This dissertation examines how "modern literacy" and "contemporary writing" are increasingly influenced by technology from a critical pedagogical perspective. The study develops a definition of literacy that takes into account a reliance on technology, particularly computers, in our writing classes and writing lives. With a focus on one particular institution of higher education, and an emphasis on a qualitative, narrative perspective, the dissertation traces how "traditional" perspectives concerning writing and the job of a writing class influence the technological resources at instructors' disposal. The study focuses on the well-known critical pedagogical work of theorists such as Freire, hooks, and Giroux in order to tease out the critical and political imperative of developing a modern literacy attuned to a more broadly defined kind of modern writing. More specifically, the dissertation focuses on the work of Henry Giroux, by utilizing his theory of "border pedagogy" in a way that centers on borders of different literacies in different mediums, rather than borders between different social groups. As a series of "texts" for examination in order to develop the practical applications of techno-critical pedagogy, Multi-User Domains Object-Oriented (MOO) technology is explored in a qualitative study. The dissertation also explores a techno-rich freshman composition course, focused on matters of online representation (from MOO to "Second Life" to violent videogames), as a text for elucidating techno-critical pedagogy and its relation to our students' compositions and in composing themselves in electronic environments. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]