Online Writing Resources for the Classroom: A discussion session for faculty and graduate students

What is the session about?

The session will cover alternatives and/or supplements to Vista/eCampus. The focus will be incorporating online writing in the class room - including blogs, wikis, chat, and so on. We intend the session to be open and collaborative, so please feel free to bring up your favorite online resources and approaches.

The session will also include discussion of UbuWeb as a tool for teaching and research. UbuWeb, the web's leading resource for visual - sound- conceptual- ethno- and other writing, with works by authors ranging from Gertrude Stein, to Jaques Lacan, to Frank Zappa, and beyond. The site includes the largest web-based archive of audio poetry and many other useful features.

We're talking Web 2.0 here. Web 2.0, a phrase coined by O'Reilly Media in 2004, refers to a perceived second generation of web-based services—such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies—that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users. For a great video about writing and Web 2.0, watch: The web is us/ing us.

We'll focus on some of the most notable applications of Web 2.0. We'll supply useful links and thoughts towards classroom application.

Blogs

Blog, n. A user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.

Blog, v. To maintain or add content to a blog.

Blogs are one of the best known Web 2.0 applications. You can design blogs and so can your students. It's a great tool for informal writing and for larger projects, as well as for designing your syllabus.

The best source for a free blog is blogger (now owned by Google).

WVU Web Services offers blogs for WVU classes and projects.

Technorati and Google are the top blog search engines.

Purdue Writing Program makes interesting use of Drupal, a blog-like application in their writing classes.

Wikis

A wiki is a website that allows visitors to add, remove, and otherwise edit and change content, typically without the need for registration. It also allows for linking among any number of pages. A wiki is like a collaborative blog (a faulty but useful analogy).

Wikipedia is the best known wiki. You and your students can author and edit pages. Here's a page about Wikipedia as a writing and research tool.

Chat

Chat is synchronous online discussion. It is useful for informal discussions and brainstorming. Chats can be chaotic, of course, but you can also make the discourse situation be part of the discussion.

IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is probably the oldest example.

MOOs (multiple object oriented dungeon [i.e. meeting place, following a fantasy/D&D model]) are one of the oldest form of chat meeting places. Lingua MOO is created specifically for use in writing classes (but the site is not always available).

Skype is a good example of the more recent chat programs. It supports multi-user chat, webcams, voice, etc.

Virtual Worlds are the latest and most immersive mode of real-time interaction. Second Life is the most elaborate and popular of these. It is a great place for chats, for writing, for research, and many other things as well. Harvard and other universities are holding lectures and classes in Second Life. WVU owns an island in Second Life, but you and your students can use it without purchasing land (or paying anything). Try it out!

Conclusion

The CLC website (here!) offers a lot of these resources as well. You can easily build webpages, wikis, chats, and so on. It's available to any instructor in the department. Contact Sandy Baldwin

One resource we support is UbuWeb. We hope more people take advantage of it, including UbuRadio - poetry to your desktop 24/7. UbuWeb is the leading web resource for experimental- sound- visual- ethno- and other poetry and writing. Let's think about incorporating Ubu into classes at WVU!