by Christopher Dean, Will Hochman, Carra Hood, and Robert McEachern

The Many Colored Coat of the Emperor: Multi-layered, Literate, and Physical: Node VIII
By Chris Dean

The Second Frontier of Space
or, In the Beginning Ong Discussed "The Spoken Word"

Section Three

Now, I don't want to convey the impression that I'm here to bury electronic discourse; that is definitely not my intention. My point is simply this: I want, and need, an environment in which easy interchange is fostered between spoken and written discourse. I would also argue that our students need access to the learning spaces opened up by what a wireless laptop lab allows.

This is a space where students, particularly ones who do not ever seem to want to speak, can engage in discourse. For instance a student named "Michelle" rarely managed to volunteer any comments in full-group discussions although she would speak and work in small group discussions and answer questions if called on. However, in a discussion about ways that students might teach "a book length text," Michelle pushed the entire class' thinking in productive ways. In this discussion, students read a post in which I asked them, "What questions do you have, at the moment, about how to teach a book length text." Students responded via threaded discussion. We then moved into a brief, fifteen-minute online chat in which Michelle shined. In the middle of a spiraling discussion, Michelle came up with an approach that got all the students excited.

She first mentioned, "Maybe drawing from what the students found interesting or important would help," which caught no one's attention. However, the next comment Michelle made certainly did. She wrote, "I think that some books have relevant themes to the audience." "Kathy" responded by saying, "Michelle you're right. I think it's important to choose appropriate reading materials that relate to students, that will keep their interests." I interjected a question, asking, "Michelle, what sort of themes are you talking about? Could you hit us with an example? I'm very interested." Michelle answered, "like Romeo and Juliet, establishing independence."

From here the conversation took off and students offered other examples, many relating to Romeo and Juliet, which we had just read. As the students typed, I stepped away from my computer and began, on our white-board, to write down the themes the student teachers thought might be generally useful in helping students get through novels. This list had moved from keyboards, to screens, to the white board. After about three minutes, I sat down and told the students orally to stop typing and lower their screens. I asked them to look at the list we had created on the board and to tell me their reactions as well as what we might add to the list. Instantly hands flew up and students started speaking, including Michelle. Students who said little or nothing during the chat started talking as well.And w e didn't just talk about themes to use in teaching novels; we went past that into a discussion of what it was like to use electronic discourse to discuss issues of pedagogy.

Students mentioned their enjoyment of using threaded discussions and chat generally; although some said that they still preferred talking face-to-face. I also asked them what they had noticed that was different about the wireless lab compared to the desktop lab we had worked in previously. One student raised his hand, echoing what Carra Hood writes about in this hypertext, and said, "I could see people's faces." Many students, including Michelle, nodded their assent in a way that all teachers know means someone has said something significant.

This simple fact--that students could see each other's faces when we talked (and even when we chatted online)--is enormously important. There is a way in which body language, inflection, voice, and even physical presence play a role in how discussions take place. Equally significant were the contributions that students like Michelle made during our electronic discussions; in this laptop lab, it was possible to blend textually and orally based secondary orality into a powerful blend of text and talk. I do not think that such a discussion would have happened if students had been, in a sense, trapped behind monitors. As these students pointed out, not seeing each other is quite important.

From my perspective, being able to make eye contact, move about the room, and float between computer-mediated secondary orality to oral discourse is very important because it allows teacher and students to learn course content using intelligences that they are comfortable with--intelligences that speak of who they are and the homes they inhabit. Also, it allows me to engage in my preferred teaching intelligence/modality: what I think of as an intelligent e-pedagogy. This intelligent e-pedagogy describes what I try to do as a classroom teacher. I teach students situated in a real physical space how to engage in electronic and oral discourse. That's my goal, my mission, if you well.

Node Nine of "The Many Colored Coat of the Emperor"