Part III
Things that Work with Technology
Computer technologies have created new teaching methods, and writing instructors have often been among the first to put these technologies to work in the classroom. Though students only need a basic word processor—which could be as simple as pencil and paper, after all—to accomplish the most essential goals of any writing course, technology can add important dimensions to their experience. Computers can facilitate the writing process, create virtual spaces for dialogue and exploration, increase time on task, and make participation more meaningful.
Many in the humanities rightly approach technology with a combination of concern and skepticism. They recognize, after all, that technology too often mediates between people and can introduce as many negative as positive effects. The best way to express these concerns, however, is to engage directly with technology and to teach students what Cindy Selfe calls “critical technological literacy,” which involves not only skill in using technology to write, but also the ability to reflect actively in writing on the ways that technology impacts people’s lives. We want students to notice the technology around them and to read it as much as they use it. Teachers in the humanities may be best equipped to teach that level of critical engagement.
Technology has become more central to what we do as both writers and instructors of writing, and its importance will only increase. This section of the Instructor’s Resource Manual is an introduction to the most widely available instructional technologies, and an argument for making them a part of your everyday teaching practice.
The most useful technologies for teaching writing are those that make students read and write. Though instructors might have occasion to make use of DVDs, CDs, videos, or PowerPoint slides in their classes, these technologies are not central to the main object of a writing course. Technologies that directly contribute to writing are computer classrooms, the Internet, asynchronous discussion, synchronous discussion, interactive software, web logs, course websites, student websites, and e-mail.
Computer Classrooms
Even if your department does not have its own dedicated room(s) for computer instruction, your institution likely does. Writing instructors have been taking advantage of these spaces for at least twenty years as a way of getting students writing and collaborating during class time and for making it possible to instruct students in using other writing technologies.
The Internet
Our students bring with them certain skills in “surfing the web” for entertainment and information, but they have a surprisingly specialized set of Internet-research skills. I’ve met students, for example, who could locate, download, and start playing their favorite song in seconds but who were incapable of locating and evaluating information on issues related to our classroom reading. As educators, we need to aid students in learning the skills they will need to make sense of the ever-growing world of information available at their fingertips.
Asynchronous Discussion
There is no more useful or widely available tool for sharing ideas and information than an online forum (also called a “bulletin board,” “message board,” or “computer conference”), where ideas and responses can be posted asynchronously (over a period of time) to create a conversation on class topics. These asynchronous environments allow students to post their initial ideas before class discussion, to participate in collaborative activities during meetings in a computer classroom, or to continue and extend discussions begun in the classroom. Forums can even be used for purposes of peer review and file sharing, although there are dedicated technologies for those purposes (see below). If your institution does not offer forum technology that you can use with your students, you can now create a forum of your own with a variety of freeware and shareware applications (including one offered at http://www.phpbb.com/), or you can subscribe your class to a wide variety of free online forums, including Delphi Forums and Google Groups (though these “free” forums are made possible by advertising). You can also use an e-mail list (or “listserv”) to create a useful asynchronous discussion among the members of your class through e-mail, but e-mail gives the instructor less control over the messages that can get broadcast to the group.
Synchronous Discussion
Students are probably more familiar with communicating synchronously (during the same time period) through chat rooms and instant messaging than their instructors are, since they have grown up as these technologies have become more widespread. Instructors who have been experimenting with technology for teaching writing have probably come across MUDs (multi-user domains) and MOOs (MUDs with object-orientation), which were among the first systems developed to create live discussion among a number of people not in the same place. Such environments are increasingly being incorporated into courseware technologies. Though most commonly used at Universities for purposes of online instruction, synchronous communication environments can sometimes be useful to take the place of a regular class session or to create a space for communication in a computer lab setting. Especially when the dialogues that result can be captured and reflected upon, they can themselves make for interesting discussion and analysis (especially if the topic of discussion is how we communicate or how technology affects communication).
Interactive Software
There are an increasing variety of technologies that make it possible for students to share drafts and give each other feedback on their writing. Your school may have a contract with WebCT, e-College, or an ever-growing list of courseware suppliers whose systems feature this function. Your department can also contract with publishers who are increasingly developing online applications to accompany their writing handbooks. Students often find peer review more effective when it is done at a keyboard rather than with pencil and paper in the regular classroom. Online interactive spaces can also allow teachers to extend peer review beyond the classroom to increase time on task.
Web Logs
Even the first writing instructors relied upon journals to help their students integrate writing practices into their everyday lives. The Internet makes journaling a more public affair, so that students can develop a more public voice in writing—one not intended solely for themselves (or for themselves and their instructor only) but also for a much wider public. There are a number of places where students can create a free “blog” (short for web log) with only a minimum of computer knowledge (and a minimum of advertising content to pay for it). The instructor can then create links to each student’s blog from a class homepage for easy access to each other’s thoughts and ideas.
Course Websites
Instructors increasingly use class homepages to post course information (including syllabi and assignments) and to create a sense of community in their classrooms that extends beyond the brief time of their meeting. Instructor websites can also become a useful vehicle for sharing assignments with colleagues or developing communal standards for grading.
Student Websites
Universities are increasingly interested in building on students’ technological literacy. Some even require all of their students to post an online portfolio of their work (along with their resumes) before they graduate, and some writing programs have agreed to participate in the project of technological literacy by teaching basic web-publishing skills. After all, publishing to the world wide web has become as easy as typing a paper, and even most word processing programs can now convert files to HTML for easy web-viewing. Also, if we want to impart critical technological literacy to our students, then we should not pass up opportunities for doing so.
Some instructors find it useful to create a class e-mail list or listserv that allows them to communicate information to all students simultaneously and allows students to post queries or ideas to the group. Though listservs can create some dangers (since they do offer a forum for occasionally inflammatory or hurtful speech), they also create many opportunities to communicate outside of class. They are most useful to posting important and timely information that would be of interest to everyone in the class, including class cancellations or television broadcasts, events, and news articles related to course reading. Listservs can also be used to create an asynchronous discussion, but online forums (which allow instructors greater control over the messages that get broadcast to the group) are better suited to such uses.
For those who remain a bit skeptical about what technology can add to writing classes, here is a list of ways computers can be used to accomplish important goals:
To incorporate other voices. Using online materials and resources allows us to break out of disciplinary boxes to examine a wide range of texts and inter-texts. Online postings of class discussion can also make student voices available for quotation and continued dialogue in writing.
To expand the worldviews of students. By making supplemental information available on the web, we offer students a way of putting readings in context. The “Link-O-Mat” feature of The New Humanities Reader website offers multiple links to resources to enrich student understanding of the essays (visit http://www. newhum.com/for_students/link_o_mat/index.html).
To share drafts efficiently. With electronic texts, students can more easily offer feedback to each other both in and outside of class.
To extend the work of the classroom. Online writing spaces help students prepare for writing their papers by doing collaborative pre-writing activities. These spaces also allow students to continue class activities, thus increasing time on task and improving peer support outside the classroom.
To allow participation among those who miss class. Courses with an online component or activities available online can make some participation possible for those who cannot attend a particular class session.
To break out of the student-teacher dyad and sponsor a public voice. When student work is broadcast in the form of web pages and online forums, it is no longer “just for the teacher,” and students must imagine a public voice for themselves.
To depersonalize participation. By offering students a forum for participation where their bodies are not on display, we can enable more open dialogue.
To enable collaboration. Computers in general (and interactive software more particularly) allow students to collaborate effectively in making group projects.
To increase participation. All students participate when postings online are required and made public.
To track and measure performance. With technology, we can easily keep track of participation and the level of performance of students. Those struggling become very apparent. Postings in online forums make participation more measurable, so it becomes a less subjective or personal part of the grade.
To make grading preparation less punitive. They take the place of quizzes and tests that generally focus on retention of information. Instead, the forum gets us focused on analysis.
To improve discussion. Students are more thoughtful in writing than in speaking, so putting their initial thoughts in writing can advance discussion further and more quickly than speaking alone. Requiring online postings on the day’s reading shortly before the class meets can encourage preparation, give students more chances to shape discussion (especially if student comments are used as conversation starters), and thus improve classroom participation.
To turn discussion into a class text. All electronic forums are available for analysis and can themselves become class texts.
To distribute the labor of instruction to students. By enabling collaboration and student interaction, technology can give students faster feedback on their ideas while lessening the teacher’s workload.
To reflect on visual media. Print is becoming a less important media for communication in the world than visual media, and technology allows us to bring these alternate media into the classroom.
To teach technological literacy. Students will increasingly be writing in electronic environments and need exposure to them. The English Department or Writing Program can become the center of the University for teaching all types of literacy, which only increases the importance of its role.
Advice on Forum Assignments and Activities
One of the easiest ways to get started with instructional technology in the writing class is by setting up an online forum. In fact, most instructors who end up using technology extensively say that an online forum was their “gateway” experience that taught them the ways that technology can add a significant dimension to the class. After all, adding a forum to your class is like building a deck onto your house: it creates another space where you can gather with others for conversation. For the most part, any group activity you might do in a writing classroom can be done in the virtual space of the forum, and you would probably only have to modify your in-class handouts slightly to make them into online activities. What follow are some sample activities that have proven useful with The New Humanities Reader.
Ideas for Forum Assignments
Make a Connection. The best basic forum assignment is for students to make an inter-textual or intra-textual connection, using two quotes from either two different texts or from the same text to help them make and explore a point. You can leave the topic for these connections open-ended or you can give a specific question, but it is best to give students as much freedom as possible.
Point to the Text. Require students to post a question in the forum and then to respond someone else’s question by doing two things: 1) quoting from the text and 2) explaining how that quote helps to answer the question. The key, though, is to get them to point to the text. Besides helping students work with the texts, such an assignment can also facilitates community-building in the forum by giving students a model for useful interactions in that space.
Connect to the Web. Forums are a great vehicle for getting students to use online material. At The New Humanities website, you can use the Link-O-Mat to guide students to useful sites. Then have students use the forum to post their ideas about how the websites they found through the Link-O-Mat connect to the reading. Alternately, you can have students collaborate to create their own Link-O-Mat: have each student do an online search, with the goal of finding and posting an interesting link in the forum; then have them write an annotation that explains how the site they or their peers found helps understand or apply the reading.
Assign the Tutorama as a Forum Activity. The Tutorama at The New Humanities Reader website has several good activities for students to do online. The questions at the end of each reading also make good thread-starters.
Share Your Thesis. Teachers can ask students to post their project or thesis ideas in the forums and have peers not only offer feedback but also point to a specific idea or quotation to help the student develop the idea further.
Try an Online Peer Review Session. You can easily do peer review of drafts as an online activity, with students posting their drafts in the forum and then responding to two of their peers’ drafts. Of course, there are other interactive technologies besides forums that might be more effective for peer review. But if forums are all you have, they can be made to serve. The advantages of online peer review over peer review in a regular classroom are numerous:
• it allows you to better monitor the effectiveness of peer review since you immediately get the peer review comments and drafts,
• it provides you with access to electronic copies of your students drafts to use in preparing follow-up classroom activities (including grammar activities based on the errors that students actually make in writing),
• it lets you extend peer review beyond the class session by having them respond to one draft during class time (in the computer classroom) and then another online later (from home or from campus computer lab),
• it allows students the opportunity to see everyone’s draft (so they can compare their work to that of the best students),
• and it makes it easy for students who miss the class session to still participate in the review process.
Sample Forum Assignments as Presented to Students
The following are real assignments you might give to students to write about in your online forum. These assignments can be done during class time or they can be assigned to do as homework.
What’s your thesis? One of the best ways to get started on revising is to try to write out a paragraph where you describe exactly what you think you are trying to argue in your paper. In other words, what’s your overall point? Or, as we teachers often say, “What’s your thesis?” What I want you to do in the forum today, before you move on to other directed revision activities, is to post a reply to this message that answers the question, “what’s your thesis in Essay #5? and how do all of the writers you are going to discuss fit into that thesis?” Write as much as you can, and be as clear as you can—and try to write a full paragraph that mentions all the writers we are discussing. For most of you, what you write here will be the basis for your first paragraph in your essay, where you should try to forecast your argument for your reader so as to guide him or her through your paper (though you might still revise it later). For others, this might still be a preliminary step in revision, and you may need to revisit the way you’d describe your argument once you have a better idea of just what you are trying to say in your essay. . . .
Weave the web. Find an article or web page online that makes an interesting connection with our class reading. Use Google (http://www.google.com) to search and try out different search terms. Don’t settle on one reading right away but try looking around at various things before you make a choice. Be sure to post the link to this site so that other students can get there easily and then explain the connection you made. Give us the link and explain how the web page you found helps us reframe, understand, or complicate the assigned essay?
Question and answer. Ask a clear question about a specific place or aspect of the text that causes you confusion or uncertainty. Once you are done, try to answer someone else’s question that has been posted in the forum. Be sure to do two things in your answer: 1) offer a quote from the text and 2) explain how the quote helps to answer the student’s question. We will use some of the more interesting or puzzling questions to start off class discussion.
Explore our website. Go to The New Humanities website at http://www.newhum.com. Explore the site, focusing on the sections designed for students. Tell us about something useful you found there that other students might find valuable too. Be sure to give a direct link to that section of the site.
Sum up the learning. Sum up the learning that is posted in our forum. What interests other students? What questions are being posed and how are they addressed?
Tell a story. How do ideas from the reading extend into the world? Make a connection to the real world or everyday life. Tell a story of where you came across something that connected with the readings in some clear way. Explain how the occurrence or idea offers a new perspective on the reading. Have the readings affected how you made a decision in some way? Have they made you see something familiar in a new light?
Write the author. Write a forum posting directed to the author of our reading. What would you ask or say to the writer?
Write other audiences. Write a summary of the text for a specific reader, such as your mother or your high school English teacher. What are you learning in English 101?
Reflect on the forum itself. What does our readings and your own experience suggest about the value of online forums for student learning? How do forums compare to class discussion? What are the positive and negative aspects of forums?
Good Practices for Managing Forums
One reason instructors often give for not using technology in their classes is that it will require more time commitment from them. But this does not have to be the case. In fact, after the initial start-up (which will always take some adjustment), most instructors find that using technology such as an online forum can lighten their workloads considerably—so long as it is used effectively. Here are some good practices to make forums work for you.
Just-in-Time Teaching. Set the deadline for forum postings for the time before next class when you are most likely to be reading the forum and preparing for class yourself. This will optimize everyone’s use of time and let students post at odd hours.
Make it mandatory. Unless students are required to post in the forum, they rarely will do so on their own. Treat online activities as either attendance or drafting activities and hold students accountable for their work in the forum. In literature or professional writing courses, where you might use a point system for grading, make forum activities an integral part of the final grade and deduct points if students fail to post online.
Do some forum activities in the computer classroom during class time. A good way to make the computer classroom more collaborative is to have students do their collaborative work in the forum—answering questions and responding to each other online. It may seem less natural than normal group work activities, but you will gain many advantages: 100% participation, a complete record of every student’s activities for the day, and a body of generated text that students can access from home and reflect upon further (thus extending time on task). Definitely consider using the computer classrooms the first time you have students access the forums, since some will probably need your help getting over the technological hurdle of signing on.
Bring postings to class. Treat online postings the same way you would paper drafts: bring copies of interesting paragraphs to class to stimulate discussion.
Rarely respond to postings yourself. Occasionally, it will be necessary to respond to postings—especially to any early postings that might set a bad tone in the forum and encourage poor responses. By responding to one weak posting you will show students that you are reading the forum and that you care if they take it seriously. But stop there. Don’t ever try to respond to everyone’s postings. And tell students that while you will generally read everyone’s online posting, you cannot possibly respond to them, except when you bring them into class to start discussion.
Assessment Criteria for Blogs and Forum Postings
Most instructors who assign web logs (or “blogs”) and forum postings treat them as quantifiable participation or part of the drafting process. Students are graded pass/fail on whether or not they have done the assignment, or they are graded on their final tally of entries (which some systems can generate very quickly for the instructor). However, some instructors—especially those for whom online postings become a significant portion of the class grade—may wish to develop assessment criteria that evaluate both the quantity and the quality of student responses. Some general criteria used to evaluate online and journal postings include:
• Length
• Presentation
• Number of entries or regularity of entries
• Strength of observation and incorporation of specific detail
• Evidence of a willingness to revise ideas
• Honesty and self-awareness
• Evidence of creative or critical thinking
• Representation of different cognitive skills (synthesis, analysis, evaluation)
• Ability to make connections between postings or between readings
• Engagement with course, learning, or assignment objectives
• Value of questions that arise from the reflective process
Possible Grading Criteria Based on Content
For those looking for a way of judging the quality of student responses, the following criteria may be useful. These were developed based on ideas set forth by Cynthia Selfe and Marilyn Cooper in their essay “Computer Conferencing and Learning: Authority, Resistance, and Internally Persuasive Discourse” (College English 52.8(1990): 847–869).
D / F—Merely Descriptive or Disengaged. Simple summary or inaccurate presentation of the text and ideas. Unable to articulate either the writer’s position or that of the writer under consideration. Possibly fails to engage with the text at all. The student may appear not to have done the reading or to be going through the motions. Problems of error (grammar, syntax, clarity) significantly impede the meaning of the writing.
C / C+—Descriptive Reflection or Authoritarian Rejection. Uses generally descriptive language or mostly summary. Reflection may be based generally on one perspective. Responses may feature “authoritarian discourse” (that is, unexamined standard ideologies) used to dismiss the ideas of others. Issues of reading comprehension or of misreading might surface. Is able to engage with the text, though not necessarily with any depth. May not use adequate evidence. May have some error, but not enough to impede meaning.
B / B+—Dialogic reflection. Engages well with the readings and shows an ability to construe author’s ideas into a larger context or to create a conversation among them that is not dismissive of one over the other. Demonstrates a “stepping back” from the texts to frame the discussion. Qualifies judgments and considers possible alternatives for explaining and hypothesizing. The reflection is analytical or integrative, making connections between the reading and other issues. It may reveal inconsistency in attempting to provide rationales and critiques, but it demonstrates accurate reading comprehension. Shows a generosity toward the ideas of others.
A—Critical reflection. Demonstrates an awareness that actions and events are not only located within and explicable by multiple perspectives but are located in and influenced by multiple historical and sociopolitical contexts. Exhibits “internally persuasive discourse.” That is, the posting makes an argument where key premises are explained or supported. Writing is generally polished and clear.
First Steps and Ice Breakers
The following activities are written by teachers in the Rutgers Writing Program, describing things that they have done to introduce students to technology for the first time.
The Computer Classroom
By Barclay Barrios
I love to use the computer classroom—mostly because I’m convinced that just being in a new room somehow perks up my class. Before I bring them there, however, there are a few steps I’ve found useful:
1) Make sure students are able to log onto the computers (sometimes this requires that they have established a login or university password). First-year students sometimes delay taking care of those access issues. Make sure that everyone in the class resolves any access issues before you meet in the computer classroom.
2) Walk the class over the first time. Rather than asking my class to meet at the room the first time we visit, I sacrifice the first few minutes of class to walk them all to the room. Not only does this eliminate the “I couldn’t find the room” excuse in subsequent visits, but it also gives that first class a “field trip” feel.
3) Spend some time in the lab first. I try to drop by the lab when no one’s in there. I’m just going in to make sure I don’t have problems with the instructor’s computer, to get familiar with the space, and to check out the software and printer in the lab.
4) Find out how much your students know. I give my students a quick, informal survey of their use of computers early in the semester, and I make a mental note of who might have problems in the lab as well as who self-represents as something more like an expert. That way, I can ask students with more experience to help the ones with less.
Googling!
One great way to get introduce students to technology is to have them “google” their names. It introduces them to searching for information on the web and to using the search engine Google in particular. In the computer classroom, have students start a browser, go to http://www.google.com, and type their names in quotation marks. See what results pop up. You can segue into a class activity by having them then google the author of the essay you’re currently discussing.
Saying Hello on the Forum
This is a kind of forum icebreaker I like to use to get my students registered for the forum and talking there. I tell students to register (either outside of class or in a computer classroom session) and then to post something about themselves on a thread I’ve set up. It’s a really small move, but it makes the forum a friendlier place, which is a good move towards regular discussion.
Familiarizing Students with The
New Humanities Reader Website
Adapted from Justin Hart
Many instructors find it useful to spend a computer lab day reviewing The New Humanities Reader website (which you can find at http://www.newhum.com) with their students. Justin, one of our English 101 instructors, devised a worksheet for use in the computer classroom with his class. It asks students to walk through the website and pay attention to some of the resources available, and it can also be used to lead into a discussion of how grading works. This sheet would make a great activity for the computer classroom, but you could also hand it out as homework for students to complete on their own. You can also adapt it to your own uses or time constraints.
Worksheet for Making Your Way through The New Humanities Reader Website
1) Begin by directing your web browser to http://www.newhum.com
2) Note the various sections designed “For Students”:
Link-O-Mat:
Information about the writers included in the NHR and links to sites related to
each reading
Tutorama: Self-directed tutorials to help you perfect your writing
Gradatorium: The grading criteria we recommend, along with sample papers and teacher comments
Galleria: Examples of outstanding student papers
Cite-Check: How to distinguish between getting help, collaborating, and plagiarizing
3) Select Link-O-Mat at the top of this page or by going back to the main page, and click on the name of the writer we are currently discussing in class. Read his or her biography and then visit some of the related links. Does the biography of the writer change your view of his or her essay? If yes, how so? Which of the related links do you find most interesting in light of your reading of the essay or our class discussion?
4) Select Tutorama and then select Responding to the Assignment. Read the entire tutorial and answer the following questions:
If your essays are not supposed to “just repeat what you’ve read” or “say what the teacher wants to hear,” then what are they supposed to do?
What are the two parts of assignments and what does each one help you do?
List each step to planning a draft that you don’t now do, but will next time.
In your own words, list the four suggestions for revising your drafts.
5) Click on the Gradatorium at the top of the page or on the main page. How do you think these criteria compare to the ones we are using in our class? Explain in your own words (one sentence each) the difference between a not passing paper, a C paper, a B paper and an A paper (you can ignore the C+ and B+).
6) Click on the Galleria at the top of the page or on the main page. Look through one of the student papers published there. Name three qualities that you think are worth emulating in this essay.
7) Click on the section marked Cite-Check at the top of the page or on the main page. Write out three things that you learned (or which you think are not commonly known by your classmates) from this discussion of citation and avoiding plagiarism.
8) When the sheet is completely filled in, and you have completed all of the instructions under the numbered items, sign the bottom of it and turn it in to me.
Using Technology For Research
Group Research on a Topic
By Robert J. Gill
Have students work in pairs, each having a computer. Then, for about 25 minutes, both students search for information on one of their topics. During this time they can share finds, offer suggestions for search terms, and consider the strength of the sources. Once the time is up, the two students write a brief “Activity Report” which is then handed in. The report notes successes and problems. The class continues with the pairs of students now searching for sources for the other topic. Again, they will spend 25 minutes on search time with a few minutes afterwards for an Activity Report which is handed in.
It is interesting to see how the pairs work. The student whose topic is being searched often tends to be too narrowly focused. The other students tend to be freer and often make good discoveries. The entire activity takes a full class period.
While this exercise is geared toward research-writing courses, it could be adapted on a smaller scale (much less time for research) for an introductory writing class. For instance, one could have the pairs do a search on specific Jewish rituals for Boyarin’s “Waiting for a Jew,” or “shamanism” when reading Abrams. Aside from the background information benefit, expository writing classes can work on evaluating print/online sources as part of their ongoing dialogue with textual material.
Evaluating Internet Sources
Have the students divide into groups of three or four. Let each group choose a topic currently in the news or related to the class discussion about which there is divided public opinion.
Have the group members work at nearby terminals to do some quick Internet searching on the topic. Have them search for sites that they think are either opinionated or objective. For an easy example, one could use the Focus on the Family (James Dobson) site in conjunction with a Planned Parenthood site on the topic of abortion, and then show some sort of objective site that merely lists abortion statistics. Hopefully the groups will find enough interesting sites so that each group member can evaluate one and present it to the class.
To aid them in their evaluation, you may want to tell them to try and identify:
• the intended audience for the site
• the means by which the information in conveyed (i.e. statistics, graphics, emotional stories, reference to authorities)
• how well the information is documented
• any overt perspectives that might have influenced the site’s creators
• what the site is missing in terms of being a good research source.
They may want to consider ways in which the statistics could be manipulated to convey information in a biased manner, how to deal with the contrasting approaches and statistics used by their research sources, how reliable in general they think the source is, whether or not the evidence can be duplicated, and which groups may disagree with this source’s interpretation of data (and why).
After they have half an hour or so to search and discuss the various sites within their groups, give each person a few minutes to review his or her site with the rest of the class. They should leave class with a heightened sense of the need to scrutinize Internet sources.
Annotating a Link List
The web is a great way for students to access information, but often they don’t stop to consider that some information out there is worthwhile and some isn’t at all. One way I try to force students to begin research and to be accountable to quality research is to ask them to produce an annotated list of links at the start of their research process. This introduces them to their topic and gives them practice with annotation. What’s more, it gives me a chance to introduce to a discussion of how to evaluate Internet sources and how to determine the value of a source.
Working with a New Reading
Opening Up a Reading
I like to bring my class into the lab for the first day of a new reading. I generally have them do some work on the new essay at the computer, but I always save time for a general discussion as well. Here are some of the kinds of exercises I ask students to do:
Musical Chairs. Locate important passages from the new text and type them into a blank document. Then have students switch computers and add a comment about whether or not they feel that’s an important passage and why. Keep having them switch computers three or four times. Then have students return to their original computers and digest their peers’ comments. Ask students to report on the passages they chose and what others had to say about. Not only does this open up discussion about the text, but students leave with recorded comments about a particular passage. The musical chairs effect also keeps their blood circulating better than it typically does when they sit in front of computers!
Condensation. Have students write a short paragraph that summarizes the argument of the new reading. Then have them condense that paragraph, and keep condensing until they have one or two sentences that summarize the essay. Ask students to share these sentences with the class. Again this opens up discussion and gives students practice at identifying an author’s argument, but it can also lead into a discussion of paraphrase or how to form a project statement by starting with a large sense of what you want to write about and then condensing that down.
Switching to the Visual
By Barclay Barrios
Sometimes I think students need to “switch registers” to locate a new perspective, to open up new modes of learning, or even to get a better sense of a project/argument. I sometimes start a new reading by bringing them to the lab to let them work with visual modes of explanation. Here’s what I’ve tried:
Draw the argument. I tell students to use either the drawing tools in Word or Paint (Start >> Programs >> Accessories >> Paint) to draw a picture of the author’s argument. I make it clear to them that they’ll need to print this picture out and explain it to the class. This also works really well as group work.
Make a visual argument. I ask students to use a search engine like Google to locate images or pictures that are clustered around the topic or argument of the new essay. Working with these, I ask them to create a kind of “visual argument” that uses a series of images to illustrate the argument of the new reading. These can be copied and pasted into Word for printing and sharing with the class. Again, this can also be a good group project.
Working with a New Reading
By Michael J. Cripps
The online forum or “bulletin board” is a potentially wonderful technology because it makes sharing easy and retains a public record. Because of those two factors, it is a great place to get students to begin work with a new reading. I like to start each new reading assignment with a forum so that there is a threaded discussion devoted to each reading that students can return to later.
Planting Seeds. Early in the semester I will “seed” the forum discussion on a new reading by posting questions about issues in a reading. I require students to respond to some set of these questions, and to post their own questions about a new reading. This kind of assignment works best when students are required to quote the passages that give them trouble. Lastly, I require students to respond to at least one or two of those questions. Each student only posts about four times, and the result is a written record of early insights and issues.
Reaping the Rewards of Model Questions. As the semester progresses, I hand off primary responsibility for initial posts to three or four students (making sure to distribute the requirement). Other students are required to respond to some or all of those questions, and to post questions or problems they are having with the reading. Over the course of the semester, students can return to the forum posts for help with the readings. Generally, my seed questions from the early part of the term have modeled good questions for the students so they are better able to ask their own.
When a Paper Is Due on the Same Day as a New Reading
By Michael Goeller
In English 101, I often find myself assigning a new reading on the day that the final draft of the previous assignment is due. This does not make for such a good session, of course, since most students will not have done very much of the reading. So now I have students meet that day in the computer lab and get them to do some basic work with the new reading in front of a computer, posting their ideas to the class forum. In the course of an hour they will generate lots of great material that I can use in discussion the following class meeting. For some of them, this initial session may be the first time that they have taken a look at the reading. So I focus their activity on specific parts of the essay, generally near the beginning.
Here is an assignment I used in introducing Abu-Lughod’s essay on the day they were turning in papers on James Scott. I think it worked very well.
Applying Scott’s Terms to Abu-Lughod’s Essay
I know that since all of you were writing Essay #3 for today, you probably did not have much time to read Lila Abu-Lughod’s “Honor and Shame” in our book. I hope, though, that you at least read far enough to get a sense of how her essay might be talked about using terms and ideas from Scott. Today what I want you to do is the following:
Choose an incident from Abu-Lughod’s essay that you think would make a good connection with James Scott’s essay and discuss it in the forum using at least two quotations. Tell us about the incident you have chosen, and then begin discussing it using terms and ideas from Scott. Discuss at least two quotations at some length using ideas from Scott to help explain these passages. Try to use quotations from Scott as well. And see if you can write two paragraphs in the forum.
I would like you to use your own, original example from the essay, but if you feel you have not read the essay well enough to choose a good incident, consider one of the following:
1) Kamla wrote an essay titled “An Essay on the Young Bedouin Woman of Egypt and the Changes in Her Life over 40 Years” in which, according to Abu-Lughod, “You can trace, in the stilted words of her essay and the candid comments (in parentheses) she made as she read it aloud to me, the outlines of the new world she hoped to gain by marrying the likes of Engineer Ibrahim Saleem.” How might Scott interpret the passages of Kamla reading her essay aloud to the author? How would he discuss specific passages and parenthetical remarks?
2) Reread the story about Kamla’s cousin Salih drinking liquor. How might Scott interpret this story? What specific passages help us to read the way power and resistance get played out in this incident?
Using Images on the Forum to Stimulate Discussion
By Carmen Vendelin
I, like many instructors, was concerned that my students were reading uncritically. Our first reading was Lila Abu-Lughod’s “Honor and Shame.” In the essay, Abu-Lughod records the comments of Bedouin tribal members. The Bedouin oral tradition includes over-exaggerated insults and name-calling. Many students took their words at face value. I made the following post, hoping that some students would question the Bedouin perspective.
“What do women wear in Egypt? In “Honor and Shame,” some members of a Bedouin community describe the dress of urban Egyptian women as immodest. Kamla asserts that some Egyptian girls in the cities go out to clubs and wear “short dresses.” Kamla’s father is concerned that young Bedouin men will want to marry Egyptian women because they look “so pretty” in these “short dresses.” A group of Bedouin elders “even meets to “discuss what to do about these women who ‘walk around naked.’” How literal are these statements? Do you think the Bedouin might be exaggerating? How short do you think the “short dresses” are? How long could they be and still be considered indecent by the Bedouin? Has anyone been to Egypt who could describe the way most women dressed when you were there?”
Student replies acknowledged that the Bedouin probably exaggerated. Some students posted images with their responses. I saw that showing them some photos might help accelerate the process. So I also posted images, not only of Egyptian women but also of Bedouin women. Students were most interested in the Bedouin images and had much to say about them: how, for example, they did or did not conform to student expectations; how they might be able to preserve the tradition of tattooing (a cultural detail that I do not think the students caught from the one brief mention in the text—until they saw the images). All in all, the use of images helped students not only to “reality check” the text but to generate some interesting discussion.
FYI: Some forum systems allow you to upload images or post them online. Alternately (and to avoid copyright issues) you can have students simply post links to the images they found.
Introducing a New Reading Using the Web
By Barclay Barrios
Generally, I like to have my students locate the new reading in a larger context, and one of the fastest ways I know to do this is for them to use the web. Here are a collection of strategies I’ve used to get students exploring a new reading—for each, you can have the students do the activities outside of class for homework, or you can book time in one of the computer classrooms and have it as an in-class activity:
1) Use the Link-O-Mat (if there is one for your course). You can either let students explore the links, or direct them to particular ones that you think open up the reading. Discuss what students find or have them post reactions to a class forum.
2) Have students search for the author’s name in Google. They can then do a brief oral presentation on the author. Or students can explore the reading through the larger context of the author’s work.
3) Start with small groups. Have the groups pick out key terms and key contexts for the essay. Then have them do searches in Google to locate other pages that speak about or to these terms, concepts, and contexts.
Using Technology for Writing
Brainstorming in the Computer Classroom
By Barclay Barrios
Part One: Pose a general assignment to the students to get them thinking about the essay at hand. For instance, you might ask them to comment on the effectiveness of “the Broken Windows Theory” from Gladwell’s essay in relation to a particular place with which they are familiar. You could either write the prompt in the online forum, put it on the board, or pass it out on small sheets of paper, but give them something written rather than just shouted oral directions. (The labs do not have the best acoustics, and there are too many distractions for them to concentrate on oral assignments.) The more vague you are about the kind of situation you are asking them to envision, the more varied their responses will be—i.e., sloppiness in personal hygiene, dirtiness of public buildings, broken down cars left in parking lots—dare we hope it—poor grammar or spelling on a paper! Have them write for 10-15 minutes without stopping to revise or read over. Ideally, this short writing assignment will have them immediately begin to evaluate the relevance of the theory beyond the example (New York City Subways) given in the Gladwell essay, and it may highlight for them why they intuitively accept the value of the theory. Walk around surreptitiously reading over shoulders to identify three or four passages that may lead to good discussion. After the intensive writing session is over, ask if those people would e-mail their passages to you for use in the next class. Alternatively, they could be used as forum postings to generate online discussion between classes.
Part Two: If time allows after the initial writing session, you could have students switch terminals and read each other’s work. The reader then has 10-15 minutes to write in response to the first writer. (If you are doing this exercise in an online forum, obviously they will be able to respond to each other there.) If you have even more time, have the initial writer then respond to the reader, or a third person comment on the first and second writers’ texts. The benefit of this is that by the time they leave class, they have already started to put their thoughts in writing and they have identified and captured their instinctive reactions to another writer’s ideas. At the end of the session they can e-mail the document to all the writers involved for future reference.
Forums and Prewriting
By Michael J. Cripps
The forum can work well as a venue for prewriting exercises precisely because students can exchange ideas, and receive feedback that can be revisited throughout the drafting process. Since papers are constructed one paragraph at a time, I like to require students to post potential paragraphs for drafts they are working on, complete with textual evidence.
1) When working with one reading, I ask students to create postings which includes two different passages in the reading and to discuss the relationship between those passages.
2) When working with more than one reading, I ask students to post a writing sample that brings together a specific moment from each of those readings.
Each of these forum posts can be linked to an assignment that requires students to visit their peers’ prewriting posts and comment on the relationships under discussion.
Starting the Assignment in the Computer Room
By Rebecca Hartman
One good use of the computer classroom, especially at the beginning of the semester, is to have students begin their rough drafting in a computer classroom session. I often pair students up and have them discuss the assignment for 5 minutes. Then they can collaboratively type up what they think the assignment is asking them to do. Then the pair works on brainstorming how to approach the draft. Some students prefer to begin with selected quotes, others may choose to draft a working thesis, while others may begin with free-writing. (Instructors can also require a 5-minute free-writing session to get students warmed up.) The students then work independently, but side-by-side, getting their rough drafts on paper. In the last 15 minutes of the class, have the pair exchange their drafts, and do a mini-peer review, making suggestions as to whether the draft is directly responsive to the assignment, what direction the essay should take, and which quotations to use. This exercise is especially useful in demonstrating to students that papers get produced in pieces and by actually sitting at the computer and working, a fact that 100 and 100R students often need repeatedly demonstrated.
Drafting and Forums
By Michael J. Cripps
Every teacher and writer knows that the drafting process is at the center of any effort to improve writing. For many students, however, drafting often appears as a chore and as something to be avoided (or minimized). The most successful writing instructors find ways to make drafting work in their classes. A bulletin board forum can extend that work beyond the confines of the classroom, and can distribute more broadly the benefits of drafting.
One way to link peer review to revisions that get into the final draft of a paper is to require students to revise specific passages and post both the original and the revision to the forum. This assignment works best if it is due by the class meeting following a peer review day because it keeps the students thinking about their drafts. Without a requirement of this sort, students often put off revisions until just before the final draft is due and risk losing much of the benefit of peer review.
Working with Two Passages: Version 1
This is a computer lab version of a traditional classroom exercise, in which you either present the students with two passages from the same reading or with one passage from two separate readings. Note: The benefit of choosing the passages is that you can identify satisfyingly succulent bits of thought. The downfall is that you can almost guarantee that these two passages will show up in students’ papers once they have invested a lab’s worth of time on the exercise. To discourage this, encourage them to go through the same process using other passages at the end of the session. Have the students type out the two passages, and then write on the first passage for fifteen minutes or so (a good paragraph’s worth). In this paragraph they should try to explain what the writer is saying using their own words and then commenting on it. They then write a similar paragraph on the second passage, followed by a third paragraph connecting the ideas in the first two passages.
Working with Two Passages: Version 2
By Rebecca Hartman
This exercise can be useful as students are revising a rough draft into a final draft. It works best after the second paper.
Students come to class with a pre-chosen quotation that they want to use in their essays. On a blank screen they input the quotation, then write for 5–10 minutes, explaining and interpreting the passage. Students then switch screens and expand upon the interpretation the first students wrote for 5–10 minutes. Then the second students select a quotation from a second text that would connect well with the first quotation. They type this passage and then write 5–10 minutes interpreting it. The students switch back to their original screens. The first students then have in front of them: 1) the quotation they initially chose; 2) the interpretation they wrote; 3) the interpretation the second students wrote; 4) a new passage with an interpretation written by the second students.
The first student then writes for 15–20 minutes, constructing a connection between the two quotation. The exercise can continue with the students then moving to develop the connection between the texts as a part of their own arguments. The finished product can be saved to disk or e-mailed to both students for future reference.
Testing Textual Protocols in the Forum
By Michael J. Cripps
One of the most valuable classroom practices in Expository Writing is the work students do learning to work with specific moments in the readings. Whether the discussion involves the interpretation of difficult passages, techniques for embedding quotes into paragraphs, or even the variety of textual protocols (paraphrase, reference, quotation), the bulletin board is a useful supplement to classroom learning.
1) A useful assignment on textual interpretation requires students to post a passage (from a draft) in which they quote an important passage and interpret it. Peers are required to comment on the interpretation, and to offer alternative readings if they seem more relevant. Peers are required to bring in additional textual support.
2) A useful assignment on textual protocols asks students to post two passages from a draft. One of those passages exhibits the appropriate use of quotation. The other passage either references or paraphrases a moment in a text. The student then explains why these two uses of text are appropriate given the context of the discussion. Peers then comment on those uses of text.
3) A bulletin board forum assignment on smooth integration of quotation into a paragraph asks students to post at least two passages (from their drafts) that include quotations. Peers then critically evaluate the mechanics of textual integration. Is there a smooth transition to the quote? Is the citation style correct? Are there alternative ways to integrate the passage into the paragraph? What might they look like?
Using Technology for Collaboration and Peer Revision
Collaborative Tech Learning
By Barclay Barrios
Students always expect me to be the tech expert for the class. I guess I could be, but I’m not comfortable in that role and I don’t think it’s one I should be playing—it just doesn’t feel pedagogically productive. I avoid this by giving my students a “tech skills survey” before our first trip to the lab. I ask them to identify their experience level with a variety of programs like Word or WordPerfect as well as their comfort with a variety of general computer skills. I distribute a collated list to the class, making it clear that all learning in our classroom is collaborative and that includes technological skills. Students actually come to enjoy helping each other figure out computer problems or software features.
Round Robin Exercise for Clarifying Focus
By Barclay Barrios
This works well at about the midway point of the semester, when students are accustomed to having other students read their work and they are more aware of the benefit of a clearly stated project. It’s a good exercise to use when starting a rough draft revision day in the computer lab.
Have the students come in and create a document with their thesis statement/argument/project focus typed at the top. Often, this is enough to point out to some of them that they really don’t have an adequate focus for their project. Once everyone has a thesis at the top of a document, have everyone shift to the terminal to the right. The students then read the thesis in front of them and comment on it or paraphrase it, adding their initials afterwards. This should only take two minutes at the most. Have them all shift again until everyone has commented on the original statement and the initial writer is back in place. In the remaining time, have the students work individually on their papers based on the comments received. They might want to concentrate on their first paragraphs or rework their papers entirely.
Working with the Difference between Summary and Analysis
By Barbara Hamilton
In a lab session run soon after a classroom discussion on the importance of analyzing rather than summarizing, have the students come in, call up their rough draft of the next paper, and switch terminals with a partner. Have the readers add their names to the top of the documents as reviewers, then read through the papers once. On their second reading, direct them to use the highlighting function to identify all quotations in yellow. Then they should highlight all places in the paper where the writer is merely repeating ideas from the text in red. Anything they identify as analysis should be highlighted in green. The reviewer should then save the document on the writer’s disk as a separate document.
This color analysis works well through visual impact to show the writers whether they have balanced their content well. In looking at a sea of yellow or a pool of red, it becomes immediately obvious to students that they have strung together too many quotations with little discussion between them, or if they are merely summarizing rather than saying anything original. The disagreements that will arise between writer and reviewer as to whether the reviewer has accurately defined summary and analysis are sometimes hairy but always productive to both parties.
Targeted Revision
By Rebecca Hartman
This exercise forces students to work on revision. It also may give them insights into the usefulness of reading and responding to instructor and/or peer comments. (It can also give instructors good feedback on how students are interpreting comments on their papers.)
Students are told to select one critical paragraph that instructor and/or peer has commented upon and brainstorm on possible revisions the night before class. (For 100/100r students, it is critical that they bring this brainstorming in writing to class.)
Students create the paragraph on a blank screen. Below the paragraph, in a contrasting font, they summarize the comments and note what they think should be done to effectively revise the paragraph. An important component here is for them to clearly state how such revision will strengthen their overall paper. (I usually ask them to underline this statement.)
Students then spend a significant part of the class period (30 minutes +) on targeted revision of their paragraph, on screen. During this time, the instructor can give individual attention to students.
This exercise can go a couple of ways. Sometimes it is very productive to let students work on this the entire class period. (Some will finish one paragraph and then choose another one to revise. Let them go for it!) Other times, students can really only work on one paragraph. With remaining time, it’s useful to have them print their work, exchange it with a peer, who then will comment upon and critique the revision. (Sometimes you can make this exchange quite successful by pairing students based on skills. Thus, a student who has done a good job of revision to improve quotation interpretation can exchange with a student who is struggling with this skill.)
“Traditional” Peer-Revision Day, Lab-Style
By Barclay Barrios
If you are still getting accustomed to being in the computer lab, you can easily adapt your usual peer-revision sheets for lab use. Have the students call up their rough draft and then switch terminals with another member of their peer revision group. Have the reviewers type in their names at the top of the documents as commentors or reviewers. Where they would normally make marginal comments, they type their comments in italics, bold, brackets, a different color, or in a text box as close as possible to the passage in question. Caution them against changing spelling or punctuation on the writer’s draft. Instead, encourage them to write a note at the end like “You need to look in the handbook and review how to use commas.” “Check your spelling.” If you have given numbered comments on a peer-revision handout, have them answer those at the end of the draft. When they are done commenting, have them save the new document as a separate file (RD2comments.doc), using the Save As function so they don’t cancel out the writer’s original draft. Repeat with the other member of the revision group. As always, have the group members discuss each paper and set of comments once the revision work is done.
Peer Review and Forums
By Michael J. Cripps
The bulletin board forum is a great place to make peer review a semi-public event. Publicity is wonderful because it tends to bring out the best in all of us. Students who have to put their names on a review tend to take the process seriously. An added benefit of bulletin board peer review is its permanence. In the crucible of a paper deadline, students can revisit the forum for some real (written) guidance.
I like to require students to post passages from their first drafts to the forum, and to comment critically (and constructively) on their peers’ posted passages. The actual assignment that brings drafting beyond the classroom walls varies with the time in the semester, or even the particular class I’m teaching.
1) Early in the semester, I’ll focus on body paragraphs in the drafts and require students to post one or two of those paragraphs, with some discussion of how they are to fit together. I might ask students to post their best and worst paragraphs. I’ll assign peers not in the peer revision group for that draft to respond to those posts. A checklist is often very helpful to guide those responses. Does the passage demonstrate appropriate use of text? If not, what might be a better passage or example from the reading? Is the student’s voice in control of the paragraph(s)? If not, where is the student’s voice? How might the passage (or passages) be rewritten?
2) Later in the term, I’ll ask students to post the introductory paragraph and another passage of their choosing.
Using Technology to Discuss Plagiarism
Tracking Changes
By Barclay Barrios
I think there’s always some concern about doing something like peer revision in the computer classroom. It’s just so easy for one student to be making suggestions within another student’s actual word processing file and then for that student to keep the changes—essentially plagiarizing. One way to side-step this (while also giving your students experience in the kinds of collaborative writing tools used in the business world) is to use the “track changes” feature of Word during any kind of peer revision. Granted, students could still simply merge the changes into their papers, but having the changes visually demarcated from their own text provides a clear boundary for them to respect.
This site has a good tutorial on how to use track changes. Check out the collaborative tools tutorial for Word. Students who are used to Word Perfect can simply have their files imported into Word.
Switching Programs, Gaining Literacy
By Barclay Barrios
Another way to make students aware of boundaries during peer revision is to force them to switch word processors during peer revision. That is, if a student’s paper is in Word format, ask the peer reviewers to open it in Word Perfect, and vice-versa.
This switch has a few advantages. First off, it physically separates the original paper and the peer revision, which creates physical (well, OK, electronic) boundaries between their words and the suggestions from the peer reviewer. Second, it expands everyone’s computer literacy by forcing them to deal with different programs (Word and Word Perfect).
Exposing Myths
One of the things that makes the forums, in general, so very useful is that it provides a space to open up conversations and discussions. You might start a discussion of plagiarism by having your class post to your class forum (or a cross-section forum) their understanding of what plagiarism is. You don’t even have to intervene in this discussion, necessarily. Encourage students to post their own definition of plagiarism and then respond to one or two others. In the end, the class may reach a consensus of what plagiarism is by talking it out—without you needing to intervene.
Exploring Scenarios
Another way to use the forum to open up discussions of plagiarism is to post threads that describe questionable situations and then ask your class to reply to the threads and explain why each is or is not plagiarism. After all, most students understand that just buying a paper is plagiarism; what gives them trouble are situations that are less clear-cut. In this sense, a lot of the plagiarism that actually happens is wholly unintentional—students just don’t understand that what they think is getting help or paraphrasing is actually plagiarism.
I think it’s particularly useful to use something like the forums to have this discussion because there’s already so much that has to be covered in the classroom that moving the discussion outside the classroom allows it to have the space and time that’s needed while still giving you a chance to do what needs to be done in the classroom.
Putting Plagiarism in a Larger Context
One of the things I like best about the web is that it lets you get a quick snapshot of an issue in its larger social context. Around the first paper, I’ll ask students to research plagiarism on the web (I might have them do this as homework, or bring them into the computer classroom and have them do a quick search as part of a class). Students can find sites about plagiarism and anti-plagiarism web services (such as TurnItIn.com). In part, this research helps students locate a variety of descriptions and definitions of plagiarism.
But I also like to use the web to tie this discussion into some of the issues in our latest reading. For example, there are a number of commercial anti-plagiarism resources, which of course rely on having copies of student papers in their databases. Essentially, they make their money off student work and students get nothing from the deal. I think this raises important issues about Intellectual Property that students can discuss in relation to something like Drucker or Pollan. That way, students 1) learn about plagiarism 2) learn about in a larger context and 3) think about it in the context of the reading we’re doing.
Speaking from Experience
A Caution on Bulletin Board Forums
By Michael J. Cripps
I have used forums in my Writing Program classes since 1999. I migrated to forums out of frustration with the reading journals I used to require students to keep. I required a reading journal in my Writing Program classes for a whole host of reasons. I wanted students to read carefully (and critically), to isolate difficult passages in the texts and to work with them, and to reflect on initial ideas once they had read an essay several times. Students hated the reading journal requirement and (to be honest) I hated having to collect (and grade!) the journal.
Bulletin board forums offered me a way to retain the benefits of a reading journal without the weighty burden of lugging around notebooks. Moreover, they made it possible for students to share thoughts on the readings, and more. My first semester with a forum on WebCT was a disaster. I quickly learned that bulletin board forums, like any element of instructional technology, do not magically improve classroom practices, reduce the instructor’s workload, or make students write more effective essays. Forums can do all of these things, but only if you locate ways to put them at the center of your portfolio of requirements.
Here are four tips:
Make forum usage a requirement. Students are very busy. They will not visit and post regularly if it remains optional. I require five posts per week. This seems like a lot, but it really isn’t. A student can meet this requirement in about one hour’s work each week. And the assignments I give make it possible for the students’ posts to feed right into the drafting process.
Seed the discussion and monitor regularly. Productive forum activity does not spring forth spontaneously. I like to get things rolling during the first few weeks by modeling the kinds of posts (questions and responses) I’d like to see students making. Like all bulletin board forums, they require some sort of monitor. If students think you’re not visiting the forum they won’t take care with their posts.
Bring posts into class. I use the discussion on the bulletin board forum to help me with my class plans for a given day. When there is a new reading due, I’ll often visit the forum just before class to see what students are writing about it. This helps me gauge where the class is on the reading, and enables us all to benefit from more focused class discussion.
Encourage students to experiment. Treat the bulletin board as a place for students to test their ideas. Assignments can help students try out their prospective paper topics, and can even help them refine specific components of a particular draft. If the forum can develop the culture of a functioning peer group, students will treat it as a great place to advance ideas in a low-risk environment.
E-mail Boundaries
By Barclay Barrios
I think it’s crucial to establish firm boundaries with your students around e-mail. The temptation for them is to e-mail you at any time, and the temptation for you is to check your e-mail all the time. The problem, of course, is that this fosters dependence in your students and leaves you “always on the clock.” In the end, it’s in the best interests of all your students as well as your sanity to establish firm e-mail boundaries. Here are some suggestions:
1) Have separate work and personal e-mail addresses. I always use RCI as my work e-mail—students get that address but friends get a different one. That way, I don’t have to worry about work interrupting my personal time.
2) Make clear when you check mail and when you don’t. I let students know I only check mail when in the office. Otherwise, they need to wait for me to get in the next day (or after the weekend).
3) Limit what can be done through e-mail. I don’t accept papers through e-mail without special arrangement. I don’t comment on drafts e-mailed to me except through special arrangement. I make it clear that e-mail is best used for brief correspondence, such as alerting me to an absence or asking me a question. Anything more significant is best handled in person.
4) Provide alternate means of contact. I let students know the best way to reach me is by phone—often I am simply too busy to answer e-mails, but if they reach me by phone, they get a reply right away. You might not want to give out your phone number, but you can provide your own hierarchy of contact. You might, for example, tell students the best way to reach you is right before or after class, and then in your office hours, and then with a note in your mailbox, and only then by e-mail.