Voyages and Discoveries

1
Voyages and Discoveries

• Integrating Web-based Learning in English 353
• English Renaissance Literature, Excluding
  Shakespeare
• Rebecca
  Laroche
• Harriet
  Napierkowski
• CU-Colorado Springs,
  Department of English
• Graduate Teaching Program
• Spring Conference 2000 Preparing Future
  Faculty
• High Tech/High Touch
• January 14, 2000

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Course framework

• Seminar - 300-level
• Discussion-focused
• Student-centered
• Close reading of texts
• Papers analyzing readings

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Course objectives

• To increase appreciation for Renaissance
  literature
• To increase understanding of Renaissance
  literature
• To experience the literature through
  collaboration and immersion
• To build a discourse community of learners
• To gain confidence and skill in analyzing and
  articulating ideas, both orally and in writing

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Why technology?

• Repositories
• Private Discourse
• Public Forums

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Using technology to meet course objectives

• Creating a shared Commonplace Book
• Building a community of learners
• Extending classroom discussions
• Increasing access to English Renaissance texts
• Providing skill-building in electronic research
• Leveling the playing field
• Homesteading a place for knowledge construction

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Designing

• Design decisions
• Metaphors for the website

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Developing

• The development process
• Collaboration

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Implementing

• A visit to the student-constructed website...

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Survey results...

• I am at a disadvantage in this class because I do
  not possess computer skills.
• I have felt less connected to the other students
  taking the course.
• I was frustrated because the technology didn't
  work correctly.

• Agree/Strongly Agree
• 0
• 11
• 11

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Survey results...

• Agree/Strongly Agree
• 44
• 44
• 44

• I have a computer and Web access from home.
• Writing on the Web has made me more sensitive to
  the nuances of language.
• I have spent more time interacting with other
  students.

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Survey results...

• Agree/Strongly Agree
• 55
• 67
• 67

• I have had more opportunities to write.
• The environment I would most prefer for a
  literature course would be on-campus with a
  web-based component.
• I felt comfortable participating in the web-based
  threaded discussions.

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Survey results...

• Agree/Strongly Agree
• 78
• 78
• 78

• I had more responsibility for my own learning.
• My participation in this class has been
  greater.
• The use of technology enhanced my learning
  experience and my growth as a critical thinker.

13
Survey results...

• Agree/Strongly Agree
• 78
• 78
• 78

• The creation of the Commonplace Book increased my
  insight into Renaissance literature.
• My participation in "writing" the Commonplace
  Book helped me read literary texts more closely.
• The Commonplace Book increased my appreciation
  for English Renaissance literature.

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Survey results...

• Agree/Strongly Agree
• 78
• 89
• 89

• My experience with technology in this class has
  been beneficial/very beneficial.
• I have had a greater awareness of my peers as
  part of my audience of readers.
• I have a greater appreciation for the
  availability of Renaissance literary resources
  via the Web.

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Survey results...

• Agree/Strongly Agree
• 89
• 89
• 89

• The website was a useful way of extending
  classroom discussions.
• The course was hands-on and collaborative.
• The extent to which technology was used in this
  course was appropriate.

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Survey results...

• Agree/Strongly Agree
• 89
• 100
• 100

• The Commonplace Book increased my awareness and
  appreciation of my peers' literary insights.
• I have a greater understanding of literary
  research via the Web.
• When I want to use a computer in an open lab on
  campus, a computer is always/usually available to
  me.

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Survey results...

• When I began this course, my familiarity level
  with using the Web was
• 33 - Beginner
• 44 - Proficient
• 22 - Advanced

• Toward the end of this course, my familiarity
  level with using the Web was
• 0 - Beginner
• 33 - Proficient
• 67 - Advanced

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Excerpts from student travel logs...

• Our hardy crew, being some ten in number
  (including our brave captain, Dr. Rebecca
  Laroche) set sail about the end of the month of
  January, 1999. Our ship the Netscape being
  well-provided with every necessity for the
  exploration and discovery of those strange lands
  which we purposed to voyage toward and among, we
  vowed that though some others, unlike ourselves,
  had visited and recorded these lands before us,
  we would take from these forerunners the better
  part, and leave the chaff to the
• sea. . . . JCT

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Excerpts from student travel logs...

• I had not spoken to members of the crew in any
  real social context. In fact the internet
  actually was the strongest way I got to know
  their personalities. The commonplace book
  allowed me to see the emotional side of my peers
  what quotes had touched them enough to jot down
  on a keypad and screen. The spiritual levels
  become revealed by the importance and value given
  to the written word.The discussion of topics
  which I eagerly await to enter, also gave me a
  sense of who the other passengers areThey are an
  encouraging group . . . JKC

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Excerpts from student travel logs...

• My fear of web-space and its place in our class .
  . . has been replaced with an understanding, new
  at least to me, of how it can be easily
  incorporated into the voyages of discovery that
  are embarked upon each semester. Rather than
  creating tidal waves of extra labour, this new
  land provides lifeboats to any crew who chooses
  to use it. JM

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Excerpts from student travel logs...

• For me, the web component of English 353 has
  served more as an electronic vehicle of discovery
  than as the one-dimensional tool (a mere
  extension of books) that I initially thought it
  would be. SC

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Excerpts from student travel logs...

• While the selections we read help flesh out our
  journey from Sidney to Hakluyt, I feel the
  inclusion of the use of the internet was extra
  baggage. I do not see the internet as a new
  world to conquer or to usurp for ones own. It
  is a repository for information, true, but
  similar information is available from more
  traditional sources. CC

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Excerpts from student travel logs...

• I didnt really like searching for sites on the
  various authors because of all the junk sites I
  had to filter through to find the good sites from
  the bad ones. I much preferred the class
  website, but I would rather for it to have been
  an option than a requirement. CP

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Excerpts from student travel logs...

• Creatures of habit who delight in the smell of a
  library basement, care little for the wonders of
  the internet. After numerous blunders and
  disappointments, I shunned the web for a (decent)
  while. But the beauty and richness an array
  of detailed sites on interesting topics with
  wonderful anecdotes and illustrations, brought
  the innate beauty out of the cold technology.
  Class discussions on the web created a sense of
  community within the electrical confines of the
  internet. KR

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Excerpts from student travel logs...

• Perhaps one of the most exciting excursions was
  visiting the rooms of the commonplace book and
  the discussion page, where different interests
  were shared. And while I have not partaken much
  in discussions, it has been a valuable place to
  visit. I have enjoyed peeping into the minds and
  thoughts of others. KJW