Week 8: Collaborative Syllabus Assignment

What is one assignment you will include in your syllabus assignment that uses collaboration and/or technology and/or other things Yancey, Selfe, Breuch, Bruffee, or Shaughnessey have discussed?

In class, we have recently discussed the concept of post-process learning as explored by Kastman-Breuch in her article “Post-Process ‘Pedagogy’: A Philosophical Exercise.” Kastman-Breuch suggests that teaching composition has become “another foundational example of writing” due to the emphasis that educators place upon the process of writing, traditionally defined as the prewriting, writing, and rewriting stages (97). Kastman-Breuch endorses Thomas Kent’s (another post-process scholar) idea that “teaching writing as a system is impossible,” which necessitates the search for and implementation of multimodal or collaborative learning opportunities, many of which we have discussed in class (101).

I believe that collaboration is essential for students to learn effectively and accurately, as it “requires two-way rather than one-way communication, suggesting that teachers move away from a transmission model of education and toward a transformative model that includes active participation” (Kastman-Breuch 102). I believe that it is imperative that students are actively engaged in their composition courses, both inside and outside of the classroom, which requires an active and open thread of communication be available for students to share thoughts, pose questions, or engage in discussion at any time. Although I indicate that this is important in order for students to learn, I maintain that instructor engagement is equally important, otherwise the effort is not collaborative.

In my syllabus, I will include an assignment that is designed to uphold Kastman-Breuch’s idea of post-process learning and to ensure student engagement inside and outside of the classroom. This assignment will be completed over the course of two days and will require that students communicate online during the week.  Students will be divided into two separate groups, each containing half of the class. The class as a whole will be asked to select a text (whether it be film, literature, artwork, etc.).  Once agreed upon, students in group one will be tasked with, on the first day of online communication, to select five of the most significant scenes/sections/aspects of the selected text.  In order to come to a consensus as to which portions of the selected text is the most important, students will have to engage in an online discussion, providing support for or arguments against the scenes that they believe should be included. Naturally, this discussion will be mediated by the instructor, whose job it is to direct students toward thinking about technique, strategy, and other elements that are pertinent to the text from a critical standpoint. After these five sections are agreed upon, group two will then be asked to identify and define three strategies of composition (or techniques) that the authors employ which students find the most relevant. They will be asked to defend their answers, and to agree upon three for each text. Afterward, the instructor should provide commentary that challenges each of these techniques as relevant selections.  The second day will consist of both groups of students working to compile a list of sources that support either their own claims or the claims of the teacher.  The results will be recorded by the instructor and brought to the next class meeting for discussion.

The purpose of this assignment is to illustrate the process of composition as an active, engaged process that requires a series of revisions to thought, and an intensive process of adequately supporting the claims that they make.  The design of this assignment mimics the process of composing a critical analysis of a text; however, the students are given the opportunity to engage in this process together, building on the blocks laid down by their peers.  The purpose of this assignment is to illustrate to students that engaging with a text is a highly interactive process, which their time spent online will show.  In class, the instructor will present the final product, a collaborative research paper, to the class; the instructor will engage students in a discussion the difficulties that arose during the process of completing the assignment, and he/she will offer more individualized strategies that may help in conducting future research endeavors.

Ultimately, the goal of this assignment is to teach students that actively participating with texts is crucial for their ability to adequately analyze a text and to draw conclusions from it.  I want students to understand that there is no simple way to go about composition, but that time and involvement are necessary for completing this task.  I also wish to provide students with a skeleton for how they might go about conducting an analysis, as the steps that are required of them are all necessary.