Karchmer-Klein, Rachel. Best Practices in Using the Internet to Support Writing. Chapter 11 of Best Practices in Writing Instruction. Ed. Graham, Steve, et al. Guilford Press:2007.
Ah, Internet. A tool both revered and reviled, comforting and threatening.
Dramatic, huh?
But seriously, though, the Internet can be all those things and so much more. Proper use of the Internet may provide the user endless valuable information that can help define a topic, clarify doubts, gather information, and research proper formatting techniques, all free of charge on most sites.
Improper use of the Internet, however, is a tool of distraction, of meaningless meandering from one topic to the next, chatting with friends, even downloading music or movies, God forbid.
It can promote creativity, once a student realizes the breadth of information pertinent to the topic, or it can promote laziness, sloppy writing, once a student realizes that with a simple ‘Cut’ and ‘Paste’, s/he has a professional-looking paper.
However, the article explores some of the better qualities of the Internet, such as how it promotes agency, once a student feels responsible for the text produced and posted online, and how students feel motivated to write a better final product once they know their work will be posted online. A third good point for the Internet is the interactivity of it, something I agree with and explore more in depth in my Multigenre Project.
The author mentions WebQuest as means of instruction and of developing writing excercises, but generally speaking, most of the tips and websites suggested in the reading are more geared towards a younger audience, with many of the projects oriented for fourth and fifth grade. Some of them are fairly simple, but I think they would take well to a bump in complexity, in particular the autobiographical and collaborative exercises.
I never really thought of building a class website until this semester, when another of the TA’s used a Facebook group for one of her classes last semester and had tremendous success. I built one group for each of my sections this semester, and I have to admite, the Internet group has its pros and its cons.
Pros include scaffolding, students helping each other out when one isn’t sure about a date or an assigned essay topic. It was easy for me to supply the materials for class, as all I had to do was provide a link to the sources. I could also link to websites I thought could be useful for students, and encouraged them to do the same.
Cons, on the other hand, go back to what I said before. Students procrastinated on looking up the articles posted, and would invent an endless variety of excuses for not having read, despite the fact that the material had been posted for several days.
I think I need to refine this some more, as I intend to use it next semester.
