Collaboration, Technology, Pedagogy,

and WritingDr. Beth Brunk-Chavez

Rhetoric and Writing StudiesWomen’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 downloadgroup members’ drafts from discussions

Download peer critique questions from “week 6 assignments”

Complete peer critique by typing in answersto 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?

Further Research/Calls for Action

• 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.

Further Research/Calls for Action

• 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?