In order to investigate how EKU English Department deals with remixing, a survey was sent to all faculty in the department. Although the sample size was small (only 8 responders), there were a variety of responses to the open comments questions. Only one responder uses remix in their classroom currently. Of the other seven responders, there was a variety of reasons that they do not use remixing in their classrooms. Responses ranged from openness to using remixing if training was provided to seeing remixing as unethical. However, most of the responders fall into the 'doubtful' category when asked about their feelings on remixing:

 

Optimistic

• "Remix is a great way for students to think about audience, rhetorical situation, and genre"

• "I might be more tempted to use remixing now than I was a few years ago"

Indifferent/Need More Information

• "Providing some PD that shows instructors how to remix, what it looks like, some student samples (and/or published, "professional," "real-world" examples), and how to see the practice as a worthwhile part of English instruction would be really helpful. I would attend such a session"

• "I would be better able to answer the questions if I knew what 'remixing texts' means"

Hesitant

• "I think the value of a remixing assignment would be to demonstrate what 'remixing' is in the current context, and to illustrate differences between a quick-and-ditry [sic] remix, and a scholarly (attributed) use of source material. I know the scholarship suggests 'everything is a remix,' but I feel that is an over-simplification of the situation"

Doubtful

• "My main problem with remixing is that it isn't, as far as I can tell, an act of composing. It's remixing, which means taking someone else's texts and sticking them together and saying, 'Voila!' We had a faculty member here years ago who did this and claimed credit for the result in his Promotion and Tenure report. It looked a lot like PLAGIARISM to me and the other members. I mean, he signed it, as if he had COMPOSED it. But he hadn't. He'd stolen it and messed with it."

• "why spend time on this when our students, most of them, have trouble composing a traditional essay, argument, report, etc.?"

• "I wanted students to have more mastery of basic reading comprehension and logic skills with 'traditional' texts (i.e., books!) before moving on to (and possibly getting distracted by) incorporating other modes and media into their projects"

• "Honestly, we have enough to do to teach students basic literacy and writing skills. Besides, remixing doesn't seem to be that much different from coming up with a draft and then revising, revising, revising. Same thing, different name, it seems to me"

As one of the faculty responders suggested, some training or providing information to the faculty would likely improve outlook on the usefulness of remixing. The amount of hesitant and doubtful responders is indicative that remixing needs to be further researched and  implemented in the first-year writing classroom. With the successful integration of remixing, first-year writing instructors may gain a more positive outlook on remixing as a whole. The lesson plans and assignments in the Applied Content section of this website ties concepts oftenlearned in the first-year writing classroom to a remixing projects. Remixing, then, is just a more hands on assignment to help teach most of the same concepts that students would learn from a traditional essay.