Jennifer L. Craig Massachusetts Institute of Technology

1. TEACHING WRITING IN A GLOBALLY NETWORKED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT (GNLE): DIVERSE STUDENTS AT A DISTANCE Jennifer L. Craig Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2. “TAKEAWAY” MESSAGES • Writing pedagogy must be refined and expanded in order to culturally and linguistically diverse students in distance environments. • Know our diverse students better • Know ourselves better • Investigate our unexamined cultural assumptions and the way that we teach writing • Become more adept and intelligent users of technology • Ever increasing combinations of screens and various realities (virtual, actual, and hybrid).

3. TEACHING THESIS WRITING IN A GNLE*: THE SINGAPORE-MIT ALLIANCE, 2008-2010 • Who? Culturally and linguistically diverse students in a fast-paced 1-year engineering manufacturing master’s degree program. • Chiefly male students from Asia, Indonesia, India • Academically-gifted, high-achieving • What? Seminars were based on a writing-across-the curriculum (WAC) approach and designed to help students complete their theses. • Where? Students were in Singapore, and I was in Cambridge, MA. We worked over synchronous video. *Globally Networked Learning Environment, a collaborative and interactive environment facilitated by technology in a global context.

4. ASSUMPTIONS THAT I LEARNED TO INVESTIGATE MORE CLOSELY • “Knowing” our culturally and linguistically diverse students is straightforward. • Writing is taught the same way and means the same thing in different global contexts. • Synchronous distance technology transmits information completely and accurately.

5. INVESTIGATING THESE ASSUMPTIONS IN THE SINGAPORE-MIT GNLE • I surveyed the cohorts of 2008-2010 at the end of each summer, a few weeks after they had submitted their theses. Initially, my purpose was to learn about their responses to WAC pedagogy. • Then in 2010, I surveyed all 3 cohorts later in the year, asking different questions. • All surveys were approved by MIT’s Committee on the Use of Human Subjects.

6. ASSUMPTION #1: KNOWING CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE STUDENTS IS STRAIGHTFORWARD. • In the annual surveys, students reported that the majority of them were non-native speakers of English. • However, the 2010 survey gave a richer profile: multi-lingual, multi-competent users not only of English but also of other languages. • Students used their language abilities to occupy various roles and identities in global contexts.

7. ASSUMPTION 2-A: “WRITING” PEDAGOGY IS UNIVERSALLY FAMILIAR. • In the annual surveys, students reported a high degree of satisfaction with the WAC approach. • Rated comments on drafts and writing conferences as most useful. • Rated short instructional lectures were useful. • However, the 2010 survey revealed students’ lack of familiarity with WAC approach. • 33% of respondents never/rarely experienced active learning or group activities in the classroom. • 75% of the respondents had rarely/sometimes been in active, informal discussion with their teachers. • More than 50% had never/rarely participated in a writing conference. • More than 50% had rarely/sometimes received written comments on a draft. • Respondents reported that by the end of the seminar series, more than 50% were comfortable/very comfortable with these methods.

8. ASSUMPTION 2-B:“WRITING” IS TAUGHT THE SAME WAY AND MEANS THE SAME THING IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS. • Data showed that most students had learned writing in EFL contexts. For many of them, this meant • Emphasis on linguistic features and language acquisition; • Lack of experience with lengthy pieces of writing; • Teachers will pay attention to and correct grammar, spelling and syntax rather than focus on larger organizational issues, clarity and coherence.

10. ASSUMPTION 3: SYNCHRONOUS DISTANCE TECHNOLOGY TRANSMITS INFORMATION. YES, IT DOES. • Technology did create a learning environment that was • Collaborative and interactive • Multi-vocal • Multi-disciplinary • The environment was richer than asynchronous and non-visual technology could have created. • Most students responded that it was not difficult to learn to write over synchronous video.

11. ASSUMPTION 3: SYNCHRONOUS DISTANCE TECHNOLOGY TRANSMITS INFORMATION COMPLETELY AND ACCURATELY. NO, IT DOESN’T. • Rich social space seems to be fundamental to establishing ownership and agency in a writing classroom • However, distance technology cramped the social space of the writing classroom and often affected interactions. • Influence of “real” time was dominant. • Singapore classroom was not set up for easy discussion and for active learning. • Class time was constrained by technicians and schedule. • Myriad small, subtle, important details of tone, body and facial language were stripped away.

12. HOW DID I “REFINE AND EXPAND” WRITING PEDAGOGY IN THIS GNLE? • Knowing diverse students better: • Developed a linguistic profile activity. • Allowed time for them to emerge as multi-competent English language users. • Clarifying WAC and what we meant by “writing”: • Was explicit about WAC approaches, describing objectives in detail and clarifying expected behaviors in active learning and writing conferences. • Clarified differences between EFL and WAC. • Used EFL and ESP strategies to help them control language at the sentence level; helped them identify errors; but clarified my role in regard to correction.

13. HOW DID I MANAGE TECHNOLOGY MORE EFFECTIVELY IN A WRITING CLASSROOM? • Identified and discussed the ways in which technology cramped the social space of the classroom vs. the experience of F2F interactions. • Invited perceptions of the technology from their perspective. • Included more verbal warm-up work and writing to help us build relationship and empathy. • Quick writing; virtual “muddy cards;” more small group work

14. DEVELOPING AS TEACHERS AND RESEARCHERS. • Refining and expanding writing pedagogy for linguistically and culturally diverse students at a distance means • Knowing more about integrating second language acquisition approaches into the writing classroom. • Becoming more adept at managing various technologies and multiple screens in virtual, actual, and hybrid learning environments. • Examining unquestioned cultural assumptions and biases inherent in pedagogy and classroom practice.

15. THANK YOU! • Are there questions or comments? • Please feel free to contact me: • jcraig@mit.edu • A copy of this presentation is available on • http://jennifercraig.info/