_Spaces for Engagement: Problemetizing Participation_

Taking two very different student populations engaged in two very different projects, this paper examines the common elements both classes found necessary to building engaging virtual space for class participation.sA basic writing class using a MOO and a class of advanced undergraduates and graduate students building web spaces both utilize the capacities of their respective mediums to build spaces that contextualize and humanize the digital workspace of the hyper-classroom. How do students claim virtual spaces as their own?sWhat strategies do students employ to both manipulate the spaces they inhabit and what effect do these strategies have on the flow of the classroom?

Students engaged primarily in face-to-face discourse use coping strategies in order to make the classroom their own.sIt seems a necessary part of creating classroom structures.sThis presentation seeks to answer questions rising out of these student changes to the virtual classroom.sStudents change the classroom by their very presence -- but how do students make their "presence" known in the virtual?sImperative to the construction of a viable digital pedagogical community is the abilty of students to impress upon this virtual space a sense of ownership.sThis translates into a need for programming capabilities in MOO space and input into the design and use of web spaces and discussion spaces.sStudents must program, build spaces on-line, and engage in the creation of the virtual classroom, and yet we must then rearticulate the goals of the classroom to accommodate student constructions.


Presenter: Michael J. Salvo

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Target Audience: Advanced



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