To the traditional expectations, those of us requiring a collaborative hypertext presentation must add:
Knowledgeable Linking / Collaborative Effort which includes Email Communication such as that of the 1980s Decade Group / Apollo 13 Group / 1920s Decade Group
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How well were students able to convey to readers the meaningful relationships among their chosen web page elements?
Joseph Janangelo also addresses the issue of resistance by techers to recognize hypertext in all its diverse aspects as an acceptable form of academic and intellectual expression. In a recent CCCC article, he explains how he initially rejected "persuasive hypertexts" submitted by his students for an assigned "print-based term paper" (24-25). Through his research and a comparison of hypertext composition to the collage work of artist Joseph Cornell, he came to believe, however, that "the act of selecting and linking texts is a challenging intellectual activity-- one to which elements of western rhetoric pertain even when they are reconfigured by technology. [. . .] [C]omposing a persuasive collage or hypertext requires rhetorical skill" (27).
As teachers of students who will need this skill in order to be considered literate in the 21st century, it is our responsibility to learn to understand, teach and evaluate that skill.
Janangelo also claims that "the specific features that pertain to Cornell's art and that can pertain to persuasive hypertexts are: "the minimalist use of ready made texts; the knowledgable linking of disperate materials; and the creation of a critical commentary to illuminate the intellectual connections that motivate the links" (28).
In the VC project, we evalute students' ability to create such a "knowledgable linking" of the elements on their web pages by evaluating the effect the final combination of those elements has on readers. To do so, we consider students' peer response to one another's web sites (via the Virtual Classroom) as well as our own reactions as readers and teachers, to determine how well each group's chosen combination of text, graphics and links enable readers to understand the authors' intended message -- in other words, to determine how well the site's authors' have accomplished their intended purpose.
We do not, however, currently ask students to provide Janangelo's "critical commentary to illuminate the intellectual connections that motivate the links," although I believe that we should consider doing so, perhaps in the form of a descriptive commentary paper to be turned in as part of their final portfolio. (We would especially appreciate hearing any comments and suggestions you might have on this aspect of evaluating the project.)
Works Cited
Janangelo, Joseph. "Joseph Cornell and the
Artisty of Composing Persuasive Hypertexts." College Composition
and Communication 49.1 (1998).
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How diligently did the student attempt to work within the context of a collaborative group assignment?
Traditional pedagogy views writing as a solitary endeavor. However, Thomas T. Barker and Fred O. Kemp point out that most professional writing is the result of social collaboration. They say: "Professional writing, by almost all accounts, is the product of the writer’s conscious association with members of a particular professional group. This is shown specifically by the acknowledgments given at the beginning of a book and by the numerous citations and references provided throughout, and more generally by any special terminology used. Writers write as participants of a particular group of people who share the same general assumptions and vocabulary--what is sometimes called a “discourse community”(14).
In the virtual classroom project, students collaborate to share ideas and to critique one another’s work in every step of the process of creating their web page. Their first assignment is to chose a topic and post a messagein the Speakeasy Studio and Cafe introducing themselves to other students interested in the same topic and stating a more specific subtopic they would like to explore. Then they read other students’ messages and respond to those who write that they have similar interests. In this way, they divide themselves into groups and narrow the focus of their subtopic. This is a type of collaborative brainstorming.
Other assignments, such as writing a formal web page proposal, require a collaborative effort to generate both the ideas that will be included in the proposal and the text that will express those ideas. Student collaboration in the writing process continues, even after the proposal is complete and posted, through student responses to it via the virtual classroom. Besides their ability to respond to writing posted in the virtual classroom, students also communicate via e-mail and chatrooms. To make these communication fora more authentic “discourse communities” for students, most teachers in the project do not closely monitor or grade the students’ exchanges. Without the direct interference of “teachers' voices,” students communicate and collaborate using their own shared assumptions and vocabulary. For example, student writers often referred to a shared culture of music or MTV and used common slang expressions in their e-mail and chatroom exchanges.
David Reinking proposes that professional writing is becoming more collaborative in ways never imagined before the advent of technology like e-mail and the Internet. He says that by simply adding his e-mail address to a published article he suddenly becomes "easily accessible to thousands of readers some of whom might take issue with what I’ve written here and who now have the power to express their views directly to me and to others. . . . Something else could happen too . . What I’ve written might become not a final indisputable and unchangeable document but only the initiation of an ongoing dialogue and explication of ideas. The authoritative finality of this article as a printed document would be subverted, being replaced by a democracy of ideas in which, by definition, many more individuals participate. Writing in such an environment becomes inherently collaborative, as opposed to the manufactured collaboration we create in classrooms where we often conceptualize writing as essentially a solitary activity" (631).
Reinking believes that the very tools used to make writing more collaborative in the virtual classroom project will also make professional writing more collaborative. He thereby confirms both the belief that these tools do create a collaborative writing environment and our need to attain that goal in teaching students to students to write.
Barker, Thomas T., and Fred O. Kemp. “Network Theory: A Postmodern Pedagogy for theWriting Classroom.” Computers and Community: Teaching Composition in the Twenty- FirstCentury. Ed. Carolyn Handa. Portsmouth: Boynton Cook, 1990. 1-27.
Reinking, David. “Me and My Hypertext:) A Multiple Digression Analysis of Technology and Literacy (sic)." The Reading Teacher 50 (1997): 626-43.
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The following is a chronological
presentation of the e-mail communication that occured among the members
of a group building their project around the 1980s decade during the fall
1998 project. Those places where the collaborative process seem to be working
particularly well are italicized in blue. 
Wed. 21 Oct. 1998Hey Student 2,
I just got your message and i am so glad that you gave me your email, it was getting hard to find each other on that webpage.
I got your ideas and I agree with you however, I don't think we should concentrate on popular news events, i think that is too broad, I think that we will do fine on movies, music, and fashion and their influences on that time and also a comparison to movies, music and fashion of our time.
Basically here is my proposal, but remember that I am just flowin so we can change anything or you can add or subtract stuff from my ideas. I'm just trying to get stuff organized, ya know?
(Student 1's ideas for the group's web page proposal concludes the message)Wed, Oct. 28, 1998
Hello-
I think it's a good idea that you be the secretary since you are really on top of things! I like the idea of each of us having a particular subject to research. I'm fine with the movie part of it. I haven't read Student 1's proposal yet, so when I do, I will comment on it
Also, I found an 80's decade on the internet and I found out what I liked and didn't like about it. The page opens up with graphics of "The Breakfast Club", "Pretty in Pink", etc. It gave me the idea of doing a collage of movies, music and fashion in one. What do you think?
I'm going to read Student 1's e-mail so that I can comment on the proposal. Talk to you later!Wed. Oct. 28, 1998
Hey Hey my eighties ladies,
I just got Student 2's message and I agree with all of it, and have found basically the same stuff about how hard it is to get information on the movies, but I still want to include a little about them. I also have questions about the types of jobs available, secretary etc. what are the jobs of secretary, just writing stuff down? We should talk about this and make some decisions, I thought that Student 1's email was a pretty good guideline for our proposal-what do you think? I can't wait to get this started, our webpage is going to kick ass!!! Can't wait to hear from you!!
Nov. 2, 1998
Student 1 and Student 2,
Ok, sorry I didn't write this weekend, things were way crazy. However- I guess we should really get started on our proposal for our webpage so here are my ideas that I think we should present if you ladies like it:
Basically I think our proposal should be what Student 1 wrote a while ago because this just has to be an idea-it's not written in stone ya know
Here goes--
1. The topic of our webpage is music, fashion, and movies from the 80s.
2. The audience will be people who grew up in the 80s and love it. Also anyone who is
interested in learning a little about the 80s and its influence at the time will gain from our
webpage.
3. The purpose of our page will be to entertain and to inform.
4. The content of our page will include 3 movies, 3, influential music groups or individuals, and
3 fashion crazes. We are thinking of having the layout of our page begin with the first page
being a collage of images-movies, music, fashion, and then the browser can click on one of
these images and that will send them to a seperate page that will go in depth about that
image.
5. Our layout will have a lot to do with our organization. What that means is that we will start
out with an intro page that has images that people can click on and than each image will send
that person to a specific page that goes in depth about whatever that image is for example a
picture of Cyndi Layper would send a person to a page that deals with only Cyndi Lauper.
6. We will have lots of pictures associated with the 3 movies, music icons, and fashions we
decide to include.
7. There are many different webpages that we could link our page to because there is a lot of
80s pages out there, here are a few examples:
www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Mezzanine/4480/
www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/5282
www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/2915/index1.html
8. In this webpage the responsibilities will be divided as follows: Student 1=music,
Student 2=movies, Student 3=fashion.That is pretty much my idea for our posted proposal. We can change who does what if you guys want- I think that our next really big thing is that we need to decide what movies, music, and fashion we will be doing -- Here are my ideas, write back and tell me what you think:
Movies- The Breakfast Club, Goonies, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Pretty in Pink
Music- Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Boy George, Culture Club
Fashion- Legwarmers, Multicolored hair, Torn Sweatshirts (like Flashdance),
Madonnaesque skirts, lace, necklaces
I know this is more than 3 things, I just wanted to throw out some ideas. Please write back-I know this is crazy long, I just wanted to get some stuff done, thanks.Friday, Nov. 6, 1998
Dear Ladies,
Hey! What's up? I just got finished reading Student 3's e-mail about narrowing the topic for the webpage. I know in the beginning I said I was going to do work on the movies sections of the project preferably the Breakfast Club, but I'm having trouble finding sources so I am going change my part of the project to music. I am familiar with a lot of artists from the eighties and I have a lot of groups in mind, my question is do you ladies want me to concentrate on music of the eighties in general? I would really like help on this because I am really confused, thanks you ladies are the best!Mon, Nov. 9, 1998
Hello Student 1
I was interested in doing 80's music. I figured that I will pick three top hits of the decade: probably someting from Madonna, Cindy Lauper and (I'll think of a good guy to throw in!) Picking a day this week to coordinate ideas sounds good to me. I'm not here on Tuesday, but Wednesday or Thursday is good to me. On Wednesday in class I will be checking out graphics on this free graphic page I learned about.
I didn't get a chance to check out the web page proposal yet, but I will right after I e-mail you this. I'm sure it's great.
I'll check Student 3s e-mail message to me and see what she wrote. Talk to you soon!Mon, Nov. 9, 1998
Subject: WE ARE SOOOOO CONFUSED!
Student 1,
I now HAVE no idea what I'm doing. I just read your e-mail and you said I'm doing movies, no problem. So just forget my other e-mail because now I'm really confused!!!! For three movies I'm going to research by Wednesday because I know of only a few like, "Pretty in Pink", Breakfast Club", but I bet if I look further I might come up with other movies I totally forgot about.
Sorry about the confusion. MOVIES it is. By Wednesday I will e-mail you my three movies and how I plan to arrange them into the web page. If you have any ideas before then (and vice versa), we'll e-mail each other.Nov. 11, 1998
Hey Ladies,
Well here I go, our webpage is due Dec. 3rd. Today in class I think we are going to start learning how to put pictures and stuff like that in our pages so i promise to pay really close attention, because didn't we all agree that we don't know nothing about web pages? I was thinking and I think we need to keep our page simple and our graphics simple so here is my idea for the layout, tell me what you think.
On the first page we will have our title across the top, like 80s All the Time, or We Love the 80s, etc. Than we will have 3 pictures, one of a movie, one of a musician, and one of a fashion statement. When a browser clicks on one of those pictures, it will send them to a page that talks about that thing. For example, if a browser clicks on fashion than it will send them to a page that I will make, since it is my responsibility. I thought that each of those pages should be uniform in appearance, my thought is we can have one picture for each of the 3 movies, music, or fashion we will do an than a paragraph or two on that picture. At the end of each page we will have links that send the browser to that specific topic, music, movies, or fashion. That would be our webpage simple, but interesting, I don't think we want to get bogged down with fancy stuff, since our deadline is really coming up fast. What do you think?
Anyway- I figure that by this Friday, we should all find about 4 or 5 pictures that deal with our specific topic, for example I'll find 5 pics on fashion. Please email me back with what you think cause I just want to get this thing done.
Can't wait to hear from you, Always Student 1Nov. 15, 1998
Hello--
I definitely want to do movies, I think Student 3 said she had a hard time. Who knows? But the three pictures I want to do is "Breakfast Club", "FlashDance", and "Goonies" I will send you the web site to pick up these pictures as soon as I find it.
Speak to you soon. I'll probably send you another e-mail because I keep sending you things , o.k.?Nov. 18, 1998
Student 2,
I am totally done with my section of the webpage, the entire page, the fashion page, and i did an interview with someone for the 80s page, my aunt too. My teacher says that the only way you can see it is when I post it and then you post yours so that I can connect it to the intro page. So I am going to try and post my sections sometime this week, maybe even today, please email me when you get this and let me know what ya think.Nov. 19, 1998
Hey Student 1 and Student 3,
I thought I'd write because I wanted you both to know that I am still working hard on this project. I am having sooooo many problems with the graphics though.
Student 1, could you do much a huge favor? When I send you my page on "Movies", could you please import the pictures? I'll be sending you a rough draft today, 11-19-98, with the page attached to my e-mail.
Student 3, I haven't heard from you in a while. How are you doing? I'm going to send you a rough draft of my page for some input. How is the music coming along?
Well, to put your mind at ease, I've heard some of the horror stories of the other groups. Some have not even contacted each other yet! Could you imagine?
Speak to both of you soon!
Notice that in the following messages two of the group members comment that the third member has not been e-mailing lately, and what finally happens is that one of the two ends up doing the absent member's part of the web page.
Nov. 29, 1998
Student 2,
I sure haven't heard from Student 3, but don't panic my teacher says we should just worry about our parts, I am going to try to contack her once more though. I can't wait to see your part of the page, I bet it's great.Nov. 29, 1998
Student 3,
Neither Student 2 or I have heard from you lately, I hope you are not having any problems with email or anything like that, I really hope that everything is going well, please e-mail me back and let me know what is going on, if you are having a lot of trouble or something just tell me, I bet I can help.Dec. 1, 1998
Student 2,
I went ahead and did the music section since we hadn't heard from Student 3. If I had more time it could be better, but somethin is better than nothin, right? I have already published our webpage, it looks really good!
The only problem that I am having is that at the bottom of the fashion, music, and interview pages I wrote a link that should send them back to the intro page and it's not working so I'm going to email my teacher about that. Can't wait to see your section, You can email me at any time and let me know where your page is so that I can link it. I check my email everyday.Dec. 1, 1998
Hey Student 1,
It looks great!!!! I'm a little confused because my page mentions movies too. Is it going to be too much? Also on the graphics, they don't show up on my end, some did, but I had to click on them for them to appear. Could you ask your teacher how to correct that?
Also, I don't mean to criticize, but yellow writing on white background is really hard to see. But I thought you had a different background. I don't know.
Speak to you soon. Hopefully we can have this done by tomorrow. I'm trying my hardest.Dec. 1, 1998
Student 2,
I cannot wait to see our page, but I typed in (an incorrect url address) and it's saying "Server not found". Any suggestions?
I will have my professor tell me how we can link our pages together on Wednesday during class (4 p.m., my time).
I'm glad we are partners too, our Webpage is going to rock!
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The following is a chronological presentation of the e-mail communication that occured among the members of a group building their project around the movie Apollo 13 during the fall 1998 project. Those places where the collaborative process seem to be working particularly well are italicized in blue. Student names are designated as student 1, 2, 3, and 4.Wednesday, October 21
Hey Student 2, 3, and 4
How's it going. so what do you think about this project. I didn't see your intro, so I thought maybe I could get your opinion on the web page.
Student 1
Wednesday, October 28
To: Student 1
We need to get some ideas together for this project. What are your ideas for this web page? I was thinking we could do something like the historical accuracy compared t the movie. I have got together some information from the internet. I have articles about the movie as well as articles about the actual voyage. There are many other areas we could explore. Another thing that would be interesting would be how they filmed the movie and what sources they used for their information. I would like to know your ideas. Please email me as soon as possible.
Student 2
Wednesday, October 28
Hi, I received your e-mail sorry I couldn't reply before, but I've been a little confused. I haven't watched the movie Apollo 13, I wasn't in class when we picked our topic. I'm willing to work with you guys on the topic but I have to watch the movie first. I will rent it as soon as possible. For now I can't give you any ideas because I won't know what I'm talking about, but I think your idea is great. I hope you understand, I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Student 3
Hi Student 2 and 3
Sounds like we have a winner! Sorry I'm in a cheesey mood. This should be an interesting project. If you have any questions drop me a line. Student1@yahoo.com
Student 1
Hello Students 2, 3 and 4
So how's our focus. We really need to get a move on this. The proposal is due on Thursday. Maybe we can all meet in the library some time.
I would like to focus on the dialog in the movie.
So drop me a line and let me know.
Student 1
Hello Student 2, 3, and 4,
Thanks to whom ever wrote [the proposal]. I had no time this weekend to do much except listen to an audio tape of Apollo 13 on my way back and forth to drill for guard. I found some interesting dialog that I didn't think was true before. This project is proving to be educational already. Well I hope research is going well for you guys. Good Luck!
Student 1
Hello Student 2, 3, and 4
Haven't heard from anyone for awhile. How is your research going? Let me know.
Hi (to students 2 and 3)
So how is every one doing with this project. I have some web page ideas saved. How's research going along. What part are you concentrating on? Well, let me know.
Later, Student 1
This is the final communication among the group members. As you may have noticed, Student 4 never responded to any messages, although that student did remain in the course and repeatedly assured the instructor that she/he was an active participant in the project.
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A third problem occurs when three or four strong-willed students cannot agree on any focus for the page. In the following communication between members of a 1920s Decade group, this inability to communicate was so derisive that, with the agreement of the instructors involved, the project was divided.10/26
Hello new group (mailed to Students 2, 3, and 4),
I am excited about this project. What parts of the 1920s are you interested in? I would like to focus on famous criminals from that decade. My e-mail address is: Student1@aol.com.
Student 1
10/27
To: Student 2, 3, and 4,
I have some experience building web pages and have made a demonstration page to show you all what I have in mind. Take a look! Hope to hear from you soon.
Student 1
10/28
To: Student 1
Well just so you know that Student 3 is sick and has not been in school in a while and for now we just have to wourk without her.
By the way this is from both Student 2 and Student 4. we have english together.
We don't mean to seem ungrateful about what you are doing but, before we work on this paper we must all agree on what is going to be done and how it will be done. We really do appreciate all the work tat you have done but we have to also do this as a research paper so we have deadlines for when things are due and you are just a little ahead of us. We also have to know what you are doing before you do it so we have a chance to tie it into our termpaper that we have to do. Feel free to do what you feel is right to do, however pleas keep us informed in the process.
Student 2 wants to do her paper on the music of the 20's Student 4 is doing her paper on the gravestones from the 17 & 18 century form in the 1920 and have they compare to the ones now.
As soon as we find out what Student 3 is doing her part on we will let you know that also, if she does not tell you first.
we do apprciate the work that you have done and we hope that you keep it up. we will also try to stay at the pace that you are at however there is just to many things going on in this class at once for us to keep up.
thanks for all the hard work you did and we will try harder
Student 2 and Student 4
10/29/98
Hello Everyone,
I am sorry I haven't gotten much in touch with anybody, but AI've been sick for the past couple of weeks. But about the twenties, I think htat there are several interesting aspects of the decade. I think that there are several interesting aspects of the decade. I think we could focus on the culture, for example The Great Gatsby was an indication of the lifestyles. We could also do the music and fashion of the time.
10/31/98
Hello Everyone,
I have adjusted the demo page to reflect everyone's focuses as much as possible. What do you think?
Student 1
11/3/98
To: Group
Subj: web page writing poposal
From: Student 2
-- the topic of my web page is the change of gravestones in the 1920's
--the aduence should expect to learn about the change in gravestones. this page will be useful to anyone who needs to know more about the gravestones.
--the purpose is to show that the gravestones have only changes a little bit and that everything is still the same to the point.
--type of context that my part will contain is the intraregional diversity, cultueal ad economical influences and alittle about the cultures history.
--the orginization wil be broken down into the 3 parts and explaines alittle about them all.
-- the pictue and images will hopefully be of the gravestones from then.
--this can be related to any web sit that has to dea with history or the 20ht century.
--the work that each member will give is what htey know about htere topic that they chose.
Ladys sorry that this a alittle late i tryed e-mailing this to you from my house and realizes that i have never recieved it so that means that you havent either.
Student 2
This is the final communication among these group members. Each approached their instructors about problems within the group. Student 3 withdrew from the project and the web site was constructed by only students 2 and 4.
web site
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