Collaborative class

[GILLESPIEP@VMS.CSD.MU.EDU]

Lynne, this class had grades, but they were high, because the groups 
worked very hard and brought their grades way up.  How did I know the 
groups were truly collaborating?  I could see it.  I could see that there 
were some students who took the lead, who always called the other, who 
always emailed me with the questions they wanted answered, who took 
charge of MLA style, who were leaders in general.  But in a class of 
nineteen, I knew who was doing what.  

Here's how the class was set up: last year at a brainstorming breakfast
hosted by student affairs, the dean of student life said he would like to
hear more from students, and I replied that I had students who would like 
to be listened to.  I'd always wanted to teach a class where students 
were the genuine authorities and where their writing would be 
significant, would be attended to, would be important.  So this dean and 
I set up the course with one experimental section out of a large FY comp 
program.   The class broke into four groups, each reporting to a dean or 
director from Student Affairs, and each wrote two reports, one which 
detailed their responses to the first weeks of life at Marquette (and the 
creation of community here) and one at the end of the semester which made 
recommendations.

The deans came to class the second week and told the students the kinds 
of things they needed to know.  They also told them the things they did 
*not* need to know.  They made it abundantly clear that they knew all 
about alcohol, drugs, and sex on campus, that they knew about fake IDs, 
and the white underbelly of campus life.  They didn't want the students 
to hold back or falsify.  And they wanted student voices, not some 
disembodied voice of report writing.  Big job.

But what a pleasure that class was.  You should have seen their faces 
light up when I told them what we would be doing.  

Midway between the two reports they wrote one individual paper (I needed
to see if individual students had writing problems that did not manifest
themselves in e-journal writing).  This paper had as its audience a
student at risk, and its goal was to convince this student that there were
ways around their problems.  The person in charge of retention at MU came
to the class and had a discussion with my students, the end result of
which was that they got to "come out," admitting that they, too, were at
risk, and many of them ended up seeking out services they needed to
improve. 

When the deans had read the first reports (and they all disseminated them 
in ways that let the students know that they were indeed important to 
them) they told them what they had found useful and what would have 
helped further. 

By the end of the semester, these students had an uncanny understanding of
the workings of a university, and such a good take on their own
performance there.  They also saw the complexity of the issues they had to
write about; at the beginning of the year, the reports seemed easy to
write, but as they developed better critical thinking strategies, they saw
the problems for what they are: complicated, difficult to solve, complex,
multifaceted.  Throughout the semester the class developed a true sense of
community.  It sounds too good to be true.  Could I replicate such a great
experience for them and me?  I think so. 

Sorry this was so long-winded and cheerleaderish, but if anyone wants an 
even longer version, I'm working on it for our director of FY comp, who 
wants to try to integrate elements of what I did into the program.  

Email me and I'll send you a draft: specifics on what we did, how we did 
it, what worked, what needed work.  And thanks for asking, Lynne.

Paula Gillespie
gillespiep@vms.csd.mu.edu

On Wed, 3 Jan 1996, Lynne Belcher wrote:

> Paula,
> 
> I'd love to hear more about the class you taught where the writing was 
> mostly collaborative.  What kind of class was it?  Who were the 
> students?  I would love to figure out a way not to use grades, though I 
> don't think the public or state legislators will ever buy it as a 
> legitimate option.  I also wonder what to do with students who don't 
> try or aren't able to reach a certain level of competence.  How do you 
> know that if the work is all collaborative?  I don't mean to sound 
> critical; I just really want to know how you deal with these issues in 
> such a class. 
> 
> Lynne Belcher
> Southern Arkansas University
> 
>