from VCCA Journal, Volume 9, Number 2, Summer 1995, 40- 45
© Copyright 1995 VCCA Journal
How often have each of us, faculty and administration alike, endorsed a project or become caught up in things without having any idea of what is actually involved. That situation was the norm at Virginia Highlands Community College (VHCC) last year as the English faculty began to work toward creating a computer classroom for our writing students.
Our first thoughts were centered on how to finance such an undertaking in these days of budget constraints. When alerted during the summer of 1993 that a sizable Perkins Grant for developmental studies was available, we took on the task of writing a grant proposal that would link our developmental writing program to such a computer-assisted classroom. We were awarded the grant in the fall of 1993. That financial backing allowed for several things: the resources to provide released time for one faculty member to do background work on the computer needs of the English faculty and Virginia Highlands' students, the money to travel to conferences for technical advice, and the funds to provide teleconferences based on computerized writing concepts to the English faculty. Before we could begin to make critical decisions, however, we needed to know the type of classroom that would make our faculty and developmental students comfortable.
Our pedagogy was based on assumptions that writing is a process, that classroom emphasis should be on group work rather than faculty lecture, that peer review is an important part of the writing process, and that revising is paramount. So our mandate was to find ways to use computers to improve learning for our students, not to buy equipment and then decide how to use it.
As in all community colleges in Virginia, our students have varied needs and abilities; our developmental students have these same needs in magnified proportions. Most of them need to develop greater self-confidence and increase their academic skill levels. Research shows a correlation between a student's sense of anonymity at the computer and her/his willingness to participate in e-mail discussions, between learning computer skills and developing a better self-image, and between increasing academic skills (such as computer usage) and improving grades. We also felt that since many of our students are in certificate and terminal degree programs that are industry-related, the computer skills learned in the English classroom would be another way to link basic academic skills to those that our students would need on the job. Finally, we acknowledged that many of our students are older and have come from businesses that are already using computers; therefore, they would be comfortable either returning to known skills or learning a new skill that would help them return to the business world.
Having made these determinations, we were ready to create a plan for our first phase, based on the proposal submitted for the Perkins Grant. Six initial decisions were made:
The first stage brought in an overwhelming amount of information and material. Two faculty members attended the fall 1993 NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) annual conference which focused on computers in the classroom. Basic knowledge gained there served as a springboard to send other faculty to subsequent conferences, provided sources of books and journals, and gave us the confidence to proceed. Later conferences provided data on writing with computers, use of computers for developmental studies, and assessment. Informal discussions after these conferences encouraged us to subscribe to the journal, Computers and Composition, and to buy several computer/writing books for our professional library.
Another feature of this first phase was the use of in-service time and the grant monies to provide two training sessions for interested faculty, one on learning styles and how computers can be used to adapt courses to those various styles, and another on how to use the computer to provide technical graphics in the classroom (for those students whose learning style is primarily visual). During this same time, our Instructional Support Division, in cooperation with the English faculty, was working to change our assessment tools to the ASSET program. Our goal was to use ASSET to better place students in developmental skills and computer writing programs and to be able to track their progress through these programs. Finally, having made these determinations and assembled this information, we were ready to look at faculty released time. Two faculty members elected to work during the summer with whatever software was purchased. They each received three credit hours released time for the summer session.
With these decisions made and with information combined from all the conference visits, the final step of the first year was to purchase software and equipment for the classroom. Faculty, having been given the chance to preview a range of software, chose the Daedalus Integrated Writing Environment (Daedalus) as most suited to the needs of our students. The program would allow us to continue to pursue a process-oriented approach involving peer input. It also seemed to allow for flexibility in teaching styles. Those who reviewed the software felt that Daedalus would be more easily learned than most comparable programs. Most faculty also felt that our developmental students would not be as threatened by what they would be required to learn to use the Daedalus program itself. It could be networked, which would allow our students to continue to communicate with each other and the instructor, and this same network feature would allow students to share work with one another via the computer. Daedalus was also advanced enough, with its upper-level applications for doing bibliography, that students who entered in the developmental phase could complete their VHCC English sequence using the same computer program. In addition to a built-in word processor, spell checker and edit functions, Daedalus gave our faculty the opportunity to comment on student writing via office computers, gave the students a chance to correspond with the instructor via e-mail, and generally replicated many of the computer functions students will find in more advanced academic and business computers. An early summer delivery date was chosen.
Our selection of hardware and equipment resulted from many conferences with the Division of Academic and Instructional Support and the Computer Informations Systems (CIS) group. Their advice on what would work best within the existing technological structure of the college (networks and wiring) and what equipment would be most "user friendly" for our students was of paramount importance. With their combined assistance, we decided to purchase twenty-four IBM compatible 486 machines with a master control panel for the instructor that included a CD player and a sound board, and was connected to a ceiling-mounted LCD projector. We felt that these components would give us the capability to use the simple writing functions and also to mount multi-media presentations in the future. These functions, we felt, are part of varying the presentation of ideas for developmental students with different learning styles.
On the advice of the technology group, we also decided that two laser printers would be adequate for the classroom, especially when connected to other laser printers available in near-by computer labs. The availability of printers was a concern for us, because many of our students work or are on strict schedules; we felt they need to have access to computers and printers during their "free" time.
Next, a CIS computer lab in the same building convinced us that the ergonomically designed computer desk, with the drive and monitor recessed under a glass top and with a pull-out keyboard, was best. This feature allowed us to group the desks so that students could conference orally in small groups as well as discuss topics using Daedalus Interchange and Mail functions. These desks allow us to change from computer classroom to traditional classroom with the flick of an "on/off" switch. The same ideas motivated us to spend extra dollars for roller chairs so that students could easily move from one computer to another, or even one table-grouping to another, for class discussions and peer group work. Our final equipment decision was to install wall sconces that allow us to make the room dimmer during computer use or brighter for class discussions.
With the spring 1994 decisions made, we were then given the opportunity to apply for another Perkins Grant for the following school year. We wrote our proposal with the idea of concentrating our next efforts on classroom activities and gaining released time for the four faculty members who volunteered to prepare to teach in the computer classroom. We received the grant, and our next series of plans began to take shape.
Over the summer, two faculty members worked to learn the Daedalus system in order to pass the knowledge on to returning faculty in the fall. "Bugs" were worked out of the new network system, furniture and equipment were installed, and the new computers were put into place in the classroom. Additionally, those faculty members who would be teaching in the computer-equipped classroom received upgraded computers linked to the Daedalus network in their offices.
But one of the most important tasks of the summer was the hiring of a full-time technical assistant, paid for by the same Perkins Grant. The assistant's primary job was to be available during all classes as a technologist, leaving the instructor free to concentrate on instruction. The assistant would deal with network problems, computer lock-ups, failure to save data, and so on. Help would be available to students at all times, and the lesson could go on as that student received computer assistance. The technical assistant would also provide in-service sessions on new equipment, process disks, and help to alter some of the Daedalus programs (Invent and Respond) that assist students in preparing specific assignments to more nearly fit the teaching styles of the various instructors.
With no time to spare, the room was ready, the assistant was hired, and classes were held in the new writing classroom in the Fall Semester of 1994. Currently, English 01 and 111 are being taught in the computerized room. There is an on-going effort among faculty to keep files, note developing skills, listen to student reactions to the system, and generally learn how students are adapting to the new methods. With this initial research, we hope to learn how to smooth the transition from English 01 to 111, and later to 112, both for developmental and non-developmental students. We are learning that the software decision seems to be a sound one; that the students, even those who had never used computers before, learned the system quickly; and, as is often the case, that many students are more knowledgeable than the instructor about computers.
Further funds will be used this academic year to provide access to conferences, workshops and training sessions as our faculty develop and refine teaching methods appropriate to this new pedagogy. We are also working with the Instructional Support group and Library/Learning Lab personnel to position additional computers, connected to the Daedalus network, around the campus in order to provide easier access for students. We have also found that there is a need for a text scanner so that faculty can more easily provide examples of writing from outside the classroom for class models and discussion. And finally, the additional tracking and assessment made necessary by our project have necessitated the purchase of a scoring device to be used with ASSET testing. These items will be researched and acquired during the 1994-1995 academic year.
This overview would not be complete, however, without some attention to some random problems that were uncovered and that required solutions during our first year and a half. One of the earliest problems was that of handicapped access. Until we began to lay out the floor plan for the furniture placement, none of us had fully understood this problem. The requirements for spacing and aisle widths made some of our earlier floor plans impractical, and we finally compromised on a plan that was not grouped as we would have liked, but that did provide access to all areas of the room. The stations are arranged in pairs, but with "swivel chair access" to another pair of stations. Wide aisles make it possible for students to move from one area to another, to group around a single computer, or gather in groups larger than four.
Another last minute decision came as the result of a conference trip. We found that we needed to replace our "old" chalkboard with a "new" white board and felt markers. We had not realized that chalk dust can damage computers. Our decision to move to an LCD projector mounted in the ceiling was another piece of luck. We used an overhead projector for a faculty meeting and discovered that the standard LCD desktop panel would not allow for the kind of unobstructed view that we wanted for each computer station. So we were able to purchase exactly what we wanted, rather than having to live with a mistake. Another late decision came about after the room was furnished and operable. Once classes were underway, we took one look at the soft gray walls, the soft gray furniture and the soft gray chairs and realized that we had created an institutional gray world. Faculty donations quickly transformed the room with framed prints and posters, wall hangings and live plants. The entire mood of the room changed instantly, and the students gave the changes their unqualified approval.
Throughout this almost eighteen month period, with the help of the Perkins Grant and the groups from Instructional Support and CIS, we have struggled to learn about computers, to make decisions based on current and future learning needs, and to make purchases and money commitments based on what is best for VHCC students. We have concerned ourselves with the ways in which developmental students can learn best in a writing classroom and the ways all students can write best using computers. We have looked at how our department's use of computers in writing can have a positive impact on the increased abilities and self-confidence of developmental and non-developmental students. We have constantly queried ourselves on whether or not this avenue of learning will help students "see" writing as a process, as skill, not an art limited to the very creative few.
Our work has produced a colorful, unique classroom, a busy and exciting classroom, often a noisy classroom - but one in which we can see learning on a daily basis, see self-confidence develop and see students excited about learning. This project, which started out to assist developmental students, is helping all VHCC students of English as it progresses. It has truly become a "learning experience" for us all. We have found out that Fred Kemp was right:
Writing is not a mistake to be corrected, something broken to be fixed, a gap to be filled, or a wrong to be rejected. Writing is a skill that comes out of need and practice and attempts and reactions that are experienced only by those who can taste, however, slightly, the possibility of victory.
We feel that the concept of writing has changed for all of us, faculty and students; and slowly building our classroom with carefully chosen technological blocks and teaching concepts has provided a center where writing can, indeed, be "experienced" by each of us.
Works Cited
Kemp, Fred. "Who Programmed This? Examining the Instructional Attitudes of Writing Support Software." Computers and Composition 10 (November 1992): 9.
Helen Wilson is at Virginia Highlands Community College in Abingdon, Virginia.