the month of June

I spent the morning kicking around the web through a variety of websites, google searches, JSTOR articles, compfaq and CompPile searches, etc. in search of some specifics on online/virtual/electronic peer review (or writing workshops). I spent about an hour and a half. It was an exhausting search and didn’t yield the kind of results I was hoping for: suggestions for specific technology, logistics, results. From the tidbits I was able to find, I learned that research favors asynchronous over synchronous peer review. This is making me re-think my original idea, which was to use chatzy, in favor of using wikis. Still, I haven’t quite figured out exactly how I am going to do this: have students post a page that is their essay, and then use the discussion section to answer workshop directing questions? Should students be able (in true wiki) fashion to intervene in the original text? My impulse is to say yes, as the author can view the history of changes, but what are the drawbacks to this idea? I’d definitely like to do more reading about this. I’ve gone ahead and ordered myself the book Virtual Peer Review: Teaching and Learning about Writing in Online Environments, despite it being in hardcover and way to much money for me too be spending right now.

In my online travels I also came across some references to designing hybrid courses, so I’d like to look further into those as well.

Do NOT assume that just because you’ve been assigned a hybrid course of which one credit is digital that you’ll be assigned to a computer classroom that allows you to teach the technology necessary to making the digital aspect possible. Such assumptions will hurt you, when, a week before classes start you suddenly check the classroom space and see rows of tables as opposed to computers, and you nearly have a heart attack. These are things you need to ask for and agressively pursue. Please remember this in the future.

I spent yesterday afternoon and this morning toying around with ideas for how I want to integrate RSS into my classes this Fall. All three of the classes I’m teaching are hybrids — a new idea that CSR is working with that has one credit of a four-credit course as a digital credit. In some ways I’ll just be doing what I’ve been doing — having students blog, work with wikis, etc. — only I’ll be able to have that extra credit hour a week to work in these digital arenas as opposed to doing it on top of all the traditional f2f reading and writing that goes on in the classroom. I’m also hoping that students won’t be quite as shocked by and resistant to the online work now that it is “officially” a part of the class (though I’ve always included it in my course descriptions, students have always expressed surprise over the required blogging).

Over the past couple of semesters, I’ve experimented with different approaches to teaching students RSS. First semester we used flock. Second semester I had them use google reader. My concern is that students aren’t checking their readers regularly. This is most important in terms of the class blog, because that is the space with the greatest number of updates and the material pertains to class, assignments, etc. For reading the blogs of their peers, it’s okay to sit down when they’re ready to comment, login to google reader, and start flipping through posts (although my problem with this is that it isn’t the best way to really learn RSS and see the ways in which it can help manage all the web-based content out there).

So recently I’ve decided to take a bit more seriously the claim about email being for old people. Last week I was teaching a group of students between ninth and tenth grade as part of a program called Summerbridge (Philadelphia). We had a sesssion where we met with some admissions counselors, one of whom started talking to the kids about how they tend to communicate. I was actually surprised that all nineteen of the students present have a myspace/facebook account (they seemed so very young to me). Anyhow, the conversation led me to think about ways to integrate RSS with myspace/facebook as part of my upcoming hybrid classes — with the thought that since these are the spaces that students visit each day, then these are the spaces in which to incorporate any class announcements or updates. The question left ahead of me: How?

For myspace I chose the SpringWidgets RSS reader (widget). And for facebook I finally found the application, myRSS, for feed subscriptions. I think these will work well for staying abrest of the class blog updates (for those who have myspace/facebook accounts). The questions I’m left with: Are these widgets/applications the best way to utilize RSS? Probably not. Are they appropriate for keeping the subscriptions to all of their classmates’ blogs? Probably not. What about students who don’t have a myspace or facebook?

Ultimately, I think I will have them use google reader as a supplement to these additions on their social networking site of choice. I don’t want any of this to seem too cumbersome, because I really want students to see the ways in which RSS can help make their learning, researching, etc. processes more effective and efficient (and more interesting and diverse to some extent). For now I’ll continue to play around with various ideas, and on the first day of class, I’ll really need to get a sense of how many students have these accounts (and utilize them regularly) that will certainly affect and direct my thinking and practice in terms of RSS (and other digital practices) for this Fall semester.

Yesterday, I stayed in bed, drinking tea and watching Zizek. I called it work.

Last week we saw Once. I was truly taken with this movie. I think I’ve thought about it every day since I’ve seen it. The film is so completely driven by music that D and I could sing the songs upon exiting the theater (which we did). I believe that I keep thinking about it because of how much was kept from the viewer, how much was held back. But Daynah Burnett’s review for PopMatters explains it better than I can:

Still, and even though its ethos is decidedly bohemian, the film never lapses into romantic idealism. At no point do the leads make you swoon or root too hard for their union. Rather, they hold so much back from themselves and each other, it’s as though as you don’t know them, but only glimpsed them in passing.

This summer we’ve also seen Waitress, which is tough to watch without thinking about the murder of writer, director, acctress Adrienne Shelly. And Knocked Up — hil-arious.

We also watched Lovely and Amazing, which I had never seen. I liked it — better than Friends with Money (both from Nicole Holofcener).

national grid has been working on our street since early May (maybe it was late April?). By “working” I mean digging up the street, dumping pounds of gravel in front of our houses, spray painting our sidewalks and lawns, drilling holes, letting their noisy trucks run all day long, asking to get into our basements, and just generally being loud and disruptive. I’m not exactly sure what they are doing, but they describe it as “upgrading the natural gas infrastructure in your neighborhood.” From what I can tell, this involves changing the gas lines in a way that gives national grid access to our gas lines outside of our houses (as opposed to inside). While there is no mention of this being “experimental,” so far we are the only street (as far as I can tell) to have this work being done. Now, mind you, our street has somewhere around twenty-five houses total. Please note that they have been here since April. How, I wonder, do they intend to do this “infrastructure upgrade” to the entire city? By what year do they expect to finish? But that, of course, is not my headache — that one is theirs. My headache has to do with the fact that I listen to this racket day in and day out as I am trying, TRYING to work. Yes, some days I leave and work elsewhere, but I don’t like being forced to leave my house simply because I can’t hear myself think. Not to mention that for about a month and half I had to be guided out of my driveway by the work crew, as on one side of the driveway was a giant hole (that a national grid truck had fallen into, creating an even bigger hole) and on the other was always an eclectic array of gravel, tractors, trucks, orange cones, and the like. Right now all of this drives me particularly crazy because I have only one hour before I have to get ready for an appointment. An hour isn’t enough time to really travel somewhere to work, but it is certainly enough time to work from home. If only…if only that jackhammer would stfu (I have no idea if that is really an acronym that anyone actually uses, but I just did).

Naturally this is the first summer ever that I’ve taken off time from teaching to write and research. Of course.

Well, it feels kinda good to write about it. I haven’t been blogging much with the exception of posting bits and pieces of research project, as I attempt to design it. Ranting through writing = good outlet.

Right now it seems that my research question is: What is my research question? It’s maddening.

I’m struggling with it, but this is what I have so far (as with all my work thus far — special shout out to my friend Kate for looking over all the first attempts, so that my web persona can be just the tiniest bit less vulnerable):

1. To what extent are faculty and students aware of the options available when choosing instructional technology and of the long-term cost considerations (fiscal, ethical, ideological, and otherwise) involved in adopting software for use in higher education?
a. What are the options and alternatives (particularly in terms of proprietary software options in contrast to open source models) available to faculty and administration when choosing instructional technology software such as course management systems (CMS), ePortfolio programs, and assessment software?
b. What are the fiscal, pedagogical, and ideological factors involved in the decision making processes on the part of faculty staff and administration when choosing software for their institution?
c. What are the ethical and political implications (if any) that influence the decisions made by faculty, staff, and administration when purchasing and utilizing proprietary software?

The first question I see as a kind of overarching question of the project. The sub-questions seem to actually be the questions that would have to come first. If that makes any sense at all. (Once again, I’m a bit too close to tell at this point). The other thing I’m stuggling with are the nuances between ideological and political and ethical (and even then, I guess, fiscal and pedagogical since those are both political and ideological…and…sigh). This part feels unruly to me right now. I’m still working it all out, but feedback is welcome. I should just make this a workshopping blog.

Here is a draft of the survey that I will give to a random selection of students enrolled in writing classes at each of the three chosen area colleges. It is similar the faculty survey that I posted the other day. Feedback is welcome!!!

SURVEY FOR STUDENTS (in writing classes)

The following survey is designed to gather information about the extent to which instructors and students are informed about the course management software (CMS) available to them as a technological aid in their courses. In gathering feedback from instructors and students regarding their knowledge about these programs and their awareness of possible alternatives, I hope to better understand the kinds of decision making processes that are involved in attaining these programs for use in higher education and in writing classes in particular.

Participation is entirely voluntary, and you may choose to leave the study at any time without consequence. All information obtained from this study is strictly confidential.

The survey is brief and should take only ten to fifteen minutes of your time. Thank you for your participation!

Please circle the appropriate answer. If you choose other, please specify.

1. You are enrolled at a:
a. Four year state university
b. Small, private four year liberal arts college
c. County community college (part of the state system)

2. What year are you?
a. First year
b. Second year
c. Third year
d. Fourth year
e. Fifth year
f. Non-matriculated

3. Describe your relationship to technology:
a. Innovator – I program/design my own software
b. Early-adopter – I am always one of the first to have the latest gadgets, games, software, etc.
c. I have used a computer since I was very young and understand its functions quite well
d. I use a computer to go online, instant messaging, and basic word processing
e. I primarily use(d) a computer for school purposes but not at home and not for much more than basic word processing
f. Feel a lack of knowledge about technology and therefore tend not to use it

4. What course management software (CMS) have you used during your time at this college? Circle all that apply.
a. BlackBoard
b. WebCT
c. Angel
d. Moodle
e. Sakai
f. A program designed by your instructor
g. A website designed by your instructor
h. A class blog
i. A software program designed and built by your institution
j. None
k. Don’t know
l. Other_________________

5. What course management software (CMS) does this class use?
m. BlackBoard
n. WebCT
o. Angel
p. Moodle
q. Sakai
r. A program your instructor designed
s. A website designed by your instructor
t. A class blog
u. A software program designed and built by your institution
v. None
w. Don’t know
x. Other_________________

6. If you chose none AND have experience using a CMS for a different course, can you please comment on the difference(s) between a course utilizing a CMS and the one that doesn’t:

If this course is NOT using a CMS, please go to questions 11 – 13.

7. Which functions do you use most often? (number in order of use with one being the feature most frequently used; please put zero if you don’t utilize the function at all)
a. My Grades ___
b. Online text/quiz ___
c. Discussion/chat ___
d. E-mail ___
e. Accessing lecture notes ___
f. Checking course announcements ___
g. Accessing course documents ___
h. Journal/Blog ___
i. Collaboration/Wiki ___
j. Other ___________________ ___

8. If the CMS has given you technological problems, have you utilized the college’s technology support?
a. Yes
b. No
c. I have not had problems with this program
If you answered “yes,” were they able to help you with your problem?
a. Yes
b. No

9. Overall, do you consider this program to be a tool that helps you with your writing?
1 2 3 4 5
not at all very much so

10. Do you find the interface easy to use?
1 2 3 4 5
difficult easy to use very easy to use

11. Do you think you write more in a class that uses a CMS (including e-mails, chat, posting messages/discussion, etc.) than one that doesn’t? Please rate on a scale from one to five with one being much less to five being much more.
1 2 3 4 5
much less about the same much more

12. Your institution’s CMS costs approximately how much per year?
a. $3,000 – 10,000
b. $10,000 – 20,000
c. $20,000 – 40,000
d. $40,000 – $60,000
e. $60,000 – 75,000
f. more than $75,000
g. I don’t know

13. To what extent are you familiar with open source e-learning or CMS platforms (such as Moodle or Sakai)? Please rate your familiarity on a scale of one to five with one being not familiar at all to five constituting a solid understanding of open source models:

1 2 3 4 5

14. Please elaborate on any questions above that you felt were limiting:

Here is a draft of the survey I am working on to give to faculty at the three colleges I’ve chosen to focus on. Who knew that it is so freakin’ difficult to design a survey!?!? I, for one, had NO idea. Until now. So, if you’ve never actually designed a survey, please refrain from casting stones (or, for that matter, please refrain regardless of your survey-making status), but I am open to suggestions. If you could ask a question to faculty regarding their CMS use, what would you ask???

SURVEY FOR FACULTY

The following survey is designed to gather information about the extent to which instructors and students are informed about the course management software (CMS) available to them as a technological aid in their courses. In gathering feedback from instructors and students regarding their knowledge about these programs and their awareness of possible alternatives, I hope to better understand the kinds of decision making processes that are involved in attaining these programs for use in higher education and in writing classes in particular.

Participation is entirely voluntary, and you may choose to leave the study at any time without consequence. All information obtained from this study is strictly confidential.

The survey is brief and should take only five to ten minutes of your time. Thank you for your participation!

Please circle the appropriate answer. If you choose other, please specify.

You are teaching at a:
a. Four year state university
b. Small, private four year liberal arts college
c. County community college (part of the state system)

What course(s) do you primarily teach?
a. First year writing
b. Other (than first year) writing courses
c. Literature courses
d. Other________________

What is your employment status?
a. Full-time tenured faculty
b. Full-time contract faculty
c. Part-time/adjunct faculty
d. TA/GA

Describe your relationship to technology:
a. Innovator
b. Early-adopter
c. Tend to adopt technology when it becomes the norm and have a good grasp of how to make it work for you
d. Tend to adopt technology when it becomes the norm, but skeptical of it
e. Tend to adopt technology when it becomes the norm, but unsure of how best to use it
f. Feel a lack of knowledge about technology and therefore tend not to use it
g. Do not see its role in the classroom

What Course Management Software (CMS) do you use?
a. BlackBoard
b. WebCT
c. Angel
d. Moodle
e. Sakai
f. A program you’ve designed
g. Your own website
h. A class blog
i. A software program designed and built by your institution
j. None
k. Other_________________

If you chose none, please describe your reasons for not utilizing a CMS: _______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

If you are not using a CMS, the survey is completed. Thank you for your participation. Those of you using a CMS, please move on to the following questions:

Which of the following most closely describes your reason for choosing this particular program?
a. I wasn’t aware of other options
b. This is the standard at my institution
c. My institution requires I use this program
d. My institution strongly encourages me to use this program
e. I prefer this program to others
f. Ease of use
g. Other_____________________________________________________________

If you choose to use a CMS that is not the institution’s standard version, are you given technological support if and when needed?
a. Yes
b. No

Which functions do you use most often? (number in order of use with one being the feature most frequently used; please put zero if you don’t utilize the function at all)
a. Gradebook ___
b. Online text/quiz ___
c. Discussion/chat ___
d. E-mail ___
e. Posting lecture notes ___
f. Announcements ___
g. Course documents ___
h. Journal/Blog ___
i. Collaboration/Wiki ___
j. Other ___________________ ___

Overall, do you find your pedagogical practices to be well supported by the CMS features available to you? Please rate on a scale from one to five with one indicating that the program does not enable you to enact your pedagogical practices and five indicating that the tool actually makes your pedagogy more effective:

1 2 3 4 5

If you answered with a one or a two, please describe what features or options would better enable you to enact your pedagogy:

Regardless of whether you use your institution’s standard CMS, please answer the following questions to the best of your ability:

Were you involved in deciding whether or not the school should purchase this particular software?
a. Yes, I sat on a committee
b. Yes, I was asked to vote or give input to the committee
c. No, the software was already in place when I came here
d. No

Are you aware of who ultimately made the decision on your institution’s standard CMS?
a. Yes, administration decided
b. Yes, it was the vote of a committee
c. Yes, information technology or educational technology services decided
d. No, I’m not sure

Your institution’s CMS costs approximately how much per year?
a. $3,000 – 10,000
b. $10,000 – 20,000
c. $20,000 – 40,000
d. $40,000 – $60,000
e. $60,000 – 75,000
f. more than $75,000

To what extent are you familiar with open source e-learning or CMS platforms (such as Moodle or Sakai)? Please rate your familiarity on a scale of one to five with one being not familiar at all to five constituting a solid understanding of open source models:

1 2 3 4 5

Do you use your CMS in any way as a tool to aid in student writing? If so, describe how you use this product.

Please elaborate on any questions above that you felt were limiting:

In her (now outdated, but interestingly not really so much…) essay , “Ideology, Technology, and the Future of Writing Instruction,” Nancy Kaplan points to some gaps in research around pedaogical tools such as textbooks and technology. On pgs. 13-14 Kaplan notes that no empirical studies “assess the textbook as pedagogic delivery system, let alone analyze its ideological implications” (emphasis mine), and studies of computer writing tools have tended to focus on effects of the computer or word processing program on the cognitive processes of the writer as opposed to focusing on the ideological nature of the technology itself. My project is less interested in the effects and effectiveness (or not) of electronic writing tools and more interested in the process by which we come to decide on particular versions of software. I might touch upon the effectiveness (or not) of these pedagogical tools — especially if and when I might make a case for alternatives — but overall I am more interested in getting at the considerations, awareness, conversations (or lack thereof) that go on around what is at stake (and for me this means what is at stakes in terms of corporate capitalism and its hold on higher education) when we make these choices.

It’s like this: Wal*mart is an option for purchasing my daily needs. The price is right. The location is right. They carry what I need. They have a large selection. They have friendly people at the door waiting to give me my cart. Okay, so maybe these are the qualities I’m looking for when I choose where to shop. But, in terms of long (and short) term economic effects on me (as a citizen and taxpayer), on the workers (few of whom even have insurance), on society as a whole, I might not want to shop at Wal*mart — even if it does have everything I’m looking for.

“When a technology is as pervasive and profoundly shaping as print has been, it is often difficult to perceive the full extent of its entitlements and exclusions. Its formations and empowerments seem simply natural and right. When a new tool emerges, however, the conflict it engendered by its emergence can illuminate previously obscured relations” (14-15). Kaplan explains that the conventions of a book have not only shaped the text itself, but also the world. She uses indexing as an example. Indexing has become the “natural” way by which we shape, organize, categorize knowledge, and she goes on to point out that there are digital equivalents that “are rewriting the world, restructuring what is knowable, by whom, and for what purposes” (15). The Michael Wesch video, “The Machine is Us/ing Us” — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE — is an example of just that. We now organize knowledge in the form of tags, social bookmarking, etc. Ultimately the point here is simply that the tool is not just a means to an end, the tool itself shapes and structures the world. And ultimately, I want to ask, What kind of a means is it? What are the factors that shaped the technology that is then shaping us and our students? (Is it Wal*mart? Or some other lesser evil?)

In his 1985 College English article, Richard Ohmann asserts that technology cannot inherently create new ways of thinking as if “‘the technology somehow came before someone’s intention…’”, reminding us that “‘technology…is itself a social process, saturated with the power relations around it, continually reshaped according to some people’s intentions’ (681)” (qtd. in Kaplan 23). From this perspective, Ohmann sees capitalism at work and technology giving a hand to those with power, money, and need to maintain the(ir) status quo. He accuses the “computer revolution” of expanding the reach of the elite, “meanwhile facilitating the degradation of labor and the stratification of the workforce that have been the hallmarks of monopology capitalism from the onset” (Ohmann 683). Andrew Sledd’s 1988 article, “Readin’ not riotin’: The Politics of Literacy”raises similar questions about the alleged empowering effect of technology. He argues that “the plan is to produce a few experts in the service of established power who will refine and program the technology, often for surveillance, plunder and massacre” (499). In the scope of my project I believe I’ll be making some similar claims, but I’m also hoping to achieve a less grim outlook (than Ohmann and Sledd). While I would never make the rhetorical choice of “massacre” and “plunder.” I do see the creepy surveillance function of many of these programs, but I don’t view all electronic/digital tools as functioning in quite this way (one of the arguments in favor of an open source model as it puts firm dent in that surveillance feel). Kaplan is also more forgiving, willing to look at these technological tools as “enabling pioneering efforts, helping us to actualize for all what the few now possess” (25). Still, she cautions, “electronic texts don’t simply materialize out of thin air; they must be created, housed, and displayed by means of systems–hardware and soft. Those structures and interfaces affect users’ expectations and aspirations, shape our values and our sense of our own potential” (25). Limitations and exclusions we come across in terms of these programs might very well be “grounded in the political and economic arrangements within which systems are designed, developed, and disseminated” (26). System designers, programmers, technology managers have decided what is and is not possible in the scope of these programs. They have determined the structure of the electronic environment for all of us.

As an example of the relationship between a tool and its pedagogical uses, Kaplan uses the blackboard. While the blackboard has a range of potential uses, it limits the writing process in terms of favoring certain transformations and discouraging others: “for example, the blackboard is best at word-for-word subsitutions…worst at a complete reordering that would require erasing everything and starting over” (27). The amount of text the blackboard can actually hold also limits what we can and can do with it as a writing tool. Interestingly, the monolithic CMS, BlackBoard, takes its name from this centuries old pedagogical tool, creating a sense of convergence between old technology and new. Also, the e-learning version of BlackBoard, like its namesake, affects and shapes the writing that takes place there. All the elements of both BlackBoard and the blackboard shape how we use them. As Kaplan puts it, the technologies themselves “shape users’ perceptions of what texts are and can become: who can write them, read them, distribute them and to whom” (28). And one of my problems with BB is that it creates a (too) limited and closed sense of each of these things. The fact that only students from the same class can read and write the documents contained therein merely replicates the same type of thinking about purpose and audience that the students are already doing when they create a print text for class.