Hi Theresa,
My students have done on-line Inkshedding, but I found that it was
effective only if the discussion was later picked up orally in class.
Natasha
Theresa Hyland wrote:
> I started this response 5 days ago, and hesitated to send it because
> the conversation was already so lively. I apologize if some of this
> has been said before, but in a way, I think it extends what has been
> said: Miriam, as far as I can tell, Inkshedding as a /process /is not
> on the wane. After all, it is a semi-formal method of providing
> feedback to colleagues on their writing. If anything, there is even
> more call for that kind of feedback in today's
> everything-goes-fire-it-off-on-email society. We don't reflect
> enough! In fact, when I was teaching the Teaching Writing course this
> year, I felt that inkshedding was one of the ways to reinstate some
> disciplined reflection into the course. The students in this course
> are pursuing a Writing Certificate at our university. This can be
> taken simultaneously while they are doing their degree program. So,
> the students in my class had already taken several different writing
> courses when they came to my class. From what I can gather from the
> students, these courses had them do a lot of group exercises, peer
> response, etc. However, much of this was done verbally, and therefore
> was very much "off-the-cuff". While the inkshedding we do is
> spontaneous, the very fact that it is written down means that there is
> a "pause and reflect" element to it. Furthermore, controversial or
> thoughtful responses are then responded to and the whole thing is
> edited and distributed. This practice gives 3 possible points of
> reflection to any given response. This is exactly what is missing in
> many of the peer response exercises that my students have previously
> done. One thing I am considering, and I would like to know if anyone
> else has done this: do you have Inkshedding exercises on-line (ie
> through Web CT)? Does that work as well, or do we need the immediate
> presence of the reader in order for Inkshedding to really work?
> I think that our Inkshedding process is still sound, but manybe we
> have to re-vision how we do our Inkshedding Conferences. Perhaps we
> have become an exclusive club that doesn't welcome new members? Are
> our conferences too expensive? Perhaps our insistence that attendees
> stay for 3 or 4 days is expecting too much of those of us who are
> under-employed or still students? Would our Inkshedding Conference be
> more welcoming if, perhaps, we put our Inksheds on-line (as they
> happen) so that those of us who can't come to the conference can still
> participate in the discussions resulting from the presentations? Just
> some thoughts ---- Theresa.
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