From Beyond the Center

Lessons on Collaboration from a Sixth-

Grade Multimodal Outreach Project

Nick Sanders, Michigan State University

@Sanders_Nick27
East Central Writing Center Association
April 5th 2019
WHAT WE'LL COVER Some Institutional Context
Collaboration in Writing
Center studies

Overview Beyond Insights:

Goals, Curriculum, & Pedagogy

Lessons & Takeaways

 HISTORICAL &
INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT
MSU is a Land Grant institution

established by the 1862 Morrill Act

Educational reform movements during

the 1990s usheredrevisions of the

role and function of Land Grants
The Writing Center reflects these

revisions by not only serving student

learning, but also faculty, and

outreach into the community

ABOUT BEYOND INSIGHTS
WHAT DO WE DO?
An outreach partnership with an area school

district where sixth-grade students learn about

multimodal composing, storytelling, and

team-work.

Students enrolled make video projects to learn

the basics of Adobe Premier, giving and

incorporating feedback, and about working in

groups.
Three Ways of Seeing
"Collaboration"

PEDAGOGY & LEARNING KNOWLEDGE-MAKING PRODUCT-MAKING WORK

North, "The Idea of the Writing Center" Lunsford, "Collaboration, Control, and Lauren, Communicating Project

the Idea of a Writing Center" Management: A Participatory Rhetoric

 collaboration in beyond insights
Collaboration is a complex and often difficult-- yet An Experience for Learning
essential-- process of back and forth negotiation

between perspectives, intentions, and purposes, and

often involves balancing individual with the group’s

purposes and intentions.

An Administrative Methodology
We are members of a community and are all

responsible for building and maintaining the

expectations for each other. This means we work

together to solve problems and make things

important to us. This involves listening and

responding thoughtfully and productively, thinking A [Queered] Heuristic for Pedagogy

through possible routes for completion and

obstacles, considering different points of view, and

sharing and dividing tasks and ideas throughout the

process.
CURRICULUM IN BEYOND INSIGHTS
[IN FIVE WEEKS]

Institutional Partner:
Language Immersion
Experience
Institutional Partner:

Language Media Center

NEGOTIATING

STORY DESIGN EDITING VIDEO

WHAT IS A VIDEO REVISE &

STORY? COLLECTING VIEWING

Institutional Partner:

Language Media Center

EMPHASIZE PROCESS USING FEEDBACK TO

OF MAKING IS OFTEN REFLECT ON DESIGN

COLLABORATION IS
FRUSTRATING AND DECISIONS

NEGOTIATED

Biggest Takeaways

DESIGN REFLECTIVE

MOMENTS AND ROLES

BETTER BRAIN HEALTH
DESIGN LEARNING ABOUT WORKING
Presentations ar communication
OPPORTUNITIES AND TOGETHER EXPLICITLY
tools that can be demonstrations,
STRUCTURES (CHARTER, ROLES,
lectures, speeches, and more.
ETC.)