Title of Lesson: Collaborative research
writing project.
This project will be used instead of the general
final exam for the course. The final exam usually consists of students writing
an essay on a topic assigned by the instructor. According to Wexler (2015),
“students can benefit from more engaged applications of knowledge that get at
higher levels of thinking” (no page). This project will engage the students in
a writing project that includes collaboration. Students will work in groups of
3 and research an assigned topic. They will follow the stages of the writing
process and produce a research essay using a wiki that will be available for
future ENC 1102 students to use. The purpose of this project is to provide
additional opportunities for students to collaborate, demonstrate knowledge of
the steps of the writing process, and produce a well-researched essay on a
topic of local concern to the community through the use of a wiki. The writing
project length will be 750 words and require 4 outside sources. In King & Cox (2011), the authors discuss
the constructivist paradigm where “knowledge is seen as constructed: the
students engage in interaction with the learning materials, and by doing so,
they can integrate new ideas and try to make meaning of the new information”
(p. 125). This paradigm also provides “cooperative, collaborative, and
conversational opportunities for the students” (p. 125). In order to better
prepare students to engage in the new methods of learning, collaboration,
research skills and critical thinking are necessary skills for 21st
century learning. This project will invite students to participate in learning
activities that will activate all of these skills.
Target Audience: ENC 1102 students-2nd
semester required freshman composition class at a state college. Class members
range in age from 16(dual enrolled students) through 60+.
Learning objectives: According to
Krathwohl (2002), “the taxonomy of educational objectives is a framework for
classifying statements of what we expect or intend students to learn as a
result of instruction” (p. 212). These are my objectives with a notation of how
they fall on Bloom’s Taxonomy for the research writing project:
1. Students
will collaborate with a team to create a wiki that will present a research
writing project to the class. (Create/procedural)
2. Students will evaluate the pros and cons of a
local issue using library and field research. (Evaluate/conceptual)
3. Students will demonstrate
knowledge of surface features such as syntax, grammar, punctuation and spelling
in their writing. (Factual/understand)
4. Students will apply a variety of
electronic technologies to drafting, revising, and editing their writing.
(Apply/procedural)
5. Students will reflect on their
own researching, writing and learning processes. (Evaluating/Procedural)
Materials needed: Course textbook
and wiki link provided inside of the LMS
Instructional procedure/Class outline and methods:
This
will be an 8-week research writing project that will begin after the midterm
exam in a 16 week face-to-face class that meets 1 night per week for 2 hours
and 45 minutes. This research writing project will be used as the final exam
for the course.
Suggested learning activities: 8 week plan:
Week
|
Book/Readings
|
Assignment
|
Discussion/LMS
|
Week
1
|
Read/view
Project ppt. assignment
|
Introduction
to other group members
|
|
Week
2
|
Pre-writing
methods/ wiki demonstration video and sample wikis
|
Decide
on project topic from list provided; add project topic to group wiki
|
Team
meeting to determine roles
|
Week
3
|
Chapter/ppt/video
on wiki use
|
Outline
for writing project added to wiki
|
1
minute paper to evaluate roles/progress
|
Week
4
|
Read
chapter on drafting/ researching, library video
|
Mid-project
evaluation via survey monkey add/edit wiki draft
|
Team
meeting to change roles, if necessary
|
Week
5
|
Read
chapter on revision
|
Draft
of project due/ should be completed on wiki
|
1
minute paper to evaluate roles and progress
|
Week
6
|
Team
work week
|
Additions/revisions
to draft on wiki
|
|
Week
7
|
Peer
review/edit
|
Edit
wiki draft based on peer review responses
|
1
minute paper on peer review process
|
Week
8
|
Final
project presentation
|
Reflection
paper based on wiki research project
|
Evaluation/rubric: This project is worth 10% of the
final grade. The total number of possible points will be 100.
Attributes
|
Exemplary (25-21)
|
Above Average (20-16)
|
Average (15-11)
|
Below Average (10 below)
|
Collaboration/wiki production
|
Consistent and frequent engagement; complete goals and agreed roles
|
Occasional engagement; some members had to step in and complete goals
|
Made some additions and revisions; some members did not complete
tasks
|
Some additions made, but few revisions made; group members did not
work to complete goals.
|
Content/Development/Thesis
|
Explicit, clear thesis; strong support provided with details and
examples topic sentences connected to thesis
|
Clear thesis with strong support and details. Topic sentences
connected to thesis.
|
Thesis evident, however, support and details may be vague and lack
direct connection to thesis. Examples are not developed
|
Thesis is not clear. Details and support cannot be connected to
thesis.
|
Evidence and Support
|
Research is evident and relevant and accurate; 4 or more sources
cited
|
Research is evident and relevant and mostly accurate; 3 or more
sources cited
|
Few examples used to support ideas; Less than 2 sources cited
|
No supporting details or examples provided; No sources cited
|
Grammar, Mechanics, MLA
|
Writing is nearly free of all grammatical errors and follows MLA
format
|
Writing is basically free of grammatical errors and follows MLA
format
|
Writing may contain a few major grammatical and usage errors. MLA
format has some errors
|
Writing contains many grammatical and usage errors. No MLA format
evident.
|
References:
King,
K.P. and Cox, T.D. (2011). The
professor’s guide to taming technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age
Publishing, Inc.
Krathwohl,
D. R. (2002). A revision of bloom’s taxonomy: an overview. Theory into practice.
41, 4, 212-218.
Wexler,
E. (2015). In online courses, students learn more by doing than by watching. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
September 16, 2015.
The following YouTube videos will be posted for
instructional purposes:
This is a video on how to construct a wiki:
This is a video on how instructors have
used a wiki in the classroom:
The sample lesson plan from Even Start was helpful for me.

Wikis are generally interactive. It seems from your description of the lesson that the finished wiki will have a research paper on it. Is your goal with using a wiki in this course just the collaborative aspects? Or could you add more expectations to the finished product in regards to interactivity? How is your lesson plan incorporated with the rest of the classwork? You said this was 10% of the overall grade. Is the wiki related to any other assignments? Just curious. When I took basic college English many moons ago this kind of assignment would have been very foriegn to me. I never had to write a collaborative research paper -that I remember-- maybe I blocked it out! It would be interesting to see how an writing class has evolved in the last 20 years.
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