Fleckenstein, Kristie S. “Faceless students, virtual places: Emergence and communal accountability in online classrooms.” Computers and Composition 22.2 (2005):149-176. Web. 17 May 2010.
Summary:
Fleckenstein argues that online instructors should see the online classroom as an emergent identity in order to “address issues of affiliation within virtual words sites” (150). By looking at the virtual classroom as an emergent identity or emergent place, instructors can tackle issues of individual responsibility, community, and accountability. From here, Fleckenstein examines the challenges of creating community and accountability in the virtual classroom. She then looks at the complex systems theory to create a theory of virtual place. She continues by looking at the three elements that are apart of an emergent place: language, physical reality, and interpretant. She ends by posing that these elements need to be changed around and reorganized to create an emergent place for students.
In order to study these theories, Fleckenstein examines a fully online composition class. She examines their interactions or lack there of throughout the entire course in full class discussion and small group discussion, taking into account attendance and comments made within each environment. She also conducts exit-interviews with the students. What she presents through this study is that the virtual environment is a place that fosters poor community and accountability. In the face-to-face classroom these thing connected with physical presence and students ability to attach a face to one another. Cyberspace takes away the opportunity to build a community based on body and geography. The online classroom becomes an imaginary and non-literal place where words and actions have no really consequences because thing are not “real.” So students are not concerned about absences or dropping the ball on an assignment because it is not as bad as a real absence or a real missed assignment.
The answer to these issues is the complex systems approach to virtual space. This involves looking at things as being co-dependent. Fleckenstein presents the idea, “By perceiving some differences, and, thus, not perceiving others, people create not only their environments…Humans are created, self organized, by their own actions.” The key element that resides within complex systems theory is emergent identity: “When an array of activities and relationships reaches a critical point of complexity, it transforms itself into a new identity; one that relies on the performance of the entire system rather than on any one element of it (156). Emergent identity operates holistically. In an online environment place constitutes and emergent identity, so we have emergent place.
Fleckenstein continues by examine the students and the course in the areas of language, place, and interpretant. She points out that language is a lifeline in an online course and it can be used to marginalize students and as a weapon. Because of the lack of accountability and community, students will say things that they wouldn’t say face-to-face. The online environment often limits, controls, and set parameters on language and communication. In an online environment we must use language to incorporate so that it can be used to create community based on interests rather than shared physical space. She also calls for instructors and students to consider the physical in conjunction with the virtual space because student has outside things that influence their online presence. The two cannot be separated because in virtual classroom there is not control over where and when students learn and under what conditions, so their physical place is important for online pedagogy. There is also the issue of navigating the virtual place. Do students know when and where to post, what to discuss, and how. She proposes solutions of reorganizing language behaviors by increasing opportunities for students to interact over multiple environments. She next presents the need for linkage by having frequent and repeated feedback. Finally, she suggests “marking,” so students can create virtual faces for themselves. She also mentions acknowledging constraints on the virtual environment, encouraging students to take responsibility for their agency, having regular frequent meetings, creating routine, a set of social habits.
Review:
I think that this article is great for any instructor who is concerned with getting students more involved and responsible for their own activity and success in the course. I think it is especially important for those who teach writing at a distance because in online composition courses much of the course is focused on discussion, interaction, collaboration to deepen the understanding of ideas and concepts. The theories applied are a bit beyond the traditional used in composition and distance education research. I had to do extra research to look up information about a few of the theories. Even with all of that, I believe that this article sets up the necessary conversation about how to increase accountability and community online. There is not telling how many students is loss because they are marginalized in the virtual classroom or just cannot establish a virtual presence. If nothing else this article presents those ideas and forces the questions to be considered. I also think it speaks to the amount of control students have over their action and participation in the course. They have to be led to understand that they play a larger role in the online classroom than in face-to-face classroom. The author offered some good suggestions on how to address this issue, but they are easier said than done. I would like to see how the practical application of a few of the suggestions pan out. That is a different article.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Language and Power in the Online Environment
Sujo de Montes, L.E., Sally M. Oran, and Elizabeth M. Willis. “Power, language, and identity: Voices from an online course.” Computers and Composition. 19.3 (2002): 251-271. Web. 15 May 2010
In this article, Sujo de Montes, Oran, and Willis present an analysis of power and ethnic identity in their online education and writing course. The main argument is teachers should not ignore issues or race, ethnicity, and power because they hinder the opportunity for ethnic identity development. They also point out that often in online writing environments the race factor is usually in the “off” position or the position of the dominant race, in this case the “default” White position. Because we are at the beginning of exploring pedagogy in online environments, educators need to examine how issues of power and relationships occur when dialogue is not in the face-to-face classroom. The authors posit that when developing course teachers should consider: “How do invisible body language, tones of voice, and facial expression impact the construction of meaning in online learning? How do we negotiate power relationships among students whose varying ethnicities, ages, and abilities are not explicit?” The authors feel that their research and the implications of the work show that instructors, especially those with a constructivist approach to knowledge, need to consider power, identity, and ethnicity when designing a course.
To explore these issues the authors examined their online course, which included minority students. Through their dialogue on the course bulletin board, incidents occurred between majority and minority students that revealed insights about views on power and ethnicity. The landscape of the online classroom has changed from the “typically over 26 years old, highly motivated, self-disciplined, goal oriented, with average or better verbal and quantitative skills, and with relatively easy access to telecommunication facilities.” These days the online student has become multicultural and many of them do no have good access to education. The authors go through 3 events that occurred on the class discussion board that presents issues of power, language, and ethnicity. They take each event and break it down, showing what power and language issues were in play as well as how the students and instructors reacted both on the discussion board and off. The incidents revealed mainly that because of cultural differences students interpret specific words, phrases, and scenarios differently. The incidents also showed how both minority students and majority students would back down or be “silenced” from certain issues out of fear or confusion with the situation. The majority students did not understand or see their privilege and the minority students couldn’t help but interpret some statements as being negative toward their ethnicity (even though they were not mean to be). The ultimate goal is to find a way for “all members of an electronic learning community to participate equally and sensitively so that no one is silenced or privileged.”
I enjoyed reading this article because I have experienced both sides of this scenario as a student and instructor. Being a minority, I have had situations where my voice was silenced by students and instructors, who did not take into account the “difference” of my experience. I know how it feels to be “othered.” A face-to-face class affords students the opportunity to interpret body language, tone, facial expressions, etc. to see what meanings are behind statements. In an online class these cues are not available, so students can often misinterpret harmless statements as being racist or prejudice. It also allows students who in the majority to make ethnocentric statements without seeing the impact it has on the minority students.
I think this article is helpful because it brings attention to an issue that is often overlooked. There has to be a way to talk about sensitive issues, which may involve race, in an all-inclusive way. Teachers should learn how to handle these situations as well as build on them for the educational value they present; issues of ethnic identity, discourse communities, power, and connections to language and identity are built into many of these situations. I never want a class I instruct to have any of these issues in the “off” position. I also do not want them to turn to the dominant culture, possibly “silencing” other students.
The study used in this article was small and of course does not reflect all situations. I wish that more ethnicities were included. I also would have like the instructors to try to follow up with students to see what they learned, how they felt after the course, and if it impacted their approach to similar situations. I see how this can impact a writing class where issues are often of a social, cultural, and political nature. It makes me wonder what students, if any, I may have silenced or “othered,” The authors suggest critical reflection for both student and instructor. I think that is a good first step, but what else can be done through course design or pedagogy to prevent the events from this article from becoming ubiquitous.
In this article, Sujo de Montes, Oran, and Willis present an analysis of power and ethnic identity in their online education and writing course. The main argument is teachers should not ignore issues or race, ethnicity, and power because they hinder the opportunity for ethnic identity development. They also point out that often in online writing environments the race factor is usually in the “off” position or the position of the dominant race, in this case the “default” White position. Because we are at the beginning of exploring pedagogy in online environments, educators need to examine how issues of power and relationships occur when dialogue is not in the face-to-face classroom. The authors posit that when developing course teachers should consider: “How do invisible body language, tones of voice, and facial expression impact the construction of meaning in online learning? How do we negotiate power relationships among students whose varying ethnicities, ages, and abilities are not explicit?” The authors feel that their research and the implications of the work show that instructors, especially those with a constructivist approach to knowledge, need to consider power, identity, and ethnicity when designing a course.
To explore these issues the authors examined their online course, which included minority students. Through their dialogue on the course bulletin board, incidents occurred between majority and minority students that revealed insights about views on power and ethnicity. The landscape of the online classroom has changed from the “typically over 26 years old, highly motivated, self-disciplined, goal oriented, with average or better verbal and quantitative skills, and with relatively easy access to telecommunication facilities.” These days the online student has become multicultural and many of them do no have good access to education. The authors go through 3 events that occurred on the class discussion board that presents issues of power, language, and ethnicity. They take each event and break it down, showing what power and language issues were in play as well as how the students and instructors reacted both on the discussion board and off. The incidents revealed mainly that because of cultural differences students interpret specific words, phrases, and scenarios differently. The incidents also showed how both minority students and majority students would back down or be “silenced” from certain issues out of fear or confusion with the situation. The majority students did not understand or see their privilege and the minority students couldn’t help but interpret some statements as being negative toward their ethnicity (even though they were not mean to be). The ultimate goal is to find a way for “all members of an electronic learning community to participate equally and sensitively so that no one is silenced or privileged.”
I enjoyed reading this article because I have experienced both sides of this scenario as a student and instructor. Being a minority, I have had situations where my voice was silenced by students and instructors, who did not take into account the “difference” of my experience. I know how it feels to be “othered.” A face-to-face class affords students the opportunity to interpret body language, tone, facial expressions, etc. to see what meanings are behind statements. In an online class these cues are not available, so students can often misinterpret harmless statements as being racist or prejudice. It also allows students who in the majority to make ethnocentric statements without seeing the impact it has on the minority students.
I think this article is helpful because it brings attention to an issue that is often overlooked. There has to be a way to talk about sensitive issues, which may involve race, in an all-inclusive way. Teachers should learn how to handle these situations as well as build on them for the educational value they present; issues of ethnic identity, discourse communities, power, and connections to language and identity are built into many of these situations. I never want a class I instruct to have any of these issues in the “off” position. I also do not want them to turn to the dominant culture, possibly “silencing” other students.
The study used in this article was small and of course does not reflect all situations. I wish that more ethnicities were included. I also would have like the instructors to try to follow up with students to see what they learned, how they felt after the course, and if it impacted their approach to similar situations. I see how this can impact a writing class where issues are often of a social, cultural, and political nature. It makes me wonder what students, if any, I may have silenced or “othered,” The authors suggest critical reflection for both student and instructor. I think that is a good first step, but what else can be done through course design or pedagogy to prevent the events from this article from becoming ubiquitous.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Social Networking and the Composition Classroom: Why?
Why do instructors who teach writing at a distance need to know about the ins, outs, ups, and downs of social networking?
Because its the future would be my quick answer. Truthfully, social networking provides what many writing instructors search for: practical writing experience. Social networking gives students an audience to be aware of as well as a way to work on constructing their ethos. As a writing instructor who has used social networking sites in the classroom, I see that there is great potential there. My worry is that the opportunity to meet students where they are and to give them practical experience with rhetoric will be overlooked.
Another reason social media is a perfect partner or tool for the online writing classroom is that it can help in community building. Giving students a place to create, build, or take part in a Facebook group or a special hash tag on Twitter. These exclusive clubs help with building an online community that may even continue after the course has ended.
There are many benefits to social media and composition. The online writing environment is a good place for these to meet. The Maranto and Barton article about social networking is a good start for anyone who teaches writing at a distance that may want to venture into using social networking to build community or fun writing practice.
Because its the future would be my quick answer. Truthfully, social networking provides what many writing instructors search for: practical writing experience. Social networking gives students an audience to be aware of as well as a way to work on constructing their ethos. As a writing instructor who has used social networking sites in the classroom, I see that there is great potential there. My worry is that the opportunity to meet students where they are and to give them practical experience with rhetoric will be overlooked.
Another reason social media is a perfect partner or tool for the online writing classroom is that it can help in community building. Giving students a place to create, build, or take part in a Facebook group or a special hash tag on Twitter. These exclusive clubs help with building an online community that may even continue after the course has ended.
There are many benefits to social media and composition. The online writing environment is a good place for these to meet. The Maranto and Barton article about social networking is a good start for anyone who teaches writing at a distance that may want to venture into using social networking to build community or fun writing practice.
Social Networking and the Composition Classroom
Maranto, Gina and Matt Barton. “Paradox and Promise: MySpace, Facebook, and the Sociopolitics of Social Networking in the Writing Classroom.” Computers and Composition 27.1 (2010): 36-47. Science Direct. Web. 15 March 2010.
In “Paradox and Promise…” Maranto and Barton explore the use of social networking sites in the writing classroom. Their main argument is that social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are tools that can both benefit and a danger to the writing classroom. Social networking sites provide a place for scholars and students to explore issues of identity construction, rhetoric, and the creation of discourse communities. However, teachers entering into this space can endanger the ethos of both the student and the teacher. The relationships created on these social networking sites undercut traditional rhetorical spaces by allowing a different less structured space for interaction. Even with the huge risks “as rhetoricians, we cannot afford to ignore the opportunities for learning, for social and political engagement, that online networking affords” (44).
They begin the argument by defining social networking (MySpace and Facebook) and exploring research already established in social networking. They provide a glimpse at the major issues studies in social networking have explored: behavior, identity, and social standing. From here the argument moves to comparing or presenting social networking as a remediation of the high school activities of cruising and courtship. This presents social networking as another tradition or ritual that students take part in. The commonality is that “these rituals have always blurred the line between public and private (39).” The biggest fear about social networking or online, in general, is privacy. The Internet can be a dangerous place, and the authors point out that the biggest fear seems to be child pornography. From the coming together of child pornography and social networking via the Internet and social networking, many feel that virtual spaces are more dangerous than physical spaces. Social networking is a perfect space to create false identities, lure, deceive, etc.
However, it is also a great place for students to explore themselves and the world. Maranto and Barton share that social networking sites are great spaces to examine identity formation. It does stop there; there are also categories, labels, pop culture, politics, socialization, and a host of other things to be explored through social networking. Most eye opening is their arguments that social networking sites are tools that can help students become symbol analyst. They build off of Robert Reich’s argument about the need to train future generations to be symbol-analyst. Reich’s argument states, “The future of the world’s economy depends far less on mastering content than building and maintaining robust social networks, where ideas are quickly disseminated and acted on from points scattered all over the world. As their name implies, symbolic analysts thrive in the abstract world of the virtual (43).” His theory focuses on the areas of “abstraction, system thinking, experimentation, and collaboration” (44). All of these elements are found in social networking.
I found the article to be a good starting point. The authors provide a good overview of social networking along with the issues and theories connected with social networks. I would recommend this to any instructor who wants to know what all the fuss is about. I enjoyed the overview of the concerns, major studies, and the positives of social networking. However, I am ready for us to move past social networking as a place to examine identity formation; there are some many other things to be explored. I appreciated the connection they made to Reich’s research in symbols. I have always been interested in this, and as we move further into media convergence, I think encouraging students to be symbol-analyst will become more common. It is directly connected to composition because of the ideas of abstraction and collaboration. Overall, this is a good starting point to explore how social networking can be used in writing classes. I would have liked to see some commentary on how it is currently being used. The dangers of it are well publicized and the popular benefits are known, but how are writing instructors using it in their courses?
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Teaching @ a Distance
Hi!
I am currently enrolled in ENG 795 Teaching Writing @ a Distance. This blog is all about exploring the issues and theories related to teaching writing at a distance. Distance education and distance learning is the newest craze in Higher Education (not completely true). Teaching online is the future. More and more people are deciding that driving to campus and sitting in a traditional classroom just doesn't work or isn't an option. I jumped on the bandwagon and began teaching at proprietary colleges and universities because I wanted a job with security. When the economy started going downhill my job security increased. It sounds horrible, but it is the truth. When the job market is bad more people go back to school to expand their options. That makes my life easier because I teach composition; no matter what the student's major may be he or she has to take composition.
Anyway, I've been teaching online now for about 2 years. It has been one the most frustrating and enlightening experiences of my life. Through this blog I hope to share some of my issues with teaching online, explore some new ideas, learn some theory, and ultimately, become a better instructor.
My main issues and concerns are situated around identity, minorities, power, language, faculty advancement, ethics of proprietary colleges/universities, and accountability. I know that sounds like a lot, but I plan to narrow my focus as I go along. All these issues are near and dear to me because they are things I have had to deal with being an instructor who is young, African-American, and female. The majority of my students are about 20-30 years older than me and Caucasian. It has made for an interesting experience, but it is also an experience that I do not want others to go through. This course and blog will hopefully lead to a positive impact on the bustling industry that higher education has become. If not, at least I get to vent, right?
Thanks for reading! Journey well.
-V
I am currently enrolled in ENG 795 Teaching Writing @ a Distance. This blog is all about exploring the issues and theories related to teaching writing at a distance. Distance education and distance learning is the newest craze in Higher Education (not completely true). Teaching online is the future. More and more people are deciding that driving to campus and sitting in a traditional classroom just doesn't work or isn't an option. I jumped on the bandwagon and began teaching at proprietary colleges and universities because I wanted a job with security. When the economy started going downhill my job security increased. It sounds horrible, but it is the truth. When the job market is bad more people go back to school to expand their options. That makes my life easier because I teach composition; no matter what the student's major may be he or she has to take composition.
Anyway, I've been teaching online now for about 2 years. It has been one the most frustrating and enlightening experiences of my life. Through this blog I hope to share some of my issues with teaching online, explore some new ideas, learn some theory, and ultimately, become a better instructor.
My main issues and concerns are situated around identity, minorities, power, language, faculty advancement, ethics of proprietary colleges/universities, and accountability. I know that sounds like a lot, but I plan to narrow my focus as I go along. All these issues are near and dear to me because they are things I have had to deal with being an instructor who is young, African-American, and female. The majority of my students are about 20-30 years older than me and Caucasian. It has made for an interesting experience, but it is also an experience that I do not want others to go through. This course and blog will hopefully lead to a positive impact on the bustling industry that higher education has become. If not, at least I get to vent, right?
Thanks for reading! Journey well.
-V
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