Writing as Design - Keynote at Writing Analytics conference, Zurich, September 2019

1. Mike Sharples
Institute of Educational Technology
The Open University
www.mikesharples.org
Writing as design
Keynote talk at Writing Analytics conference
Zurich, September 2019
@sharplm

2. Zen and the Art of
Motorcycle Maintenance
- Is not about primarily
about Zen Buddhism
- or Art
- and you won’t learn much
about how to maintain
motorcycles
It’s about writing analytics!

3. 1958 MA in journalism
1958-1960 Professor at Montana
State College, teaching
English composition
1974 Zen and the Art of
Motorcycle Maintenance
published, sold more than 5
million copies worldwide
Robert Pirsig
An investigation into Quality

4. “What you’re supposed to do in most freshman-rhetoric courses is to read a
little essay or short story, discuss how the writer has done certain things to
achieve certain little effects, and then have the students write an imitative
little essay or short story to see if they can do the same little things. He tried
this over and over again but it never jelled. The students seldom achieved
anything, as a result of this calculated mimicry, that was remotely close to
the models he’d given them. More often their writing got worse.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, p. 163
Pirsig and teaching of writing

5. “Schools teach you to imitate. If you don’t imitate what the
teacher wants you get a bad grade. Here, in college, it was more
sophisticated, of course; you were supposed to imitate the
teacher in such a way as to convince the teacher you were not
imitating, but taking the essence of the instruction and going
ahead with it on your own. That got you A’s. Originality, on the
other hand could get you anything – from A to F. The whole
grading system cautioned against it.”
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, p. 180
Pirsig and teaching of writing

6. You can teach some students to
imitate good writing, but you can’t
teach quality
because good writers, and writing
teachers, can’t explain quality.

7. “The problem with this advice [to students of writing] is that
unknown concepts are used to explain unknown concepts”
“[Tutors do not have] sufficient knowledge of the characteristics
and requirements of [academic writing] to adequately support the
students”
“It may also reflect a broader uncertainty over the requirements
of the essay, of which tutors tend to have only ‘tacit’ knowledge”
Recent paper on teaching writing quality
Wingate, U. (2012) ‘Argument!’ helping students understand what essay writing is
about. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 11, 145-154.

8. “But even though Quality cannot be defined,
you know what Quality is!”
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, p. 194 [his emphasis]

9. Students know what Quality is
Students asked to compare pairs of peer
assignments in maths and decide which
shows better conceptual understanding
No rubrics or grading criteria
Each student made 20 comparisons
Students were similar to experts in
assessing quality (.77 correlation between
students and experts)
Similar studies are being carried out for
student writing
Students learn from reading and comparing
peer assignments
Jones, I., & Alcock, L. (2014). Peer assessment without assessment
criteria. Studies in Higher Education, 39(10), 1774-1787.

10. “by reversing a basic rule that all things which are taught
must first be defined, he had found a way out of all this.
He had pointed to no principle, no rule of good writing, no
theory – but he was pointing to something, nevertheless,
that was very real, whose reality they couldn’t deny….
The whole Quality concept was beautiful.”
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, p. 196
Students know what Quality is

11. “You’ve got to live right, too. It’s the
way you live that predisposes you to
avoid the traps and see the right facts.
You want to know how to paint the
perfect painting. It’s easy. Make
yourself perfect and then just paint
naturally. That’s the way all the
experts do it.”
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, p. 307
How does that help students to write
better essays?

12. There must be a better way of helping
students to write than asking them to become
perfect, then write naturally!

13. teach them to think
and act like
designers
To help students write better

14. teach them to think
and act like
designers of …
writing
media
software
learning
To help students write better

15. Designers…
• embrace multiple possibilities
• are focused on products
• understand the properties and constraints of materials
• sketch and develop their ideas visually
• consider how others view their products
• continually improve their working practices
• work effectively in groups towards a shared goal
• are oriented to action – they make changes to the world
Design thinking
Lawson, B. (2005). How Designers Think: The Design Process Demystified (4th edition). London: The Architectural Press.

17. Define
problem
Outline
ideas
Draft
text
Revise
DESIGN THINKING FOR WRITERS

18. Shifts writing from being a mysterious creative process, to a
design activity
Connects writing with other fields of design (software design,
multimedia design etc)
Helps with multimedia and interactive writing
Re-conceives quality
Writing as design

19. firmitas (robustness)
utilitas (utility)
venustas (beauty)
Quality in design
Good design should show …
Vitruvius
De architectura

20. Firmitas (robustness)
Writing Text structure,
grammar, spelling,
referencing
Media Rendering, contrast, white
balance
Software Bug free, efficient, secure,
usable
Learning Goal setting, planning, testing
Easy for writing analytics
Accurate and usable

21. Utilitas (utility)
Serves its purpose
Writing Fluency, word choice,
argument, style
Media Immediacy, relevance,
salience
Software Useful, flexible, customisable
Learning Relevant, just-in-time,
appropriate
Possible for writing analytics

22. Venustas (beauty)
Pirsig’s Quality – you know it when you see it
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the
clocks were striking thirteen.”
George Orwell, 1984
Impossible for writing analytics?

23. indicating errors in structure, grammar, spelling
assisting students to write sound arguments, clear
explanations and coherent documents
enabling students to compare and critique peer
assignments and find beauty in writing
Writing analytics can support writing
as design by …

24. Writing analytics and writing as design
Analytics
as part of
writing as
design
Learn about users
Help writers create
new ideas
Analyse and improve
draft texts
Gain insights into
writing problems
Help writers define
the problem

25. Writing is a continual process of
design and analysis
To become a good writer, think
and act like a designer
The Zen of Writing