Collaboration, Technology, Pedagogy, and Writing

Collaboration, Technology, Pedagogy, and Writing Dr. Beth Brunk-Chavez Rhetoric and Writing Studies Women’s Studies Brownbag April 4, 2007

What Teaching with Technology Means
Technology Enhanced —f2f with online elements:
online course management (syllabus, schedule, assignments, grading)
online content (e-books, readings, glossary)
online communication (discussions, blogs, email)
Hybrid —part f2f, part online (variations)
Distance —never see the whites of their eyes

Why Teach with Technology?
Enhance students’ writing skills
Provide an environment that is conducive to interaction and community building
Enable more student-centered learning
Accommodate a variety of learning styles
Create a visually organized learning environment

Why Teach with Technology?
Track student learning
Introduce time-use flexibility for students and instructors
Increase students’ computer literacy skills and confidence
Save paper—go paperless
Enable efficient use of physical classroom space

What to Consider Before Redesigning a Course
Need
Appropriateness
Methods and strategies
Learners
Instructional goals
Time to develop materials
Support for students
Willingness to be flexible

Objections To Doing This (They can be overcome.)
Time commitment
Feeling of being online all the time
Student awareness, participation, technological abilities
Tech issues such as access and system failure

Let’s Begin
Consider what it is you want to do , then consider how the technology can accommodate (not dictate) your teaching desires.
Create a map of your map (that is, your syllabus).
Determine what elements must be delivered f2f and what can be done equally well or better online. At the same time imagine what you could do online that can’t be done with a “traditional” delivery method.

Location, Location, Location
Spend some time thinking about how you will visually organize the course/assignment/task. What makes sense to your users?
“Teaching as protected activity”

Still Getting Started
Create a map of what will happen when students go online.
Here is an example of what students might do to complete peer critiques.
Enter WebCT Click on Discussions Find and click on group Locate thread entitled “ Peer Critique 1” Read directions

Shhh, Students are Still Working Post draft Wait until all drafts are posted, then download group members’ drafts from discussions Download peer critique questions from “ week 6 assignments” Complete peer critique by typing in answers to questions and inserting comments Go back to discussions and upload the peer critiqued drafts

If All You Have Is a Hammer…
Some technology you might consider:
WebCT
Blogs
Wikis
Websites
Annotation/book marking tools
Tracking/Commenting/Formatting tools in Word

That Little Voice Inside Your Head Should Be Saying….
Don’t get frustrated. It might not work the first time, but don’t give up.
Help your students to overcome frustration, but don’t hold their hands.
Help each other. Collaboration is one of the best ways to learn.
Who can I call for help when I don’t know which way to go?
Have fun. Try new things.

Into the Future
Departmental and Institutional Decisions
Policies should be created concerning:
Course releases for development
What courses can be modified
Training
Support—teachers and students
Teaching evaluations
Scholarship

The Hybrid Academy: Building and Sustaining a Technological Culture of Use
Culture of use
Ubiquitous technology
Sustainable technological ecologies
Computer-mediated users
Empowered users

Need for Research
Much of the scholarship concerning computers and writing makes the assumption that collaboration is a sound theory that leads to good pedagogy: it improves student learning; it improves student writing.
We found a considerable amount of research focused on the how of collaborative learning, but very little about the why and began to wonder if we in fact need to ask why.

Research Questions
What we examine is the typically unexamined assumptions that collaborative learning married to technology will make for a better/stronger/faster writing pedagogy.
Is pedagogy being driven by the need to be technologically efficient?
Collaboration can be both efficient and inefficient, but is it effective?

Further Research/Calls for Action
How much responsibility do we allow/give/force upon students for their learning?
How much responsibility are they willing to accept?

In what ways does the Content Management System/Classroom Management System (CMS) affect the students as a space for learning?
We have a responsibility to critically engage the technological tools we have available, and continue to push the boundaries of these tools to expand and change to better serve the pedagogy.

How is cultural orientation a factor in approaches to collaborative learning and technology?
How do location/space/place influence approaches to collaborative learning and technology?

Collaboration, Technology, Pedagogy, and Writing

by beth brunk-chavez

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