"Using Message Boards...
...as Composition Assignments."
Presented by Scott Warnock
This podcast discusses the use of message boards and other asynchronous technologies. Warnock starts by defining message boards as digital forums available to all participants in an online course.
The message board differs from essays in a number of ways. The first is that it is dialogic in nature, mimicking a conversation. Additionally, the text is conscious of the multiple audiences involved, the students, faculty, and others participating online. The messages are often semiformal, meaning that the occasional slip up in grammar and usage might be allowable in the interest of the message. The format is somewhere between a formal essay and the informality of texting or chatting between friends. Also, the message board texts are topic focused. They stay within the topic and then can branch out into related issues only as the conversation allows. Instructors must be careful not to impose too much on the organic nature of the messages. These messages are rhetorically focused because the students are taking place in a conversation, often defending points and making statements that involve what he calls "real" writing.
He also mentions that message boards are not limited to online courses and can be useful in traditional and hybrid courses.
Next, he discusses utilization of message boards. First, he discusses the message boards as evidence. He asks students to use classmates' posts as evidence in writing assignments. This makes students pay closer attention to their posts and allows students to juxtapose his post with others. Using posts as evidence also leads to greater authority recognition in the student writing. There is often a greater authenticity in the students' writing, which can actually be an anti-plagiarism technique.
Another use of the message boards is the use of what he calls "post proofs." This involves students reading their own posts, proofreading them, and then posting brief metacommentaries for those posts. Because students see the stakes of message board writing as lower than the formal essays, it is in this environment where instructors have a great chance of achieving those critical revision skills that are sometimes not realized once more formal writing has already been graded.
Another assignment is called "my favorite poster." At midpoint, the students pick a favorite post from the first half and offer a description. This gives the students themselves some authority in deciding for themselves which posts have offered the best quality. This is a better approach than having the instructor tell the students which posts are working well. At the end of the semester, Warnock asks students to select a single poster and review all of the posts made by that one person. The students then write persuasively, citing quotations from the posts, as to why that poster is the best. This helps them write about what in writing is important and what appeals to them.
He also uses "writing puzzles." This involves cutting and pasting individual lines from a previous post into a new thread, and asking students to analyze and discuss the grammatical and mechanical issues found in the line. He frequently chooses text written by him for inclusion, and he endeavors to pick text from many students so as not promote a feeling of any one student being singled out.
Another assignment examines the specifics of the writing process. He might use a subject line titled "share your secrets." This asks students to write about how they write, and how they begin research and drafting. He has collected some of the best of these to create a best practices document for other students. The great benefit to using the message board for this activity is that the board preserves the post for later use and reference.
Another assignment is called "Challenge the Persona." He will sign in as a student to create a false persona who posts exaggerated claims or outlandish arguments without evidence or using logical fallacies. Students debate the points, and Warnock tries to goad the students into posting with the same lost control and exaggeration that frustrated them in the first place. This asks students to note the logical flaws and seek actual evidence. Students often feel a sense of accomplishment in "taking down" the flawed poster.
The last assignment uses peer review. With the use of message boards, the class itself becomes an ongoing peer review. The conversational posts, with an instructor serving as a moderator, are still mostly students looking at other students' work and responding to that work.
He concludes with a quick word on grading. He suggests that instructors not over-evaluate the posts, and let the students write. Students should get grades, but those grades should not get in the way of the students' abilities and desires to write what they mean in response to the posted topics.