What Writing Students Get From the Net: Using Synchronous Communication
to Develop Writerly Skills
Goals of the Gendered Language Unit
An important step in deciding how and how often to use synchronous media
in any given unit or course is articulating pedagogical goals. Some of
these, although not all, certainly, will be relevant to chat or MUSH/MOO
use. These were my goals for the Gendered Language
assignment:
-
Gain a background in some expert opinion about gendered language through
readings
and discussion
-
Develop a hypothesis about the validity of those theories
-
Test hypothesis against “real life” experiences through a
series of chat "experiments" and determine its truth value
-
Use those experiences to draft a thesis/argument that solves the problem
posed in the assignment
-
Use those experiences to develop skills related to course
goals, namely, to contribute to the content of the argument through
a balanced use of expert opinion (research), reasoning (logos), and valid
personal experience (exemplification as development)
For some evidence about the assignment's success in relation to these goals,
see the Response page.