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Networked Pedagogies: Opensourcing the Writing Classroom 
06.18.2005, 4:45 PM
Penn State has initiated a pilot program of 10 wiki-based composition classes. Richard Doyle, Jeff Pruchnic, and Trey Conner, instructors in the pilot-program discussed their experiences this morning at the Computers & Writing Conference in Stanford. They found that students produce better work in a peer-reviewed environment. Grammar and mechanics are contextualized and there is greater motivation to create error-free work. Students read each other's work, which forces them to consider their arguments carefully in order to avoid repeating someone else's point.
They also found that the self-governing ecology of the networked wiki format creates a fruitful environment for discussion and debate. The wiki places control over the direction and duration of the discussion into the student's hands. Richard Doyle also pointed out that there has not been a single editing war in the years that he has been teaching the course. He attributes the lack of unproductive "flame wars" to the amount of work his students have. Each student produces about 100 pages of material and must read, comment on, and GRADE their fellow students' work. This is a learner-centered environment where, as Richard Doyle puts it, "the teacher acts as coach or zen master, making periodic interventions." Doyle also points out that in these wiki-based courses, "students are learning how to interact in an information dense environment responsibly. They are being trained to deal with the fluid environments they are going to find themselves in."
Posted by Kim White at June 18, 2005 04:45 PM
tags: Education, conferences_and_excursions
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