From Laura.Gray-Rosendale@NAU.EDU Wed Dec 6 14:51:47 2006 From: Laura.Gray-Rosendale@NAU.EDU (Laura Gray-Rosendale) Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2006 07:51:47 -0700 Subject: [Teaching_Basic_Writing] NEW MODULE POSTED!!!!!! Message-ID: <002e01c71946$0fe2dec0$0200a8c0@TOSHIBA> Many thanks to Loyola for her terrific module! I know that it offered some very important suggestions to those among us who work with Native American students. During this month and into January Catherine Pavia will be running a discussion based upon her new module "Exploring Access Issues in Basic Writing Computer Classrooms" that can be found at http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/english/tbw/. Catherine's research interests include basic writing, online literacies, the relationships among school and nonschool literacies, and research methodologies. Catherine has done a great deal of work with on-line teaching and is familiar with many programs such as Vista and Blackboard. She teaches for the Writing program at University of Massachusetts, Amherst (including courses on autobiography and gender relations, emerging technologies, basic writing, computer-based college composition, and the literature of the American West). Catherine also taught at Brigham Young University for several years (including courses on literary interpretation, fiction, poetry and drama, honors writing, and introductory composition). During her time at BU she designed, proposed, taught, and administered an innovative composition service-learning course, in which students wrote documents for and served in community nonprofit organizations. This work earned her the Campus Compact award. Catherine has also done a lot of web design work and been a service-learning coordinator. Her publications include "Issues of Attitude and Access: A Case Study of Basic Writers in a Computer Classroom," Journal of Basic Writing, 23:2 (Fall 2004), 4-22; "Book Review: The Social Life of Information." Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 17:3 (July 2003), 362-366; and "Integrating Service Learning and Technical Communication: Benefits and Challenges." Technical Communication Quarterly 8:4 (Fall 1999), 383-404. Catherine's research has also been presented at CCCCs, the University of New Hampshire Writing Conference, the Rocky Mountain MLA, and the like. She has also been a freelance editor, a web content developer, and a content writer and editor. Please find Catherine's questions for discussion below. Catherine, take it away! Best wishes, Laura Questions for Discussion: *If you teach in a computer classroom, how have you, as a teacher, accounted pedagogically for differences in students' experiences with technology and their abilities to write with technology? *What advantages have you seen from the presence of computers in your classroom? What disadvantages have you seen? How have you negotiated these? *Stan and Collins surveyed instructors in computer classrooms and found that instructors reported that students who lacked typing skills were at a "decided disadvantage" and "fall way behind" (34). One instructor in their survey asked if word processing knowledge be a requirement for entry into a basic writing class held in a computer classroom. What do you think? *Selfe and Hawisher show that composition and technological literacy are necessarily connected, that computers are primarily used for literate practices. Given this reality, how do we provide students with the access they need to technology without further disadvantaging them? *How do you define "success" in your basic writing class? Do computers or technology fit within this definition? From joecatpavia@hotmail.com Mon Dec 11 03:10:56 2006 From: joecatpavia@hotmail.com (Joe and Catherine Pavia) Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 22:10:56 -0500 Subject: [Teaching_Basic_Writing] getting the discussion going Message-ID: Hello everyone, I know it's a busy time for all of you, but I'm going to try to get our discussion on computers, access, and basic writing going here. Everyone's probably accepting or getting ready to accept final papers from basic writing students, so let's apply computers/access to the final papers you're receiving: How much computer access or knowledge is required for your students to be successful with those final papers? Do you think all of your students have this access and knowledge? How much does computer use or knowledge have to do with your definition of students' being successful on this final paper? Looking forward to as much discussion as we can have until the break! Catherine _________________________________________________________________ MSN Shopping has everything on your holiday list. Get expert picks by style, age, and price. Try it! http://shopping.msn.com/content/shp/?ctId=8000,ptnrid=176,ptnrdata=200601&tcode=wlmtagline From Joanna.Howard@montgomerycollege.edu Mon Dec 11 06:29:10 2006 From: Joanna.Howard@montgomerycollege.edu (Howard, Joanna) Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 01:29:10 -0500 Subject: [Teaching_Basic_Writing] getting the discussion going Message-ID: <767E25E6EB68944981AA718B93201F800371F519@MCMAIL2.mcnte.mc.cc.md.us> Hi Catherine, Thank you for bringing up this topic for discussion. My students are busy working on their final portfolios and could probably give you an earful about using Zohowriter and Writely, both of which turned out to be a disappointment. However. . . Tomorrow, they'll be writing an in-class reflective essay on how they've changed as a student since September. They'll bring in rough outlines and type up a final draft which will demonstrate that they know how to use MS Word to open a new file, format, spellcheck (oh, but the homonyms!), look up words in the dictionary, cut and paste, and save. And, of course, print. My first response to the issue of access is that everyone has access and can't help but have access since not only do I teach in a computer classroom, but we are at a community college with computer labs everywhere. But, if a student is going through a very difficult time in her personal life, she may not be motivated or even able to get to school to use the computers. Other students have to go to work after my class, and so they don't have time to stick around. But the more mature students realize that they need to factor in free time at school before they head out to work. What they all have is a cell phone and the ability to program it, take photos, send IM's and read their email on it. Many of my students have MySpace or Facebook accounts. What fascinates me is that some students have no idea that the skills they've learned from these other technological devices and sites can be transferred to an academic document. Others have seized the opportunity to make good use of their phones--in particular, for a group project about they campus, they'd send out photographers to take pictures and bring back to the class. If someone was missing or took too long, they'd call them. So, yes, my students have access and the opportunity to acquire the knowledge if they don't already have it. Those who haven't grasped how to use MS Word or email are often the students who are having difficulty settling into college and are either sporadically absent and/or not paying attention. I have been spending much of this semester wondering about what, exactly is enough, too much or too little when it comes to using technology with Basic Writing classes. I look forward to hearing what the rest of you all think. Best, Joanna Howard Associate Professor of English Montgomery College, Rockville Rockville, MD ________________________________ From: teaching_basic_writing-admin@mailman.eppg.com on behalf of Joe and Catherine Pavia Sent: Sun 12/10/2006 10:10 PM To: teaching_basic_writing@mailman.eppg.com Subject: [Teaching_Basic_Writing] getting the discussion going Hello everyone, I know it's a busy time for all of you, but I'm going to try to get our discussion on computers, access, and basic writing going here. Everyone's probably accepting or getting ready to accept final papers from basic writing students, so let's apply computers/access to the final papers you're receiving: How much computer access or knowledge is required for your students to be successful with those final papers? Do you think all of your students have this access and knowledge? How much does computer use or knowledge have to do with your definition of students' being successful on this final paper? Looking forward to as much discussion as we can have until the break! Catherine _________________________________________________________________ MSN Shopping has everything on your holiday list. Get expert picks by style, age, and price. Try it! http://shopping.msn.com/content/shp/?ctId=8000,ptnrid=176,ptnrdata=200601&tcode=wlmtagline _______________________________________________ Teaching_Basic_Writing maillist - Teaching_Basic_Writing@mailman.eppg.com http://mailman.eppg.com/mailman/listinfo/teaching_basic_writing If you no longer wish to receive this mailing, please go to http://mailman.eppg.com/mailman/listinfo/teaching_basic_writing to updat your information. From joecatpavia@hotmail.com Wed Dec 13 03:45:32 2006 From: joecatpavia@hotmail.com (Joe and Catherine Pavia) Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 22:45:32 -0500 Subject: [Teaching_Basic_Writing] getting the discussion going In-Reply-To: <767E25E6EB68944981AA718B93201F800371F519@MCMAIL2.mcnte.mc.cc.md.us> Message-ID: Joanna, Your ending thought about what is too much, too little, or enough when it comes to using technology in basic writing classrooms is one I've thought a lot about as well. In fact, it's one of the questions that prompted my interest in this topic in the first place. Thanks for bringing it up. I used to have my students create Web pages as the publication venue for their final papers (this was 5 years ago, so technology has come a long way since then). In preparation for that, I taught them basic HTML and held evening workshops, and as a class we discussed some basic visual design principles. I found the same kind of situation occurring as I described in my module with something as basic as typing: there were students in my class who breezed through the assignment, but there were others who just did not have the history with computers--the experiences and home access to them--that other students had. Sure, they could come to the evening tutorials and open lab times, but that was requiring so much more time of them. They struggled, and I stopped trying to teach Web writing/design--I decided it added too much complexity to the writing process for some of my students and that technology, rather than writing, became the priority when I taught Web design--I didn't like that. I still don't think there is necessarily a "right" answer to this dilemma. How have you all made decisions about how much technology to include in your classes? One assignment that I have used to help me make decisions regarding technology use in the classroom is a technology narrative, which is one of the first assignments I give. Duffelmeyer and Moran both talk about their uses of technology narratives in separate articles. In their narratives, students write about their attitudes about technology; the influences of their parents, friends, teachers, schools, and society in general on their attitudes and uses of technology; and their individual histories with computers. Moran suggests that these technology autobiographies will not only help us learn about students’ connections, or lack thereof, to the technology we are asking them to use, but are also the first step in helping students become “reflective and critical users” of the technology (220). Technology narratives allow me to discover what students bring with them to writing and to computer use. I've used them to tailor my curriculum for different students and different classes. Joanna, your comment about students not realizing that they can transfer knowledge from one kind of literacy to classroom literacy and use of technology is interesting to me, mainly because in my research on multiple literacies, I argue that we should expand academic literacy by including elements of students' other literacies in the classroom. I believe in general that this will enrich academic literacy and made it more applicable to students' lives. But I just realized that when it comes to computer use in basic writing, I haven't continued with this--I've been arguing that we should keep our focus on academic writing. This gives me a lot to think about! Thanks for prompting that thought. Catherine >From: "Howard, Joanna" >To: "Joe and Catherine Pavia" , > >Subject: RE: [Teaching_Basic_Writing] getting the discussion going >Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 01:29:10 -0500 > >Hi Catherine, > >Thank you for bringing up this topic for discussion. My students are busy >working on their final portfolios and could probably give you an earful >about using Zohowriter and Writely, both of which turned out to be a >disappointment. However. . . > >Tomorrow, they'll be writing an in-class reflective essay on how they've >changed as a student since September. They'll bring in rough outlines and >type up a final draft which will demonstrate that they know how to use MS >Word to open a new file, format, spellcheck (oh, but the homonyms!), look >up words in the dictionary, cut and paste, and save. And, of course, >print. > >My first response to the issue of access is that everyone has access and >can't help but have access since not only do I teach in a computer >classroom, but we are at a community college with computer labs everywhere. > But, if a student is going through a very difficult time in her personal >life, she may not be motivated or even able to get to school to use the >computers. Other students have to go to work after my class, and so they >don't have time to stick around. But the more mature students realize that >they need to factor in free time at school before they head out to work. > >What they all have is a cell phone and the ability to program it, take >photos, send IM's and read their email on it. Many of my students have >MySpace or Facebook accounts. What fascinates me is that some students >have no idea that the skills they've learned from these other technological >devices and sites can be transferred to an academic document. Others have >seized the opportunity to make good use of their phones--in particular, for >a group project about they campus, they'd send out photographers to take >pictures and bring back to the class. If someone was missing or took too >long, they'd call them. > >So, yes, my students have access and the opportunity to acquire the >knowledge if they don't already have it. Those who haven't grasped how to >use MS Word or email are often the students who are having difficulty >settling into college and are either sporadically absent and/or not paying >attention. > >I have been spending much of this semester wondering about what, exactly is >enough, too much or too little when it comes to using technology with Basic >Writing classes. I look forward to hearing what the rest of you all think. > >Best, > >Joanna Howard >Associate Professor of English >Montgomery College, Rockville >Rockville, MD > >________________________________ > >From: teaching_basic_writing-admin@mailman.eppg.com on behalf of Joe and >Catherine Pavia >Sent: Sun 12/10/2006 10:10 PM >To: teaching_basic_writing@mailman.eppg.com >Subject: [Teaching_Basic_Writing] getting the discussion going > > > >Hello everyone, >I know it's a busy time for all of you, but I'm going to try to get our >discussion on computers, access, and basic writing going here. Everyone's >probably accepting or getting ready to accept final papers from basic >writing students, so let's apply computers/access to the final papers >you're >receiving: > >How much computer access or knowledge is required for your students to be >successful with those final papers? Do you think all of your students have >this access and knowledge? How much does computer use or knowledge have to >do with your definition of students' being successful on this final paper? > >Looking forward to as much discussion as we can have until the break! >Catherine > >_________________________________________________________________ >MSN Shopping has everything on your holiday list. Get expert picks by >style, >age, and price. Try it! >http://shopping.msn.com/content/shp/?ctId=8000,ptnrid=176,ptnrdata=200601&tcode=wlmtagline > >_______________________________________________ >Teaching_Basic_Writing maillist - Teaching_Basic_Writing@mailman.eppg.com >http://mailman.eppg.com/mailman/listinfo/teaching_basic_writing > >If you no longer wish to receive this mailing, please go to >http://mailman.eppg.com/mailman/listinfo/teaching_basic_writing to updat >your information. > > > >_______________________________________________ >Teaching_Basic_Writing maillist - Teaching_Basic_Writing@mailman.eppg.com >http://mailman.eppg.com/mailman/listinfo/teaching_basic_writing > >If you no longer wish to receive this mailing, please go to >http://mailman.eppg.com/mailman/listinfo/teaching_basic_writing to updat >your information. _________________________________________________________________ Visit MSN Holiday Challenge for your chance to win up to $50,000 in Holiday cash from MSN today! http://www.msnholidaychallenge.com/index.aspx?ocid=tagline&locale=en-us