Reviewing CW2K: D3 The Cognitive Impacts of Electronic Composing Environments

Margaret Syverson presented "A Timeless Way of Building: Designing Environments for Optimal Cognitive Development." Syverson argued that the ecological model informs our teaching process. Her thinking about the knowledge ecology of online instruction concerned a paradox where process couldn't be captured even in hypermedia, but the activity of writing online made ideas about one's knowledge ecology more tangible. Syverson used the example of a MOO and claimed that as you "walk" into an argument on a moo, you feel more embodied with the ideas of it.

Patrice Fleck's "Reading-Intensive Composition in the Computer Classroom: Transformative Surprises From Traditional CMC Classrooms" and Theresa Murden's "From Writing Instruction In a Classroom to Composition Online: How do We Get >From Here?" both emphasized two effects of CAI--that CAI pedagogy can be effectively translated in the offline class, and that online teaching teaches us to loosen up control while offering more possibilities for students to develop rigor and apply their critical reflections more powerfully. Peter Caster presented "Computer Technologies and the Reception of Student Writing." Caster (echoing Syverson) discussed a progression of the knowledge ecology in a wired class by criticizing the 4-6 page, double spaced, "social security number paper." He argued that such papers invite surface correction because the student's involvement with the knowledge is limited. Caster called for online assignments that encourage students to make real life proposals using visual and presentation techniques designed to hail decision makers.

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