K. E. Pokalo 1 Community College of Philadelphia

Transcription

1 K. E. Pokalo 1 Web-based Literature Instruction Transitions and Transactions: Literature Pedagogy in Community Colleges April 20-21, 2012 Kathryn E. Pokalo, adjunct Department of English 1700 Spring Garden Street Philadelphia, Pa kpokalo@ccp.edu

2 K. E. Pokalo 2 Web-based Literature Instruction Transitions and Transactions: Literature Pedagogy in Community Colleges April 20-21, 2012 Community college students attend community college classes for a multitude of reasons and from a multitude of backgrounds. Their motivations and needs differ dramatically from the needs and motivations of traditional students on a traditional residential campus, whether that campus is tucked away in a lovely mountain setting or flanking the mean streets of a major urban center. Community college students are commuters, mostly older than the traditional students, frequently with full-time jobs, and an array of adult responsibilities. They come to us with a variety of needs and to fulfill a variety of goals. The one factor they all have in common, though, is the desire to pursue an education, whether to serve as a model to their children and grandchildren or to improve their career options. Although the reasons students give for taking literature courses varies, there are some common points that motivate the students I ve taught in distance-education web-based classes. Many of the students in these classes have already earned a bachelor degree and they are engaged in the K-12 Pennsylvania certification process. Temple University s College of Education requires incoming graduate and certificate students to have completed six undergraduate credits in English and in Mathematics. LaSalle University requires its prospective nursing (BSN) students to complete a liberal arts sequence before beginning the nursing program. In addition to requiring courses in composition and research practices, English 101 and 102, requires a minimum of three credits in humanities courses for all Associates degree and certificate programs. The students are not limited to taking literature courses, but many choose these courses at CCP because there are online course

3 K. E. Pokalo 3 offerings and the online environment meets the students logistical needs. In pragmatic and theoretical terms, it is not necessary to argue for the inclusion of literature courses; rather, we should look at who is taking the courses, the purposes for which these students are taking these courses, and the instructional delivery environment that will best serve the needs of these students. In terms of learning environment and community, Michelle Drouin s 2008 survey of the literature seems to contradict Vigotsky s 1978 social learning theory, which proposes the necessity of social interaction for learning to occur. Drouin concludes that while some students desire a strong sense of a learning community, others do not, so course designers need to consider other motivations students have for taking online courses, such as working conditions, family situations, the desire to work at one s own pace. Using online forums or discussion boards accommodates the needs of both groups those seeking community and those who don t require it. Web-based instruction frees students from the commute to a physical classroom at a set time, while still requiring rigorous engagement with the texts and tasks, as well as with each other as students, building a virtual learning community. Freed from the stricture of the clock, students, within a given timeframe, can organize their reading and re-reading as well as their writing assignments so that the students respective needs are met. The study of literature, particularly at the survey level, lends itself to the online learning experience. Choosing material appropriate to students from a variety of educational and linguistic backgrounds is essential. Secondary to that, but only slightly less important, is the volume of reading and writing expected of students in these courses. Students are led to deeper engagement with the literature if the instructor has chosen an academically and intellectually appropriate

4 K. E. Pokalo 4 sequence of literary as well as critical readings. How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster offers an effective foundation for discussions about literary tropes, intertextuality, and literary theory. As students are exposed to the literary concepts through readings in this text in conjunction with specific literary texts, they are led to a deeper literary discourse by reading and commenting on other published literary criticism. To avoid having students frustrate themselves with random searches and essays inappropriate to the level of discussion, I assign specific essays from Literature Resource Center, JStor, or Project Muse for them to read. In survey courses, students need a bit of guidance in choosing the literary criticism they should be reading. As members of the college community, students have access to an array of subscription databases containing academically sound, peerreviewed publications. Some of the published material available on the subscription databases offers elegant, insightful, incisive analyses of literary pieces and their contexts. Other essays are turgid with impenetrable prose. For this reason, it is important for the instructor to have chosen readings that are appropriate both to the student in an introductory/survey course and for the literature under consideration. From a skills point of view, students are also learning how to use the databases by using them, knowledge, it is to be hoped, that will transfer across disciplines as they continue their studies. Web-based instruction can also alleviate some of the financial burdens our students face when they are attending classes. Because these are introductory courses, the literary texts are the usual suspects. Several publishers have taken to heart the need for quality inexpensive literary collections: Norton s Seagull series, Cengage, and Dover all offer excellent collections that will not present a financial burden and are readily available from non-specialized booksellers. My

5 K. E. Pokalo 5 Introduction to Poetry course makes use of the inexpensive collection: A Pocketful of Poems: Vintage Verse published by Cengage, supplemented with poems found on free websites such as bartleby.com, which presents the authoritative Oxford and Harvard editions for the classics and canon. Poetryarchive.org and poetryfoundation.org are free websites that present contemporary British and American poets, in many cases, reading their works. Conventions of literary discourse are conveyed to the full class through the models of literary criticism they read and through direct instruction via to the full class. Students receive comments specific to their informal and formal assignments. The literature courses I ve constructed require the students to respond to the literature informally in about 500 words each class session. Additionally there are three formal word essays spaced out through the term. Students write about 10,000 words through the literature course. Students discuss the literature among themselves in a Forum. I find better parity in the discussions in the forum than I ve found in traditional face-to-face classrooms. All students are required to contribute to the discussion threads, which I ve started, and make comments to each other. In a traditional classroom, there frequently emerges one or two dominant voices, but in the forum, all of the students are heard. One student wrote: I liked the forum atmosphere. It made it easier to express my opinion sooner as I m pretty shy at first. It was conveniant [sic] to rehash those conversations prior to doing the major papers (Pokalo). Students have a record of the discussions to which they can continue to return as needed. The stronger students are also modeling more effective modes of writing and expression of sophisticated thinking, but in a more neutral environment than face-to-face classroom. Taking online distance education classes is not without several serious set-backs. Students must be seriously motivated and possess a high degree of self-discipline to work in this

6 K. E. Pokalo 6 virtual environment. Additionally, students must have computer skills beyond the basic saving a document and opening a website. Some students do acquire the necessary skills saving and attaching rich text files, gaining access to the databases, navigating the instructional delivery system, and some students never quite grasp those skills. Web-based courses tend to have a higher failure and withdrawal rate than traditional classes. According to CCP s own institutional research, the school-wide withdrawal rate is 10.8%, while distance ed courses, which account for 6.87% of total credit sections, show a withdrawal rate of 13.77%. However, 52.15% of final grades were A/B in distance education courses compared to 46.21% in traditionally delivered courses (Report 221). Ronald Roach, in a 2002 article in Diverse Issues in Higher Education, discusses factors leading to retention in distance ed. courses. He concludes that in courses with high retention, two factors are present: First, instructors receive specific professional development in course construction and instructional delivery; and second, course enrollment is limited, optimally with no more than 25 students. At CCP, our class sizes regardless of course location are set by contract at a maximum of 25 for composition courses and a maximum of 35 for all other courses. Despite some limitations, online classes offer students a rich learning experience and a rich engagement with literature. A student wrote: This course has help[ed] me in so many different aspect[s] personally and professionally. I m able to understand what I m reading more and give an in depth analysis of various genres of writing what I was not able to do before hand (Pokalo). Isn t that what we all ask that our students can do something they couldn t do before?

7 K. E. Pokalo 7 Works Cited and Consulted Drouin, Michelle A. "The Relationship between Students' Perceived Sense of Community and Satisfaction, Achievement, and Retention in an Online Course." Quarterly Review of Distance Education 9.3 (2008): ProQuest Education Journals. Web. 2 Feb Fischman, Josh. "7 Community Colleges Try an Online Doorway to Help Students Succeed." The Chronicle of Higher Education (2011): N/a,n/a. ProQuest Education Journals; ProQuest Research Library. Web. 2 Feb National Community College Benchmark Project: National and Statewide Comparisons. Rep. no. 221., Oct Web. 2 Feb Pokalo, Kathryn E. Survey: unpublished raw data. Winter Google. Web. Winter 2011 Roach, Ronald. "Staying Connected: Getting Retention Right Is High Priority For Online Degree Programs." Diverse Issues in Higher Education (2002): 23+. ProQuest Education Journals; ProQuest Research Library. Web. 2 Feb

8 Web-based Literature Instruction K. E. Pokalo 8 Transitions and Transactions: Literature Pedagogy in Community Colleges Sources for literary texts: Bartleby.com April 20-21, 2012 Suggested resources A Pocketful of Poems: Vintage Verse. ed. by Madden, David. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, isbn The Seagull Reader: Stories, 2nd ed.. ed. by Joseph Kelly, Norton, isbn Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature Like a Professor. New York: Harper isbn 13: Subscription databases: Literature Resource Center. Gale JSTOR Project MUSE. Johns Hopkins UP Kathryn E. Pokalo: kpokalo@ccp.edu