Searching for the Organic in the Digital Classroom
This switch to online is terrifying, to be sure, but does give us an opportunity to provide students with more opportunities to self-motivate. We can send emails and make announcements and provide activities until we're blue in the face (or whatever the right metaphor is here; inflicted with carpal tunnel?), but we no longer have a captive audience in the same way we did just a week ago.
As an instructor consistently questioning himself w/r/t the legitimacy of standing at the front of a classroom and making demands of students, the thought is initially exciting. I may tell students that they don't have to participate if they don't want to, but no matter how I present myself, I am still somehow imposing enough to elicit a jump to action if our eyes happen to meet. There's no chance of that now. They can turn off all notifications and emails if they want to.
Now, being an instructor and someone who does have things I would like students to learn, I do fear I have lost the most useful of my modes, the class discussion and the small group. I tend to do a lot of class discussion, tossing out questions and then questioning the reactions and responses. We don't have the technical capabilities to truly create a digital classroom, so that's out. As for small groups, I think they work because my students have organic discussions that, while not always on my intended topic, create learning experiences. Often, the content that they bring to our class discussions afterwards that drives the exploration the most is ideas that they come to after they have exhausted my artificial set of questions.
I would posit that these learning experiences happen only because of the organic nature of the face-to-face conversation. An assignment to post to a discussion board and respond to at least two other students' comments removes the organic component. Once they've made three comments, they're done. In person, there's blank space that they naturally want to fill.
For example, this weekend I had the students choose one of five debates that I linked to (each an hour to an hour and half in length with intentionally jarring topics like "should we abolish the sex offender registry?") and then produce a write-up covering the major points of each rhetor and attempt an explanation as to why one individual "won" the debate (they're all Oxford style debates which involve polling the audience, so there is a factual winner in this case for our considerations). This is what I had planned even before the switch to online. But I originally was going to spend time in class having each group discuss their chosen debates and try to come to some consensus as to what the other rhetor might have done to convince the audience (approaches, Appeals, etc). I have no clue how to transfer this activity, which I think would be very useful to them, to the online space.
Of course, I could shift things around and make the second part of the activity a solo effort as well, but then we're back to me asking them a question and them giving me an answer, expecting approval from me, the Instructor, and we're back to those icky power dynamics.
To bring this into conversation with our theory (and to show why I'm so against shifting to the solo student model), many of the theoreticians we're reading talk about modeling revolutionary behavior for students in the classroom. That doesn't sit right with me, as it still entrenches the power dynamic of Instructor as the ideal. Instead, I think the best models are fellow students. Some of the most exciting moments in my class this semester have involved students disagreeing with me and showing the other students it's fine to not take everything I say as gospel. If my class loses the opportunity to interact meaningfully for class activities, then they lose the opportunity to see other students acting.
Suggestions would be helpful, but I've also opened this question to my students. If they've gained as much from these activities as they appear to, maybe they will be motivated to find a solutions themselves, a solution that becomes even more difficult as residence halls near closure for the semester.
As an instructor consistently questioning himself w/r/t the legitimacy of standing at the front of a classroom and making demands of students, the thought is initially exciting. I may tell students that they don't have to participate if they don't want to, but no matter how I present myself, I am still somehow imposing enough to elicit a jump to action if our eyes happen to meet. There's no chance of that now. They can turn off all notifications and emails if they want to.
Now, being an instructor and someone who does have things I would like students to learn, I do fear I have lost the most useful of my modes, the class discussion and the small group. I tend to do a lot of class discussion, tossing out questions and then questioning the reactions and responses. We don't have the technical capabilities to truly create a digital classroom, so that's out. As for small groups, I think they work because my students have organic discussions that, while not always on my intended topic, create learning experiences. Often, the content that they bring to our class discussions afterwards that drives the exploration the most is ideas that they come to after they have exhausted my artificial set of questions.
I would posit that these learning experiences happen only because of the organic nature of the face-to-face conversation. An assignment to post to a discussion board and respond to at least two other students' comments removes the organic component. Once they've made three comments, they're done. In person, there's blank space that they naturally want to fill.
For example, this weekend I had the students choose one of five debates that I linked to (each an hour to an hour and half in length with intentionally jarring topics like "should we abolish the sex offender registry?") and then produce a write-up covering the major points of each rhetor and attempt an explanation as to why one individual "won" the debate (they're all Oxford style debates which involve polling the audience, so there is a factual winner in this case for our considerations). This is what I had planned even before the switch to online. But I originally was going to spend time in class having each group discuss their chosen debates and try to come to some consensus as to what the other rhetor might have done to convince the audience (approaches, Appeals, etc). I have no clue how to transfer this activity, which I think would be very useful to them, to the online space.
Of course, I could shift things around and make the second part of the activity a solo effort as well, but then we're back to me asking them a question and them giving me an answer, expecting approval from me, the Instructor, and we're back to those icky power dynamics.
To bring this into conversation with our theory (and to show why I'm so against shifting to the solo student model), many of the theoreticians we're reading talk about modeling revolutionary behavior for students in the classroom. That doesn't sit right with me, as it still entrenches the power dynamic of Instructor as the ideal. Instead, I think the best models are fellow students. Some of the most exciting moments in my class this semester have involved students disagreeing with me and showing the other students it's fine to not take everything I say as gospel. If my class loses the opportunity to interact meaningfully for class activities, then they lose the opportunity to see other students acting.
Suggestions would be helpful, but I've also opened this question to my students. If they've gained as much from these activities as they appear to, maybe they will be motivated to find a solutions themselves, a solution that becomes even more difficult as residence halls near closure for the semester.
What a great way to articulate what most of us are feeling, Lucas.
ReplyDeleteDuring my final (surreal) ENG 104 class meetings, I wanted my students to understand two main things: that I was grateful for the chance to get to know them in-person and that it will take a lot of self-discipline for them to complete their classes online. I encouraged them to stay as focused as possible so they wouldn’t have to retake a class they’ve already put so much work into. I’m not sure if that pep talk was for them or for me, honestly. After all, none of us signed up to be online students/teachers. This is partly, I assume, because we prefer to learn in person.
So, as we go online this week, I am hanging on to the fact that I do have a relationship with these students. We know each other’s names, personalities, mannerisms, attitudes, etc., just based on the brief time we have spent together in class and that’s “not nothin’” as they say. I’m hoping beyond hope that this is enough to get us through these unexpected circumstances. I know that some of them were already off the radar before all this happened and if they don’t drop today, they will likely fail the course, which feels like a defeat in itself. As for the rest of them, I don’t know if any sophisticated online teaching methods (not that I have any) will keep them engaged until the end, but I will say that 37 out of 46 rough drafts were posted in Canvas on time last night and I’m going to take that as a win for now.
To your point about solo activities, I recently told my students that their multimodal assignment would be a solo project this semester. This is an assignment I meticulously planned, scaffolded, etc. with group work specifically in mind; a project for which I planned an in-class workshop with the Digital Writing Studio. And even though I know there are ways to meet and collaborate online, I don’t want to assume anything about my student’s technology access (or if their access will change in the future), let alone rely on them to complete a complex creative assignment without the guidance of in-class meetings and opportunities to ask questions in-person about requirements, group dynamics, etc. I know this is a resignation on my part, not theirs, but I’m curious to know how others are handling group activities.
Thanks for sharing.
Mary
37 out of 46 is definitely good, especially for this first week.
DeleteI think it will be interesting to see the difference in self-motivation between 103 and 104. With my 103 students, there's not as much semester-long work. Sure, we're talking about rhetoric, but each assignment is discrete. With 104, I guess we'd hope that that your students are invested enough with how much work they've already put into their projects that they'll want to stay on top of things.
Technology access is definitely a major concern. Would it be helpful to try and come up with a list of lowest common denominator tools we know the students have access to so we know what we have to work with? For example, assuming internet access, we know students can access Canvas, their BSU email, and the Microsoft products included there.
Lucas,
ReplyDeleteI think we are all feeling your struggle. As someone who really does not do well when their schedule changes, I have had a difficult time adjusting to being in this online space and figuring out how to now address my students as an authority, when they are likely feeling the same things that I am.
Moving online is difficult, especially when it was a surprise and incredibly sudden. I have been using Canvas as best as I can, but have also been lenient with students during this transition phase, as we are all in the same boat of figuring out how to adapt to our new environment.
The best advice I can manage to give is to just take things one week at a time. Figure out what students need to be able to get through the week and move from there. We are all feeling the weirdness of this and knowing that the students now have to leave the dorms only adds to their stress and confusion.
Abbie
Lucas,
ReplyDeleteThis pretty much sums up how I feel about moving online as well. Yes, technology provides us with numerous benefits, but it can never fully replace the learning environments we create in our physical classrooms. As a student, I have taken classes fully online before, and gotten much less out of the class than I would have if it were in person.
I especially think this applies to our English classrooms, because though they are focused on writing, they include lots of interpersonal communication, small group work, and discussion. This might not be true for all people teaching 103 or 104, but it is certainly true for me. My classroom environment is fun, interactive, and engaging for my students, and I have worked hard to maintain that and foster it throughout the semester. Now that everything is online, I feel it slipping away quickly, and getting worse with everyone moving home from the dorms.
I wish I had advice to give, but all I can say is that I'm trying my best to keep up class morale and interpersonal connections. I have discussion boards where students can interact and comment, and I even created a "fun" discussion board for memes, funny videos, or just chatting. Though I tried, it's nothing like in-person classes. We will try our best, but I just hope that my students feel like my class gave them skills they can take with them into future writing.
Kristen
Hi Lucas,
ReplyDeleteI think you bring up a really interesting point when you start getting into the shifting power-dynamics. I feel very similarly about my class. The moments where my classes have shined was when they were engaging as groups, something I have them do almost daily, and come up with some really interesting insights into the ways that their own personal research processes work. Giving them the liberty to develop a writing process that works for them, and begin to see that process blossom has been awesome and now I feel like I am having to step back into that authoritarian role in order to maintain the classes motivations and work production. (Which might I add is rather difficult to do when being as lenient as possible is necessary at the moment). I've done a lot of reading about student motivation as of late and it seems that most of student motivation has nothing to do with us and a whole lot to do with what's going on in their lives right now. Given the fact that right now everything has taken a turn towards uncanny valley....well, student motivation to give meaningful effort to their classes may also be affected. As much as I want them to contribute and provide the brilliant insights they did when we were together and focused... I'm not sure that that's a possibility for all of my students.
I am moving into a week of peer reviews so I am hoping to get my students back in contact with one another and hopefully give them some of their autonomy and control of their learning back. Wish me luck! :D