[Teaching_Composition] Online Resources & Program Contraints

[Kristen Seas]

As we look to finishing up this month's thread on teacher preparation 
through online mentoring, Alexis and I would like to turn the list's 
attention to a couple of the broader programmatic concerns that 
correspond with the issues and solutions we've been talking about this 
month.

In our own program at Purdue, we have access to the technology we need 
because the professional writing program provides both the information 
management software and the server space. Thus our WPA in the 
composition program doesn't need to foot a bill for something else, as 
long as the peer administrators are volunteers. We've also been 
fortunate to have a WPA who is supportive of our project and willing to 
link the traditional practicum with the resource in some way. But we 
know this may not be the case for all programs.

So, even as you are busy finishing up your school years and enjoying the 
start of summer break, we'd like to hear your thoughts on the following:

    * How feasible is the use of (online) technology for instructor
      mentoring in other writing programs?

    * What sorts of financial and/or programmatic constraints are
      inhibiting the creation of more extensive teacher development
      programs? And what can be done to overcome them, particularly
      given the potential role of technology in pedagogical mentoring?


Thanks,
Kristen

Kristen Seas
PhD Candidate, English
Rhetoric & Composition
Purdue University
kseas@purdue.edu
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~kseas/



Kristen Seas wrote:
> I'd like to thank Doug for his response to my question of framing the 
> problem with his observation about the centrality of lore and its 
> distribution through an online forum. As with Alexis, I'm definitely 
> reconsidering the structure and purpose of COIN as a space for such 
> conversations, which would then be supplemented with the handouts, 
> lessons, etc. that flesh out the stories we tell.
>
> On the question of instructional ethos and the online adoption of 
> another's pedagogy, my question is: don't individual teachers end up 
> personalizing the ideas they borrow anyway? Or, put differently, 
> aren't our classroom's hybrids of various things we've learned as 
> students observing teachers, teachers talking to colleagues, or even 
> friends listening to peers? While contextualizing borrowed materials 
> and giving proper credit to their creators are important measures, 
> pedagogies must necessarily bear the mark of an instructor's own 
> personality. Indeed, isn't this process of adoption and adaptation 
> part of the reflective feedback loop that Doug was describing of 
> lore's integration into one's teaching? When we are mentored, we may 
> try to implement our mentor's suggestions and modify our strategies 
> accordingly, but due to the rhetorical specificity of each classroom 
> we can't help but alter those lessons, regardless of whether we fail 
> or succeed in our intent.
>
> Given this tendency in pedagogical development, could the online forum 
> - with it's combination of asynchronous lore and materials exchange - 
> actually allow greater freedom for instructional innovation and 
> kairotic application of ideas? This is certainly my attempt at an 
> optimistic view of online resources like COIN, but I'd have to agree 
> with Doug that such resources will work better for some than for 
> others. But at least if we engage each other through dialogue first, 
> as in the use of a blog space that approximates the f2f encounter, 
> then we can get a better sense of the idiosyncratic nature of 
> pedagogies and not falsely assume that a material dispensed online 
> will work for everyone all the time.
>
> Kristen
>
> Kristen Seas
> PhD Candidate, English
> Rhetoric & Composition
> Purdue University
> kseas@purdue.edu
> http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~kseas/
>
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