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Audrey Minch
John Chrisman
ENC 1102
13 April 2015
Unit 4 Paper
Introduction
Being enrolled at a university means being a part of a huge community filled with
opportunity, diversity, and atmosphere. Ive been able to experience all of these at the University
of Central Florida where I am currently an enrolled student. It didnt take long for me to realize
that UCF was where I wanted to spend my college career. It had everything I wanted a
beautiful campus, a wide variety of activities, and is known for student success. All universities
around the world have the main goal of their students being successful while enrolled and upon
graduation. Different universities have their different ways of accomplishing this goal. But what
really works? There has been research done by many trying to decipher what really leads to
student success. There are so many different factors of what leads to success and these various
researches all have their own opinion. Some say it sits on just the students shoulders, others say
the universities, and some the parents. But there hasnt been much research done on the
possibility that one specific part of a university may play a major role in student success and
could result in an affect over the entire university. Although I personally believe that success
comes from more than one thing, I wonder what it is about UCF that sets them apart. To do so, I
will analyze the University of Central Florida as a discourse community. To focus my research, I
will focus on one of the many genres at UCF, Webcourses, and its values to see if this one
specific program affects UCF as a whole. Webcourses is an online program used by students and
teachers to track their classes. Its highly appreciated at UCF and plays a huge role in student

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life. Students and teachers use the online program every day all for diverse reasons. It allows a
great base of communication for teacher to student, student to teacher, or student to student and
keeps both student and teachers organized and on task. To see how Webcourses and its values
lead to student success and how it sets the University of Central Florida apart from other
universities in terms of having a tool to aid students in their college endeavors to ensure their
success, my research question is as follows:
1. How do the values in the genre Webcourses effect the rest of the community of the
University of Central Florida in terms of student success?
Discourse Communities and Activity Theories
A discourse community is defined by six criteria according to John Swales, a professor of
linguistics at the University of Michigan, in his article The Concept of Discourse Community.
His six criteria are 1) a discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals
(220), 2) a discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members
(221), 3) a discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide
information and feedback (221), 4) a discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or
more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims (221), 5) in addition to owning
genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis (222), and 6) a discourse
community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and
discoursal expertise (222).
The University of Central Florida fits all six of Swales criteria. An agreed set of common
goals include graduating and student success. A mechanism of intercommunication among the
members is Knightsmail, our emailing system. Participatory mechanisms to provide information

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and feedback are the classes available at UCF. Genres we have include not just Webcourses but
financial aid, academic advising, textbooks and more. The university definitely has a specific
lexis fitting to Swales definition as puzzling to outsiders (222). There are chants, cheers, and
puns of all kinds that outsiders typically would not understand. And of course UCF has a
threshold of members ranging from students to teachers to staff to alumni.
Activity theory is defined as a way in which scholars understand how people in different
communities carry out their activities (275) in the article Activity Theory: An Introduction for
the Writing Classroom by Donna Kain, a professor at East Carolina University, and Elizabeth
Wardle, a professor at the University of Central Florida. They explain that within activity theory
is activity systems, a group of people that share motives with tools and rules to act on those
motives. The parts of an activity system include the subject(s), rules, community, motives, tools,
and division of labor. They are shown in the diagram of the activity system triangle below.

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The subject(s) is the person or people who are participating in the activity directly.
The motive is split in two parts object and outcome. The object is more immediate while the
outcomes is more long term. The subjects use tools to help them complete their motive which
can be both physical and nonphysical. The division of labor is how tasks are split within the
activity system. The community is the larger group beyond just the subjects but the subjects are
still a part of. Lastly, rules are how conflicts or problems remain managed and at a minimum. All
these parts of an activity system work in a community by giving everyone and everything their
place resulting in shaping the community and having it work and run smoothly.
Looking at UCF as an activity system, the subjects are the students and faculty. They are
the ones who are directly participating to achieve their motive. For UCF, that motive is student
success. The object is for students to be successful and get good grades while the outcome is for
students to graduate. Just a few of the physical tools at Central Florida include textbooks,
computers, and notebooks among others and nonphysical tools include academic advising,
financial aid, and scholarships. At the university, the division of labor would be split between the
students, the professors, the chairs, the president, and other faculty and staff. The community
includes all the students and faculty along with family members, sponsors, fans, and alumni. The
main rules at UCF are based off the UCF creed integrity, community, scholarship, creativity,
and excellence. These parts are what make the University of Central Florida a smooth-running,
well-oiled, well-working activity system.
Discussion on Electronic Portfolios and the Importance of Values
There has been a great ordeal of research done on success in college and different factors
of what may lead to it. The Huffpost Miami published an article in 2013 ranking the eleven
major universities in Florida based on graduates success one year after graduation. The

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University of Central Florida received number one, tied with the University of South Florida,
based on their high percentage of graduates employed or furthering their education, the average
salary of undergraduates employed full-time in Florida, and the cost per graduate to the
university. According to Huffpost, success is determined by these three criteria which are based
on value and cost.
Debra Humphreys, who received her PhD from Rutgers University and is the Vice
President for Policy and Public Engagement at the Association of American Colleges and
Universities, says that a college degree is essential for success in todays competitive global
economy (6) in her journal Success after College: What Students, Parents, and Educators Need
to Know and Do. But she claims that since no student is the same and no university is the same,
the student, the university, and the parents of the student need to know what to do to ensure
successful students. Focusing on the role of the university, Humphreys says students and their
parents must ensure that their investment in college education will have real value over the
course of a lifetime (10). The students and parents need to know that the university they choose
has strong values that in turn will benefit them in the future. Explaining how universities should
maintain their values, Humphreys says that its not just enough for a university to provide
curricular maps, but they must be useful to every single student and need to result in greater
communication between faculty and student. She articulates that the most promising vehicle for
accomplishing these two steps is the electronic portfolio where all students are able to present
his or her work and to reflect over time on his or her educational accomplishments (11).
In Tanjula Pettys journal Motivating First-Generation Students to Academic Success
and College Completion, she focuses on different values, how they affect a students success,
and what keeps students, especially first-generation, to stay in school. Petty, Founder and Chief

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Executive Officer of Petty & Associates Consulting Firm, says that universities need to
recognize the origin of challenges students face and develop successful mechanisms for
motivating those students (135). By the end of her journal, she says the values that institutions
need to have are motivation, understanding, and helping students face their challenges and
weaknesses.
Evidently, there has been much research done on what leads to success for students. This
research provides a good look at what seems to work in a university and what should be valued.
It is clear to see that electronic sources do help students with their success and that universities
need values but there isnt much research done on values within those electronic programs. If
there was more research put into how the two work together, it could aid universities all across
the globe on how to further their students success just by creating an online portfolio with strong
values.
Webcourses Analysis
The definition of genre has changed again and again over time. And according to Carolyn
Miller, a leading technical communication professor, genres effect our everyday lives (Dirk 254).
We find ourselves in more than one genre, sometimes without even knowing. We are also in
different discourse communities which increases the sum number of genres we are a part of.
Amy Devitt, a specialist in the study of genre theory, says, genres have the power to help or hurt
human interaction, to ease communication or to deceive, to enable someone to speak or to
discourage someone from saying something different, (Dirk 252). In other words, a genre is a
tool that is used to accomplish a specific goal or certain task.

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Webcourses is an online system where teachers and students can stay up to date with their
classes. Teachers can create assignments, update grades, and notify their students while students
can turn in assignments, check their grades, communicate with their professors if need be, and
keep track of important dates. The overall goal and task of Webcourses is to aid students in
furthering their success. The following illustration show how Webcourses is organized.

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When first logging into Webcourses using an ID number and password, the user is
brought to their homepage where any recent changes are shown in the middle and on the right
side of the page, to-dos and upcoming assignments are also to the right, and other navigation is at
the top. By clicking on the calendar, the user can see all their upcoming work at once for every
class and personal dates they can put in themselves. By clicking on their grades, students can see
how they are doing in all their current enrolled classes. And by using the courses drop down
menu, the user can pick one specific class to check on. Once the user has selected a class, they
have many options to choose from on the left of their page. They can stay up to date with any
announcements or assignments, check on any discussions or chats whether between students or
professors, link to any specific files they may need, or get a more detailed look at their grades.
Whatever the user needs, its all there with just a click.
When asked about the University of Central Florida and Webcourses, two current
freshmen Melinda Lopez and Mitchell Jones both spoke positively. Melinda Lopez, a business
marketing major who believes that student success comes from working hard and being well
rounded, finds Webcourses incredibly helpful. She says, Webcourses definitely helps with my

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success because it keeps me on track with my grades. Mitchell Jones, a business management
major who chose UCF because of the multitude of opportunities and it was the better option for
him, says Webcourses does help him with his success as a student because it allows me to
check my grades and such on a daily basis and allows me to check up on myself.
Before going into my analysis of Webcourses as a genre, the different lenses used to
analyze should be described. Ann M. Johns, retired San Diego State professor and well-known
linguist, explains in her article Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice:
Membership, Conflict, and Diversity the different lenses to look through to see what gives
communities their character (511). Those lenses include cost, authority, values, identity,
gatekeeping, and change over time. Cost is the price paid to be in the genre. This doesnt just
refer to money and the actual price paid but also other things like what one may need to give up
in order to be in the genre. Authority refers to who has most control in the genre, values are what
is important to the genre, and identity is how one talks or acts while being a part of this genre.
Gatekeeping keeps the members to a limit. Only certain people and a certain amount can be let
in. Change over time is how the genre may evolve.
For UCF, the cost would be tuition money and giving up other schools. For students, they
must pay a certain price to go to UCF and both students and staff have given up going to other
universities. Authority on Webcourses would go to the professors. They make all of the decisions
such as when assignments are due, what is expected of students, when students are notified of
important dates, and so on. Webcourses definitely enhances the authority of the professors
allowing them more control on how to run their class and communicate to their students. Identity
is created for both professors and students. Both act and talk respectfully, mature, educated, and
responsibly. Gatekeeping comes in to play because only enrolled students and current employees

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can be a part of Webcourses. Members must need an ID number as a username and a password to
gain access. And Webcourses definitely changes over time. Classes that both the students are
enrolled in and the professors teach change.
The last lens and the one I will use for my genre analysis is values. In Webcourses, the
values include organization, responsibility, motivation, good grades, remaining on task, and
overall student success. This genre was created to be the best way possible for students to
achieve their goals. Webcourses is organized simply where everything a student needs can be
found quickly and easily. These values that Webcourses treasures go hand in hand with being
organized and helping students achieve their goals. Organization is a value itself and Webcourses
is used to keep students organized which is why its set up the way it is. Responsibility,
motivation, and good grades all take part in helping students reach their goals in Webcourses by
reminding students what assignments are due soon, when they have completed an assignment,
and having easy access to grades. Petty stands correct when she said motivation is important as
does Humphreys she said that an electronic portfolio is incredibly effective in student success.
Conclusion
One can tell after analyzing the University of Central Florida as a discourse community,
looking at it using activity theory, and analyzing Webcourses while looking at it through a lens
that values are incredibly important to the university community. These values say that UCF as a
whole takes student advancement seriously. It is clear that the values in Webcourses affect every
student causing those values to spread across the entire community and affect the University of
Central Florida as a whole in terms of student success. The research done by those who study
discourse communities, activity systems, genres, and lenses have assisted the understanding on
how they all work together. The research on student success, universities, and how values play a

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role in all institutions has helped students, parents, and those institutions as discourse
communities know what to do for their students to become successful while enrolled and after
graduation. Electronic sources used to keep students on track have proven to be what institution
should use to best benefit their students. All in all, Webcourses values definitely affects all
students, all faculty, the student success rate, and the University of Central Florida as a whole.

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Works Cited
Dirk, Kerry. Navigating Genres. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. Vol. 1. Eds. Charles
Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky. West Lafayette: Parlor Press, 2010. 249-262. Print.
Here Are The Florida Universities Ranked By Most Successful Graduates. Huffpost Miami.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 Oct. 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.
Humphreys, Debra. Success after College: What Students, Parents, and Educators Need to
Know and Do. Liberal Education 99.2 (2013): 6-13. Web. 17 Mar. 2015
Instructure. Webcourses. UCF. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
Johns, Ann M. Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice: Membership, Conflict,
and Diversity. Writing about Writing: A College Reader. Eds. Elizabeth Wardle and
Doug Downs. Boston/St Martins, 2011. 498-518. Print.
Jones, Mitchell. Personal interview. 18 Mar. 2015.
Kain, Donna and Elizabeth Wardle. Activity Theory: An Introduction for the Writing
Classroom. Writing about Writing: A College Reader. 2nd ed. Eds. Elizabeth Wardle and
Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2014. 273-283. Print.
Lopez, Melinda. Personal Interview. 18 Mar. 2015.
Petty, Tanjula. Motivating First-Generation Students to Academic Success and College
Completion. College Student Journal 48.1 (2014): 133-140. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. Writing about Writing: A College

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Reader. 2nd ed. Eds. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St Martins,
2014. 215-229. Print.