This document summarizes a study on using different web technologies to engage students' critical thinking abilities in a required writing course. The study found that blogging and a traditional argument essay were most effective, while wikis and in-class writing were least effective. Students enjoyed open-ended projects that allowed choosing genres like videos or blogs. Facebook groups constrained critical thinking due to its structure. Reflective writing provided insights into students' experiences. Technologies that restricted text or were unfamiliar presented barriers to critical thinking.

1. Web 2.0: It’s Social, Can it be Critical Too? Sarah Bosarge University of Utah ELI Annual Meeting, Austin, TX January 20, 2010

2. Abstract: Research suggests that our current generation of undergraduates work and play in many modes simultaneously via ubiquitous web technologies. We know they like them, but when used in a learning environment, are some modes more effective at structuring critical-thinking experiences than others? This poster presents the results of a qualitative study of students in a required writing course. Students participated in a class online network, blogs, wikis and Wikipedia, and turned a formal, academic essay into a web-accessible public work of their own design. The poster presents evidence about which technologies succeeded in engaging students' critical-thinking abilities.

5. Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/21stcentdefinition http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Press/Yancey_final.pdf

6. Study Context

7. Study Design: With the goal of improving interaction in a hybrid (blended) writing course, traditional in-class informal writing assignments were moved to an online environment. Various technologies were used based on the pedagogical goal of individual assignments. Students would be given credit/no-credit for completion of all informal assignments, so this presented an opportunity to evaluate the affordances of individual technologies with regards to demonstration of critical thinking without penalizing students for variation in the technologies. This study constitutes in-classroom teacher action research. It was naturalistic in the sense that very little instruction was offered in how to use the various technologies, so that students’ own paradigms for using the technologies were on display. Students had the option of meeting with the instructor if they felt uneasy with the technology but no students did. Furthermore, no students expressed anxiety about using any of the technologies and all students completed all assignments.

8. Demographics 20 students in first-year academic writing (3 credits) Hybrid (blended) course 9 women, 11 men Most prefer taking courses that use technology moderately* Most describe their overall experience using the course learning management system as positive* Most were neutral about whether or not IT in their courses improves their learning* *students were given part of the ECAR Students and Information Technology in Higher Education survey

11. Results

12. Blogging Instructor grade: B+ Students’ grade: C “Easy and convenient” “Interesting to see ideas I had not considered” “Some had great feedback; others not” “As I created it, the more I recognized the usefulness”

15. Creating a Wiki Instructor grade: C- Students’ grade: C- “I liked doing it but it wasn’t helpful” “I had never worked in wikis and had a hard time understanding what to do” “It wasn’t bad, but personally I would learn more from a class discussion”

17. In-Class Writing Instructor grade: C Students’ grade: B 2 students rated in-class writing “very helpful” 15 students rated in-class writing “somewhat helpful” “At the time they seemed like busy work, but over time the process was helpful as part of the big picture” “They helped in my writing but I put them off until the last minute” “They prepared me for the larger assignments”

19. Researched Argument Sequence Traditional Essay Instructor grade: A- Students’ grade: A Web Project Instructor grade: B+Students’ grade: A Reflective Writing Instructor grade: B Students’ grade: B

24. The instructor finds Facebook too limiting to facilitate critical thinking. In reflective essays, students had relevant rhetorical reasons for choosing Facebook groups to promote their arguments, but the content itself was lacking due to constraints in the way Facebook organizes content.NEXT TIME: Disallow Facebook groups as an option. (?)

27. Students demonstrated more critical thinking in assignments where the technology was familiar or matched an already familiar paradigm (a WYSIWYG text editor, for example); blogs were more “successful” than wikis.

28. Students reported enjoying social interaction but also expressed more trust in authoritative texts (rather than their peers’ work); however, peers’ first-person arguments could push thinking in ways “expert” texts sometimes did not.