Poster presentation, blogging, peer review, feedback, quasi-experimental study

1. Graph 2: Learning outcomes
Implications
Not only is blogging an authentic literacy
practice, it is also a sustainable one, one that
resonates with the cultural values of young adult
learners who are striving to create a productive
future. A recent study reported by GUNI (Global
University Network for Innovation, indicates that
sustainable literacy is rising among graduates
(Granados, Tilbury, and Wright, 2011).
Furthermore, Farrel (2010) argues that in order
to remain relevant, a responsibility for higher
education is to produce graduates with skills and
understandings that will lead to a “restorative”
society and our curricula should reflect this
objective. Blogging software is a sustainable
technology that saves valuable resources, not
only that, it bridges authentic literacy practice to
academic literacy objectives.
Sources: Granados, J., Daniella T., & Wright T.S.A. Moving from understanding to
action: Breaking barriers for transforming higher education’s commitment to
sustainabilityAssociation for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
(AASHE) Conference 2011. Pittsburgh, PA. 11 Oct 2011 Farrell, James J. The Nature of
College: How a New Understanding of Campus Life Can Change the World. Minneapolis,
MN: Milkweed Editions, 2010. Print..
Discussion
Publishing work-in-progress on a course blog
provides a great deal of affordance for the
instructor in terms of managing and overseeing
student work, allowing for a greater degree of
control over students levels of engagement and
cooperation. An open course website used for
web-mediated writing also brings out the digital
critic in students. While students in both groups
generated roughly the same amount of naïve
and editing comments, students that utilized
blogging software produced significantly higher
numbers of critical and constructive drafts, a
trend, which only increased over successive
trials, long after the novelty of web-mediated
collaboration diminished, whereas paper drafts
produced fewer and a lesser quality of comments
over successive drafts. The number of critical
comments generated during draft workshop
correlated positively with learning outcomes.
Students practicing literacy on blogs
outperformed the paper group both within and
between repeated trials of the drafting process.
Web-mediated collaboration and the development of literacy practices
Introduction
Abstract
ABSTRACT: Two sections of university-level
composition courses were given an authentic
task to write a series of articles for publication.
One section was randomly assigned to follow
the traditional writing process, utilizing paper
draft workshops, while the other section
published its work-in-progress on blogs,
engaging in web-mediated online workshops. A
quasi-experimental study was conducted to
determine if there are meaningful differences in
learning outcomes between students using
traditional writing methods and those using
blogging technology to generate articles as
measured by the quantity and quality of
comments generated during draft workshops
and learning outcomes. Web-mediated
workshops generated not only a significantly
higher quantity of peer comments, but also a
significantly higher quality of comments,
perhaps, due to higher levels of student
engagement and more time spent on task as
compared to the paper draft workshop section.
Thus, suggesting that incorporating blogging
technology, an authentic literacy practice, in
the writing classroom might provide a
productive learning environment, one that
yields high-level learner performance.
Introduction Research design and results
Jeannette Novakovich, Graduate Student in PhD Program, Educational Technology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec
Conclusions
Jeannettenovakovich@gmail.com, 514-755-3987
Purpose
There’s an old folk saying that goes something
like this: God gave you one mouth and two
ears, so listen twice and speak once. When
students provide peer feedback on rough drafts
in the form of a traditional draft workshop, a
small group collaborative exchange of papers
and ideas, they provide writers with an
opportunity to listen and reflect on their writing.
This study compared the process and outcome
of computer-generated paper drafts to the
process and outcome of drafts published on
blogs to answer the following question: What
effect does blogging technology and web-
mediated collaboration have on the writing
process and learning outcomes?
Chart 1: Peer Feedback Graph 1: Critical feedback and grades
A moderately positive relationship between the
quantity and quality of peer feedback and grades,
r (42) = .371, p < .016, was found; and a
moderately positive relationship between the total
value of critical comments received and grades, r
(42) = .473, p < .002.
A two-way repeated measures test revealed
significant differences between the treatment and
control groups in terms of learning outcomes, f
(42) = 11.512, p < .002.
A two-way repeated measures test revealed
significant differences between the treatment and
control groups in terms of acceptance rates for
publication, f (42) = 8.364, p < .006.
Findings