Rethinking autonomy through multiliteracies pedagogy: An innovative wikis & blogs project

Anna Bougia, M.A, PhD (cand), Bolton University

The philosophy behind action research

Research on writing in wikis and blogs

The cycles of action: from amfoteronomy to autonomy

The RAWB innovative research project

Primary results

Reflections

Presentation outline

Mills (2011) defines action research design as a systematic procedure done by teachers address a specific educational problem, test and improve their own practice and thus student learning.

Action research invite participants to describe “how things happen and how it affects them”

No pre-determined hypothesis and specific variables My goal: to understand and solve a problem in a

particular setting

THE Philosophy behind action research

Why wikis?

Students' perceptions of Wiki-based collaborative writing for learners of English as a foreign language (2010), National Kaohsiung Normal University, Taiwan

86% preferred writing on wiki that in a word document 71.4% they were more aware of their language use 73.5% considered Wiki helpful to work on ideas and to

plan the organization into outlines 

Students’ positive feedback

83.7% considered Wiki-mediated collaborative writing to be able to enhance peer interaction.

75.5% their writing ability was enhanced through member revising records in history on wiki.

Many participants reported that they learned vocabulary, spelling, and phrases as well as sentence structure by reading the work of others on the Wiki pages and learning from the writing produced by their peers.

Students’ positive feedback

High interaction & engagement level

Motivation boost-the sense of belonging

Enhanced writing skills (written grammar and structure)

Changed students attitude towards writing

Build confidence in writing

Students wrote more than what was required –used sentences more complex and creative than usual.

Benefits in writing skills

Sharing versus self-reflection

Socialization versus personalization

Self-evaluation

To encourage free-writing

Immediate feedback

Why blogs?

My RABWP project

Examples of good practice: 1st CYCLE

Examples of good practice: 2nd Cycle

EXAMPLE OF POOR COLLABORATION:2nd cycle

The RAWB Project: 3rd Cycle

Wikis for individual writing , cooperation and peer feedback from one or two self-selected knowledgeable peers

Blogs for reflective writing- immediate classroom feedback

The RAWB Project

The misconception of feedback-intervention

An example of smooth cooperation

A teacher dependent learner

A successful example of amfoteronomy

ReinaldPrespa Nov 14, 2013 Is very good..but it will be better to not be a copy

paste from internet :)

ahmed234 Nov 15, 2013 its not copy paste its about what i understand

ReinaldPrespa Nov 18, 2013 its still a copy paste

A Debate on the qualities of academic writing

Self-reflection-course evaluation

Instructor evaluation-enthusiasm about learning

Self-evaluation

Class material evaluation

Students’ perceptions

Students’ perceptions

In the spectrum of autonomy

A community of mutual trust?

Feedback Quality

Readiness for autonomy

Readiness for autonomy

Wikis encouraged engagement level in the writing and leaning process.

Wikis: encouraged meaningful peer interaction but not reflection

Wikis encouraged amfoteronomy and sense of responsibility when feedback was comprehensible

Advanced level of English does not

guarantee good cooperation skills Negative attitude to criticism is a

factor that discourages students to ask for peer feedback

Students reported that self selection of writing topics would further motivate them to interact in wikis

Feedback is regarded mainly as

instructor’s responsibility

Blogs: encouraged students to express their believes about:

the class, the syllabus, the instructor, peer relationship,

Blogs motivated students: to reflect on their learning and identify their strengths and weaknesses

Blogs helped the instructor to get immediate feedback about the learning process.

Students need more training on how to write reflective journals

Most students are not willing to share their reflections about learning

My reflections

The combination of blogs and wikis in the writing class can transform teaching and learning experience:

Students can get benefit from peers’ and teacher’s feedback

Students take responsibility for their own learning Peer interaction encourages a positive atmosphere

in the class Wikis multimodal environment gives opportunities

to all students to be creative Free writing in blogs helps low profile students to

express their feelings

My reflections