online public discourse communities: reconfiguring college teaching presented by judy arzt
TRANSCRIPT
Online Public Discourse Communities: Reconfiguring College Teaching
Presented by Judy Arzt
“Digital technology and new media–for better or worse–are here to stay … you can’t turn off the Internet. Digital technology isn’t going away. There are hundreds of thousands of sites in the World Wide Web ….Digital technology is part of our lives, a part of our lives that we know will only continue to grow. We can’t afford to dismiss it. Rather we must–embrace it–indiscriminately, but thoughtfully. We must seize the opportunities to do things we’ve never been able to do before. Don’t look back!”
Steven Holzman, Digital Mosiac
What does digital mean for higher education?
Online bulletin boards for cross-campus discussions
Web authoring projects Meshing of theory with praxis
– postmodern and social constructivist theories– collaborative learning and writing across the curriculum
Teaching new literacy skills
Presentation Goals
Describe exemplary case studies of classroom practice
Examine emerging theories in the field Offer examples from my own teaching
International Debate Project
Linked students from the University of Rhode Island with students from around the world
Fostered writing across the curriculum, collaborative learning, and global awareness
Emphasized importance of instructor’s role to structure the context and provide discussion topics
Linda Shamoon in Electronic Communication Across the Curriculum
Cross-cultural Project
Urban, black students at Howard University and rural, white students at Montana State University exchanged work online
Howard students were assigned to write about race relations
The students collaboratively produced a book, On (the Color) Line: Networking to End Racism
The technology engendered online public discourse
Teresa Redd in Electronic Communication Across the Curriculum
Collaborative Web Site Project
Students in a computer science class and an English class developed a college’s Web site
Students invested time in the writing task and developed a strong sense of community
Michael Strickland & Robert Whitnell, Electronic Communication Across the Curriculum
“We like to think of the Web as an ongoing laboratory with the biggest windows in the world. When anyone can look in and see what you’ve produced, your incentive to collaborate and do well is greatly increased. This is a heady sense of empowerment and ownership.”
Micheal Strickland & Robert Whitnell
Instructors’ Comments
Visual Literacy The visual nature of the Internet will
revolutionize the way we communicate Hypertext juxtaposes verbal and visual,
altering the communication process Students need to produce “cultural relevant
text,” incorporating the visual
Gunther Kress, “’English at the Crossroads: Rethinking Curricula of Communication in the Context of the Turn to the Visual”
Postmodernism
Online classrooms foster student-focused instruction, collaborative learning, commitment to task, and participatory classroom structures
Lester Faigley in Passions, Pedagogies, and 21st Century Technologies
“Computers embrace postmodern theory and bring it down to earth.”
Sherry Turkle, Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet
In networked classrooms students create the agenda. Their online composing is the content and curriculum of the course.
Classroom Dynamics The instructor is a “learned coordinator” The instructor “controls less” and “says
less” The classroom is a “knowledge-making
enterprise” where an “egalitarian state” is realized”
Richard Lanham, Carolyn Handa, Thomas Barker & Fred Kemp, Computers and Community
My Classroom Experiences
Web-site tools and bulletin boards have made public discourse and writing synonymous
Descriptions of experiences with– first-year composition class– graduate education class
Time Capsule
Memorializes historical events from year 2000 Table of contents page lists these events Items on table of contents become hyperlinks
for entry into the hypertext capsule
Sample Time Capsule Page
Memoirs
Topics with public appeal Photographs are incorporated Juxtaposition of verbal and visual drives
textual revision
Profiles
Interview people from the college community
Public nature of the Web makes accuracy of reporting critical
Final Web profiles inform the public about the people at the college
Sample Student Homepage
Commentaries
IEDP allows students to exchange ideas with students throughout the country
Students gain a broader perspective on controversial issues
Discussions help students learn how to craft an effective argument
Reviews
Study reviews on the Web Advance Web authoring skills See classmates’ reviews on the Web Generate heated class discussions
Research Papers
Extend commentaries into research papers Consider topics in relation to public viewing
on the Internet Use strategies to aid viewers
– break long texts into chunks– use graphics to underscore ideas– add links to authoritative sites
Computers in the Classroom Course
Web sites expand students’ audiences for writing
The sites provide information about K-12 software and how to use it
Students create individual sites and a class site
Viewers include educators from across the country and software publishers
Internet Lessons for K-12 Students
Easy for K-12 students to do online work
Parents learn about their children’s school projects
Sample Internet Lesson Plan
Sample PowerPoint on the Web
Web Sites Empower Students
Students work on sites after the course ends
They create sites far more complex than initially envisioned
Their work exceeds syllabus requirements
IEDP with Graduate Students
Found common discussion topics were critical to the project’s success
Connected the experience to the possibilities for similar projects on the K-12 level
Gained experience for doing online projects with their own students
Conclusions
Students are eager to participate in online writing projects
Students need our guidance Our teaching needs to be reconfigured
in relation to what the technology offers We need to address new literacy skills
applicable to online writing
And More Conclusions
We must assume responsibility for the direction that online writing takes in the future
We need to envision how online technologies enrich communication, create opportunities for public discourse and make writing a publicly critical act