-first century is assisted by various information technologies because the networked information economy made possible by the Internet allows students to access a rich array of online resources including community based and collaborative knowledge exchange systems. Current students are natives grown up using a variety of digital platforms. Students multitask and process information quickly and therefore demand more from the learning processes proposed to them. Rather than consuming information, students form their own information networks and participate in learning communities. The discipline of comparative literature relies on the interaction of ideas and concepts which evolve from an initial core of seemingly disconnected literary works. Technology is an important facilitator of those connections, enabling deeper thought to be given to the comparative process that follows the initial challenge of understanding how connections are formed or what a particular constellation of connections represents