Russell Hunt
St. Thomas University
A Workshop
University of New Brunswick - Saint John
12 March 1999
An Outline for some presentational discourse
The persistence of text
The functions of text
The conditions for text to be useful
Implications for classes, in all disciplines
Some Useful Links
My Web site is at http://www.stthomasu.ca/~hunt/
The main Web site for my current Truth in Society Section is at http://www.stthomasu.ca/~hunt/10069899/
The HyperNews Occasions forum for this year's Truth in Society can be accessed at http://www.stthomasu.ca/~hunt/10069899/occspage.htm
There is a testing site for HyperNews, where you can play with it, at http://www.hypernews.org/HyperNews/get/hypernews/test/5718.html
There is a testing site for Ceilidh at http://www.lilikoi.com/test_ceilidh.html
A draft article on what various kinds of electronically mediated discussion fora afford (and what they constrain) can be seen at http://www.stthomasu.ca/~hunt/hndraft.htm
An explanation of how an internal network drive can be used with Web-style texts can be found in a paper on understanding student reading, at http://www.stthomasu.ca/~hunt/anzac.htm
Here are some ways in which you can use writing (with or without computer and networks) to deepen participation and learning:
I. Forms of Structured Written Discussion
Inkshedding (A history of the term, and the practice, can be found at http://www.stthomasu.ca/~hunt/dialogic/inkshed.htm).
Participants write impromptu on a common subject or issue, using "freewriting" (i.e., simply attempting to catch the flow of ideas, writing without planning or worry about form or correctness.) Others in the group immediately read what's been written. Marginal responses (substantive responses, rather than comments on form) are encouraged. Normally readers are asked simply to mark passages which they find striking (true, not true, needing qualification or expansion). Possible next stages include:
Accumulating Discussion. A subject is discussed in writing. Each reader, as he or she reads the
continuing discussion, enters a response to the text in an accumulating file of responses to that issue. (This
accumulation can be kept in a manila folder in a location available to students between classes, or as a virtual
folder--for instance, an accumulating file in a computer noticeboard.) (A number of examples of this can be seen
in the discussions on "Will's Virtual Restoration and Eighteenth Century Coffeehouse," at http://www.stthomasu.ca:80/HyperNews/get/wills.html).
At the end of the process the file can be edited (for instance, by an editorial committee) to become a group response
to the issue, which can be read by others in the class who haven't participated in the discussion.
Electronic Discussion Lists. This differs from an accumulative noticeboard discussion because the
computer network presents the reader only with responses that are new to him or her, so there is less tendency
for discussion to be either recursive or accumulative. If the discussion involves a whole class and has many contributions,
the discussion list option may help keep the volume of responses from daunting readers.
II. Uses for Forms of Structured Written Dialogue
Course Evaluation. At some convenient point in a course, students write in-process course
evaluations (either in response to specific questions, or open-ended) which are sent to a third party (a secretary,
for example) to have identifying marks stripped off and to be assembled into files--for instance, ordered by questions.
These can be printed and distributed, so everyone sees what others thought; they can also be edited by a committee
of the class.
Colleague Acknowledgements. As part of the process of generating marks in the course, students can
be invited to acknowledge, in writing, contributions of colleagues in the class to their own learning. These acknowledgements
are sent to the instructor, who can (a) include them in the process of creating a mark for students, (b) strip
them of identifying marks and redistribute them to the acknowledgees, and/or (c) "publish" selected items,
with identifying marks removed, as examples of what can be taught and learned among students in the particular
course.
Text Choice Recommendations. Each participant chooses a book (or story, or poem) which he or she thinks others should read (the choice can be restricted to works from a defined corpus, or even from a particular anthology), and writes a recommendation of that text. Others, on the basis of the recommendation, choose to read the text (or not), and add their recommendations to the first one. This can begin with small groups (say, five) reading each others' recommendations and agreeing on (or revising) one to pass on to the larger class. Discussion can continue in writing, or orally. The process can lead into a narrowing cycle which ultimately produces a text everyone has read, and a set of recommendations which can be discussed.
Feasibility Study. Students report on a foray to the library to assess whether a potential group-research topic is appropriate. (In a recent instance, participants were asked to assess a topic that they or someone else in the class had proposed on five criteria: definability, resources, relevance, richness, and interest.) The group creates a report, which is circulated to the class, either through photocopies or via a computer network (photocopies are usually better when the documents are relatively long). The class then makes a decision about which topics to investigate on the basis of these studies.
Research Report. Participants choose different aspects of a subject, and write reports that allow others to learn about issues they didn't have time to do research on. Often this can lead to a cycle in which the readers write on the report itself specific questions about which they'd like to know more, and authors go back to the library and add sections responding to whichever questions they find useful. This in turn can lead to a "publication" of a set of edited reports on the subject for a larger group.
"Occasions." Using public occasions on campus -- poetry readings, gallery openings,
concerts, plays--as the basis for a written discussion has a number of potential benefits. Students can be told
at the outset of a course that they need to participate in written discussions on a certain number of "occasions"
during a term or year. Since more than one or two students need to attend for the discussion to work, the students
need to persuade a stated minimum number of their colleagues to attend and participate (this persuasion can be
done in writing, particularly if you have a computer bulletin board program or an actual cork bulletin board in
the classroom, or somewhere else convenient, where invitations can be posted). In order for an occasion to "count"
there has to be a minimum number of participants. (This depends in part on the size of the class; I've often used
about eight as a minimum.) Each participant has to write and post (a) a reaction to the occasion and (b) at least
one response to someone else's reaction.
Guidebooks. With some advance planning, groups of students can be given the responsibility to research
and prepare "guides" to plays, movies, or other occasions. These are printed -- often as a four-page
(one sheet folded) leaflet -- and distributed in advance to audiences. They often include background information
(for instance, accounts of previous productions of a play, historical context or information on sources for a movie,
biographical and social information on a composer or artist). Because this sort of publication is literally public,
it affords an opportunity for editing to serve a meaningful function.
There are many more possibilities. The central issue is that this sort of writing (unlike formal essays or essay exams) should never be evaluated and graded: its purpose is to engage the student in authentic dialogue using the medium of written language.