Dr.
Wayne M. Butler The
Daedalus Group, Inc.
Writing
and Collaborative Learning on The Daedalus Integrated Writing Environment
This
presentation will offer a theoretical overview, a description and illustration
of The Daedalus Integrated Writing Environment, and a discussion of research
on how U.S. high school students learn to write on computer networks.
Theoretical
Background
The
current state of knowledge about teaching writing can be summarized by
the following statements:
--Writing
is a process not a product. --Writing
is a social act. --Writers
work within discourse communities, and collaborative learning pedagogy
models discourse communities for developing writers.
The
Daedalus Integrated Writing Environment (DIWE)
DIWE
includes Invent for pre-writing, Write for composing, and Respond for
guided peer review. In addition, two computer-mediated communication modules,
InterChange for real-time conferencing and Mail for electronic bulletin
board interaction, as well as several file sharing utilities, facilitate
social interaction during the various stages of the writing process.
Research
on DIWE
The
large body of research focusing on DIWE has indicated that:
--There
exists more student to student interaction through DIWE than in traditional
classroom settings --InterChange
helps basic writing students bridge the gap between orality and literacy --Students
write more often, write more varied types of texts, and produce more text
than they might in a traditional setting, are more active learners in
Daedalus classrooms, spend more time on task, have better attitudes toward
learning and writing, have a better understanding of the role of audience
in the writing process, and make measurable achievement gains as writers. |