Results?

The results are coming in! I’ve got the “first draft” of my FYC students’ Research Paper coming in tomorrow. I’ve set it up this semester as an exercise, (read: a culminating of the semester exercise), in which they will, in effect, relive almost everything we’ve done all semester in three weeks in an “identify-your -writing process” type of session.  Online, they identify the parts of their process and comment on them: which ones they used, how they used them, I’m looking to see what the “repeating” of the exercises we’ve gone through (at least twice) will produce in the writing and revising of their papers.

Thinking aloud

I learned years ago from teachers repeating the same thing over and over again as they grilled me, “if you can’t define a word (off the top of your head), you don’t really know what it means.” I don’t buy all of that. We can know what something means in context but to be able to blurt out a dictionary definition is another thing. It makes me think of the learning a word example I mentioned before. Somewhere along the line, I’ve heard someone say that to have a word become a part of your working vocabulary, you must repeat it three times a day for 3-5 weeks. I wish I could find the original source and I mentioned that earlier in this very blog but springing off that idea, I feel you can know a process but without using it, the understanding you’ve gained to that point of using said process goes away. Use it or lose it. I’ve evolved my original P3 idea. Use it or lose it.  I asked them to list the exercises we’d done in just the last three classes and they came up with three of 11, only. Where’d the others go?  The “evolved” version of my “application” is to utilize and practice the parts of a writing process… a generalized writing process, using a generalized college research paper as the form we strive to create. I think I can construct a format for them to follow, in which I repeat some steps following the age-old writing process of pre-writing, drafting, revision, proof reading, and publishing and I can build in exercises to put these steps on the path to the 3 times a day for 3-5 weeks concept- that it will take to make these exercises part of their regular writing process (and vocabulary) before it goes away.

Essay heuristic

In my research to define essay, I found that originally it was a method of thinking about a subject and if I connect to this great word, heuristic, I can see a method of using this blog to think about my research into essay, viewed through the lenses of “multi-literacies” and “online literacy” as a heuristic and comment upon that investigational journey. I would be really tweaking my work on the P3, so far – as I’m investigating how an online exercise would help my FYC students’ transformation of knowledge and transference of skills learned in my classroom, onto the pages of their research paper. How do I think about how whatever I discover might be interpreted towards my thinking about essay? Well, first I must document and interpret the information I get from my students’ work online. The idea is to use this stream as a thinking aloud tool from which I hope to learn.

I’m working with the discovery that my students’ process information from my showing them how to do things and then assigning them activities that exercise these things I’ve shown them - into their papers. Another discovery is in how they don’t process this same information when only told how to do the same things (they’ve already done at least once )- into their papers. I don’t know why they haven’t processed it. Is it that they don’t understand it? Or is it that they’ve chosen not to process the information into their papers? This exercise online will document what they have actually processed and then I can compare that to their papers and see if they’ve done the work. I have to find a better way to explain what I mean in this phrase: “process into their papers.”

Engaged Thursday

Engaged my Thursday classes in active discussion about their papers, set the stage to enable similar discussion on an online medium in Google Docs to begin this weekend. Took their temperatures on the upcoming experience. They are anxious and insecure about what they “have to do.”  I presented it as a read and respond activity. I’m aiming to see what they retain from classroom discussions. Can they express it? Will they express it on Google Docs? I’m going to start with a simple call and response regimen. Mostly, I aim to ask what they thought of various things and slowly work into how they understood other things/concepts I’ve talked about and activities they’ve done in class. I’m hoping to engage them in that and work them up to discussing things among themselves on the online forum. I hope to use the semi-anonymous status of the web commenting to have this online experience serve them. I wonder if I should hide their identification from one another.  

new stream: P1 stream as a writing tool for thinking (about P3)

As I’m working with the Google Docs assignment (P3) for my students, I have to balance my expectations, anticipations and what I hope they’ll do with the natural human tendencies to avoid work and to do only the minimum amount of work so as not to affect the grade they want. I am curious to see if I can engage them enough to do all the (best practices) things they need to do to produce this last research paper. I’m working on the basic steps in class and assigning them homework to do and the Google Docs is designed to monitor with what they are engaging, if any thing… and a reiteration of the work, if you will. I read somewhere that in order to make a word part of your regular working vocabulary you must use it three times a day (in some way) for 3-5 weeks. I can’t find the exact numbers or the source but, I’m going to presume the concept is basically true. So, I’m adding in another use of these types of “writing process” composing practices exercises I put them through in class through the Google Docs assignment… while I add to their digital literacy through working time online with annotating, commentating, commenting and reflection.

This past week, we’ve worked on brainstorming techniques on lists of: topics, supporting and opposing points, and personal connections to their topics. Also we worked on various pre-writing brainstorming exercises to begin to discover and to think about ideas for the paper, and ways to organize the ideas, specifically mapping and outlining. We worked on collaboration in teams to brainstorm together to add to these lists. We worked on a class participation brainstorm session, modeling a brainstorming session of a general topic (free bottles of Dasani water on campus) and created lists together, writing them on the chalk board.

sAy what?

Peterson’s piece opens the conversation about distance learning. I’m with her on the issue of bundling, especially when combined with the issue that students and teachers are not meeting in the same space. The effectiveness of a teacher to meet the needs of a specific student in a specific coursework would seem to depend upon the familiarity of the teacher to the material and if she hadn’t written the course, then there would be a level of inefficiency in connecting the material to the student. In other words, how could the teacher adjust? Could she adjust the teaching/ the technique to meet the prescribed outcome? A great familiarity of the material, no matter the author would render this issue moot, I suppose. Another part of this conversation might be rendered moot by making the online teaching done synchronously via a medium like Skype. 
A big issue, beyond the content in the Peterson piece (touched on but not too much) is that all the communication between the teacher and student is all written. Their communication depends upon precision of the intercourse. One try gets one answer. It’s like it is all carved in stone. Let me try again. If I write one thing and the student understands it as something other than what I meant, we’re lost. And verse vice-a.  

Order up! one online research with everything, please

How do we evaluate sources through the internet noise? It has everything on there! The “Web Literacy: Challenges…” piece identifies that “…web sites advocate, sell, entertain, opine, and present research and some sites try to do it all" (333). So how do we teach our charges to wade through this noise?

My use of internet research comes with years and years of filtering through the noise from the information highway originating from before even the online web experience was invented. My thinking always comes with a “where do you get that information” evaluation. I rarely thought (consciously) of myself making that evaluation until after I entered university study and found I had to make that determination daily in my reading, researching and writing. I suspect most of us in post-graduate work have always done this type of inquiry on some level whether we knew it or not and I bet a lesser number of those with no college background probably make the same kind of evaluation as a matter of habit. It would be interesting to track that habit. But, how do we teach our charges to wade through this noise? “Assessing the value of information…leads naturally to a critical approach to the Web… (348)” and seems to be a good place to start to address this need.  

assessment me

I've got dozens of my email correspondance with my students, in which I'm building toward this concept of an online interaction - the email is working but without permission yet, can't post but 

As I’m reading and thinking about assessment, I reflect upon my own efforts teaching writing: In assessing my own efforts and the subsequent outcomes. Specifically one such cause and effect: my students’ resistance to my teaching them to think and write analytically.  

I tell them each of my lessons leads to the next and we will leave nothing behind as we go through the semester but that seems to fall on deaf ears as we go from one paper to the next. One such example, I conducted an in-class writing on two days in a row, in which I got them to pick a topic they knew and cared a lot about and to write on it. It produced 300-750 words from each of them. I told them to use the results in their next paper. Almost to a person, they disregarded the in-class results and chose another topic to write about for the next paper- the persuasive essay, in which they were to argue for something they believed in. At the end of the persuasive essay lessons, I connected that paper to the next one, the big college paper- the research paper. I demonstrated how to build from their (already written) persuasive essay into the processes of research and told them that both of the assignments: persuasive essay and research paper are connected. The first is a practice run and that they would learn much about how to construct the other from it. What they learned on the first helps (and saves time) on the second.  I reminded them that all of my assignments are connected, one to the next. They were told to finish revising the persuasive paper using steps I’d specifically constructed in revision of the persuasive essay into a research paper and in class, I had them write in many different ways – passages and outlines and pre-writing exercises to set up and revise the persuasive into research paper. Most ignored the content and ideas they’d created even on the persuasive revision and none evolved their persuasive into their research with the content that’d been created through exercises- for them. It occurs to me through assessing my results from my efforts that the connection between these two papers’ construction, must not be clear to them – they cannot see how to transform any knowledge from one to the other. Are they aware of gaining any knowledge? Can I help them to connect it through some kind of online reflection medium?

I’ve been thinking about this since I’ve been teaching FYC, jockeying around with a paper on it, missing so far is the assessment literature review and this week’s readings help me put it into words. The Learning Record writes, “Teachers and students work together to document and interpret evidence of student learning, based on criteria and standards established by the teacher and reflecting the collective understanding of what disciplines, fields of study, and departments believe students should know and know how to do.” Hawisher and Selfe suggest I “assess ways in which computer technology could affect my strategies for working with students.”  I’m liking the idea I have to use Google Docs' online document sharing in which my students can work together in some kind of evaluation format of the day-to-day note-taking.  I can start them off and they can build from there.

sEaRch

It is interesting how the activity of search engines that are built into other applications seem to be more than simply intrusive. Facebook “suggests” friends, and matches ads to my profile content and to my friends’ content and to my friends’ friends content and to my searches within the entire Facebook platform. You actually have to “opt out” to stop that cookie from connecting. LinkIn matches members to me, suggesting, suggesting. Classmates continually asks their users to view who “signed” their guestbook, using “signed” to signify a mere “visit” to their profile (unless opted-out), sending emailed reminders of search results, the reminders progressing  exponentially month by month to non-premium-services’ subscribers. Any user can be a member but must upgrade to “see” who “viewed” their profile listing as reported by their search. AOL’s search engine saves and shares their users' searches (for cash money). And then there’s Google leading the way with all these intrusive techniques. Would you be surprised to discover that a special “clean” building was built in San Diego to house the servers and computers that Homeland Security uses to track ALL cell phone calls and ALL emails sent from and received in the USA? It is rumored that the Google algorithm was adapted to track certain combinations of keywords within each email and cell phone call in order to identify whomever they wanted to identify. This week’s key words are Charlie Sheen and Winning, last week’s were White+House, and bomb. I have no verification of this urban myth (other than to reference the Executive Order that Bush signed authorizing a type of this surveillance designed to ferret out terrorists –see text, below). It would require just such a search engine to search a database such as would be produced from this type of massive surveillance- and admit it- you can believe it is possible just from the knowledge gained from merely reading Halavais’ book.

President Bush issued an Executive Order shortly

after the terrorist attacks of September

11, 2001, authorizing Keith Alexander,

head of the NSA to engage in the

warrantless wiretapping of international

telephone, cell phone, email, and

internet based conversations with at

least one of the participant’s side of

the conversation originating outside of

the USA. But, whoops! a glitch caused

the system to record an undisclosed

number (shhh it’s classified!) of such

conversations of United States citizens,

in which all participants’ participation

originated on US soil. We have the 
requisite tools, why not just listen in?

emailed excuse

I’ve begun a new teaching technique this semester to put online platforms in practice for my FYC classrooms. I’m beginning simply with the email and by sending MS Word files through email. I send an email note (with or without a connected file)- the contents of which are intended to be my student’s reminder system (and my documentation of my teaching process). I write them all but if someone sends me a question asking for clarification on an assignment or an exercise I’ve asked them to do, I send the answer to all members of all 3 of my classes – in the form of the summary of what I actually said in explaining it initially in class. If there is a question about anything I’ve covered in the previous meeting, I send my lecture notes simplified for their perusal. I’m writing and keeping these things in conjunction with my research into my classroom activity in order to track with the subsequent results. I hope they don’t figure it out that a question produces a classroom session summary and begin to skip class. Note: A glitch showed up this morning in my email sending and receiving process. Apparently, something happens out there in the ether, in which the information about an assignment that I send comes back in the form of an assignment that is different than the one I requested. Either that or perhaps they believe if one changes the name of the assignment to match what one actually did, then that is close enough to doing the actual assignment without doing the actual assignment. So many give the same answer when I ask about it, “at least I turned something in.” I am interested in continual access to their process. I bang out a quick return email with the appropriate explanation. It’s like a class information search machine. Pose a question, a deficit = get an answer. Maybe why so many say they can’t properly access their email. Just a thought.

I don't Know, you look.

It’s a curious stage of my FYC classroom activity when students’ questions are not about the writing but about what they don’t understand about their computer interaction. Just today I heard these issues: “I am not MS Word literate, It took me four hours to write this last paper,” (one annotated bibliography listing), “I can’t figure out the (Purdue) OWL website,” “It asks me to sign in to the library from home, I can’t get on,” “I didn’t read your email, I was in class(said at 130pm about an 8am email), “I don’t use the school email and I can’t figure out how to transfer it,” “(at home) my school account won’t let me sign on,” “I don’t know how to get my bibliography to look like the MLA format,” “I don’t know how to change the font,” “If I can look up an author online, is it a good source?” and more that I can’t remember right now.  This is on top of last week’s 90 minute exercise to go into a library to do a preliminary search on a topic of their choice, after 3 different demonstrations in the search function of our library’s collection of books, each demo done online in my classroom projected on the big screen. Yet, half merely walked up to the librarian and asked him/her to show them how to use the computer and search a topic. Was it a reticence to explore or did the new info not register or was it merely laziness? Or maybe it was an aversion or fear of the computer. Or something else? These folks all have computers at home, I think, so it can't be a computer-aversion. They usually tell me if they don’t have one and I haven't heard that so far. But something stopped them from melding easily with that new task. I get that maybe it is like looking up a word you don’t know how to spell, like you need to know how to spell it to look it up – search functions on computers often yield no help (and no results) unless you know exactly what question to ask. Is it in the politics of the computer? I know it is in the algorithm. That’s a starting place to investigate.

Tuesday 15 February 2010 DL

-1 Open browser.

-2 Go to youtube

-3 Enter my name and what I did for a living (until recently)

Hint: (figure it out among yourselves)

-4 search that phrase

-5 Click on the top one –says:  B B C Michigan

-6 pause the video

-7 read and follow the directions listed in the comments

Hint: (open another browser window)

3 hours and i'm starting to get some more...

Organization of one online medium looks the same in my mind as another. I suppose, with what you aren’t familiar with, it all looks the same. So far this semester, I look at these and familiarize myself somewhat and then next visit – I’m lost again. I’ve taken plenty of notes in a few places to help me remember what I’ve learned and where I’ve been to help me back and it will build from there. It didn’t help that last week I’d lost all my notes from this semester so far. They were in a notebook. Turns out it was mis-labled. I blame it on the Prey-Harrold move.

          I’ll elaborate in a commentary on an older technology. Last semester’s class with Bernie Miller (ENGL 503) was in a classroom in the Porter Building that had half-desks tilted at such an angle that without a hand holding it down, any book would slide off the desk. And they were only a half desk at that!  I like the double-page note-taking system in which I write note in a loose leaf binder. On the right I write lecture notes and on the left (which is actually a back- page), I write annotations to my notes and lecture and comments. I couldn’t manage the loose left binder on those tilted half-desks (only half the binder fit!) so I switched to a spiral notebook after two classes and flipped the notebook from front to back as the classes progressed, it was quite a headache.

So, I’ve got this (set-aside) loose leaf notebook (incorrectly) labeled 503 on the spine sitting in my “active” notebooks shelving area IN ERROR because I’m accessing the Rhetorical Theory in the Teaching of Writing for my PhD research and I left it out rather than filing it. (I’ve actually consulted a Master Archivist about my records management …my daughter-  hee hee.) Without noticing, I’d started my notes for ENGL 516 inside this notebook, usually sitting out (and open)  on its specific table study area and somehow slipped it onto the “active” notebooks shelving area at the front of my main desk. So when I looked for it- my eyes glanced over a notebook labeled 503 and thought it was just “out” to be easily accessed when I wanted to.  Ten days it took to go through everything “out” to find it- sadly I hadn’t needed to access Rhetoric in the meantime. You guessed it- now where is the real engl 503 notebook?  

BUILDING LINKS -->

http://www.derekmueller.net/rc/teaching/engl516/5161.html

                go to “accounts” to see other classmates’ P1 pages/media choices

Google acct:  billbarrstudent@gmail

                Access: “Documents”

                                And email FROM CLASS / DEREK

                                Gmail

                                Google Reader (to see “shared files)

Diigo acct: billbarrstudent

Delicious acct:     to be set up (I swear I set one up- can’t find it tho)          

(use for academic links- straddling TOW and PhD research – situating 516 w/in it)

BLOGS à

516: After sign in to google AS billbarrstudent- then sign in to:

 http://www.blogger.com

Y I Missed Class

Are you guys lucky it snowed! I was sick as a dog but I would've come to class but add snow to my drive and I bailed...figuratively speaking, of course. Had I come to class, I’m sure most of you would be sick today and you don’t want no part of what I had. Blah! I didn’t feel normal until Sunday morning (yesterday). They say flu comes on suddenly but I had no idea and gastro-intestinal episode trauma is an understatement. I felt like one of those bodies described by Remarque hanging out on the wire. Is it from this suspended position in which I entered the technology- zone. I am technology-literate-ish. The different forms listed on the EnGL 516 – hub page are mostly unknown to my understanding. Some are incomprehensible but some others, I’ve heard tell but sans master ability. Most = no interaction. I like Kevin Kelly’s etymology-esk dance with the origin of the word technology. Techne and logos. Ancient Greek and specifically Aristotle. I’m digging his website. Already sent some passages to a friend. For his edification. Educationally, speaking.   
I am investigating essay in my research and creatively trying to construct metadiscourse that immerses the reader in what I’m reading so it both discusses it and "does" it/ demonstrates it as it discusses it. I once created a stream of writing that was about a trip down a river featuring two young protagonists. This ran in our own Eastern Echo [student newspaper, doncha know(?)] and online, posted on FaceBook. Readers could write in via email or post comments on FaceBook, suggesting possible directions for the serial story to proceed. It ran for eleven weeks, about 17,000 words and connected to a handful of readers from universities around the country. This was back (at the tail-end of the period) when you needed a university email address to be on FaceBook. My daughter had to post the episodes for me and send notices each week that the new episode was up. “Up where?,” I’d ask, semi-facetiously. I still want to know, “where?” when I interact online. Today, I went to one of the sites listed on the class “hub” page and up sprang a message, “Our server has detected that you are attempting to view our site with an old flea-bitten mother father of a browser” …or some such thing, (I don’t remember the verbiage verbatim)  and I was instructed to download a new browser. I remarked into the ether, “Micosoft Internet-flippin- Explorer came on my first PC, ‘s been in my family for years, inherited from my grandfather, probably kept Civil War data, ol' 486, running 2 Ram, 85 K hard drive. All I had to do was double the ram to 4, the HD to 150, upgrade to Windows 95 and add a 28k dial-up modem and it only cost me $650 and I cruised the internet quick as a wink (though I could brew a cup of tea while each page loaded) and I’m not switching to any newfangled browser.” So, I couldn’t view those pages. But, I’m here! Lookin’ and loadin’! …and raring to go!