What is one assignment you will include in your syllabus assignment that uses collaboration and/or technology and/or other things Yancey, Selfe, Breuch, Bruffee, or Shaughnessey have discussed?

I like Bruffee’s ideas of peer influence through collaborative learning and think that the methods he describes are a must for all first year composition classes. From my experiences as a DI and from hearing about CI experiences with students, I believe that a combination of in person and virtual collaboration is necessary for students to remain engaged.

Many first-year composition classes follow a traditional model: the instructor decides which material is appropriate for the students to learn and the students respond by composing a response in writing. I think this method stifles creativity and doesn’t create an environment where students have their opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the outcome of the class. Also, students often don’t have the opportunity for an open discussion on what worked well in their assignment and what didn’t when assignments are graded and returned to students without pre-submittal instructor feedback. Rather than waiting for this feedback to come after an assignment has been graded, I think it would be helpful for students to participate in a peer review and mock pre-submittal review of an assignment before it is turned in. This would teach students how to give and receive feedback. I haven’t yet fleshed out all of the details, but if I were to include an assignment like this in my syllabus project, I would structure it as a three part project.

The first part would be a virtual peer review session that requires students in groups of 3-4 to pair up and revise a document real-time using a tool like Google Docs. The document chosen for them to revise would be no more than 2-3 pages. These are the goals I would set for the sessions:

• Develop their own analytical skills
• Become better proofreaders
• Learn how to take advice on suggested edits from a peer and decide which edits to proceed with
• Become more comfortable with the kinds of edit requests they might encounter later in their academic or professional careers

The second part of the assignment would be a mock pre-submittal review of the document that was peer reviewed. The students in each peer review group would meet with the course instructor and discuss the draft document. This session would help the instructor see the thought processes of the students; in turn, the students have an inside look at what instructors are looking for students to accomplish with their writing. In addition, it will encourage students to meet with their instructors for feedback on their assignments before submitting them. After this session, the students would set up a final session through Google Docs to finish up the document.

The last part of the peer review assignment would be a brief in-class presentation where each of the small groups would discuss what they learned from the assignment.