Resource
Page for CW2K Online Sessions 3/15-28
Topic: Collaboration, Social Construction, and the
Role of the Spectator Participant
Forum
Description:
Early proponents of teaching writing with computers
hailed collaborative learning and the social construction of knowledge as the
pedagogical theory and practice most suited for the computer networked
environment. Kenneth Bruffee and his ideas, especially, were used to guide
teachers' thinking as they sought to adapt their teaching practices to the
computer environment. Today, over ten
years after dawning of "network theory," collaborative pedagogy has
not taken off as its initial proponents
hoped--in fact, we might say it is in retreat.
What is the nature of collaborative learning? Is it really more suited
for teaching writing with computers?
What are it's weaknesses and strengths?
Part of the difficulty with collaborative learning
and the social construction of knowledge is that the actual dynamics of this
type of learning in a computer environment have not been described and analyzed
enough. In a sense, our understanding
of how learning "happens" through collaboration has been that of a
"cooks" understanding of a chemical reaction (we form groups, share
writing, set response prompts and "poof" we have some
"learning"). What we need is a "chemist" understanding of
the actual dynamics of how learning "happens" through collaboration.
One step in uncovering these dynamics is to take a close look at students'
"positionality" as they sit in front of a computer screen and engage
in sharing and responding to text. This
forum will propose the "role of the spectator-participant" as one
description for this unique positionality.
Understanding students' roles and actions as spectators and as
participants is crucial to our understanding of how learning
"happens" in networked computer environments that incorporate collaborative
pedagogy.
Special
Guests:
|
Dr. Kenneth Bruffee Professor of English, Brooklyn College, City University of New York Author of numerous books and articles on collaborative learning including A Short Course in Writing, and Collaborative Learning: Higher Education, Interdependence, and the Authority of Knowledge Dr. James A. Inman Inman currently serves as Assistant Professor and Director of the Center for Collaborative Learning and Communication at Furman University. WithDonna Sewell of Valdosta State University, he edited Taking Flight with OWLs: Examining Electronic Writing Center Work, a collection just releasedby Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, and he is co-editing a second collection, humanities.team@edu: Exploring Electronic Collaboration in the Humanities,which is now under review by MLA. Inman is Co-Editor and Co-Publisher of Kairos: A Journal for Teachers of Writing in Webbed Environments and Co-Coordinator
of the Netoric Project, in addition to being Co-Organizer of Computers and
Writing Online 2000. Dr. Wayne Butler Current CEO of The Daedalus Group, Inc. Former Senior Lecturer at The University of Michigan and Associate Director for Instruction of The English Composition Board at the University of Michigan. Along with Bill Condon, he is the author of *Writing the Information Superhighway* (Allyn and Bacon, 1997). Forum Chair, L. Lennie Irvin English Instructor, San Antonio College |
Session Resources:
Paper presented at 12/99 Purdue online
conference: It has a good description
of the role of the spectator-participant.
(more resources to come…)
Contact
Information:
L.
Lennie Irvin San Antonio College
Web:
http://www.accd.edu/sac/english/lirvin/lirvin.htm
Email:
Lirvin@accd.edu
Last updated on 2/28/2000