Blog # 2

MacArthur, Charles, A and Rachel Karchmer-Klein. “Web 2.0 New Opportunities for Writing.” Putting Writing Research into Practice. Ed. Gary A. Troia, Rebecca K. Shankland, and Anne Heintz. New York: Gilford, 2010, 45-69. Books.google. Web 18 May, 2010.

MacArthur and Karchmer-Klein give an overview of using social media in the classroom, in which they argue that blogs, wikis, and SNSs (social networking sites), “expand the audience with whom they [students] communicate” and “facilitate interaction, collaboration, and sharing” online (46).

Having these tools available can present opportunities as well as challenges. Two of the issues the authors address are safety and privacy.  Although the tools they examine are great for communication and building community, the challenge to instructors is how to balance the text production (“writing that involves planning, gathering and evaluating information and self-regulation”) with the multiple interactions the writer has with the audience. 

I believe that when students go online to SNSs, it is assumed that the content of their posts should be personal. In other words, the lines become blurred between what is academic and what is conversation with classmates when they are composing work for a writing assignment. I have seen this happen in the Blackboard Discussion Board as well, and it can be a challenge. 

The first tool the authors examine is the blog. They reference examples of blogs written by teachers and by students/teacher collaboration in secondary schools. One advantage of using the blog, they contend, is that it, “offers the potential to expand social context for writing in ways that make it more authentic.” 

I agree that blogs are a great tool and they work well in composition classes because they provide the student with an actual audience. For example, when students turn in their paper, it my have only been read by one person in a peer review session before it is submitted, thus, the instructor is the primary audience. But, with the blog the entire class gets a chance to read it. 

On the other hand, the authors fail to mention that posting to the Internet for some students can be frightening because many people lack confidence in their writing skills, and others just don’t feel comfortable sharing and reflecting on personal experiences. 

Wikis are another great tool for online learning. The authors describe a wiki as a collaborative writing space. The pitfall with this tool, however, is that wikis require a lot of work on the part of the instructor to “practice, investigate, and educate students before ahead of time.”

After investigating how the wiki functions, I can see how it may be overwhelming for the student in a writing class and difficult for the instructor to maintain. Some students may make changes to the wiki that are not correct or have misspelled words, so the instructor has to constantly monitor it. Giving too much editing freedom to the student could be a major problem for students especially if the student is overconfident about the work.  

The authors categorize social bookmarking (stored websites using tags), micro-blogging (Twitter) and social networking sites (Facebook) as technologies. Twitter, for example, limits the writer to 140 characters and is great for teaching students how to write succinctly.  It also allows student to post quickly and repeatedly. I used Twitter in the classroom last semester briefly (for five weeks), and plan to focus on its usefulness in a writing class for my final project for this class.

MacArthur and Karchmer-Klein conclude with some advice to the readers. They suggest professional development for instructors because these tools are new to education, new versions come out every year with updates, and the technology is still experimental. 

I have found that going to the free training workshops provided by the college has saved me a lot time and provided tips, new ideas, and short cuts that I would have never know about had I not attended the sessions.

This chapter is a great resource for people who teach online or hybrid writing classes. Before doing so, instructors should investigate the technology first, take it slow and easy so the student has plenty of time to embrace the technology, and then expect the unexpected. When the bar is set high, instructors will be surprised at the creative (and perhaps authentic) work the students will produce. 

Here is the link http://books.google.com/books?id=4DxWBw6_fDwC&pg=PA61&dq=microblogging+in+the+classroom&cd=2#v=onepage&q=microblogging%20in%20the%20classroom&f=false

Always,

Nancy Warren