M.

42 Workshopping the
Online Classroom:
Giving Voice to Our Students
through Confidence Building
Tracy Kemp, IUPUI
Erin Lehman, Ivy Tech Community College
How might we leverage online classrooms to
build confidence in students?

 Erin reviews scholarship (including gaps in research).

 Tracy shares her “Anonymous Workshop Method.”
 Discussions are grounded in student writing.
“Re-Viewing Peer Review” by Elizabeth
Flynn, 2011
 “I will admit to having lost track of work in composition studies on peer review and was
surprised to discover…that research on the topic arising out of mainstream composition
studies, for the most part, tapered off in the early 1990s” (Flynn).
 “I also discovered a different strand of research, peer review within the context of teaching
English as a second language (ESL). Sometimes this work on ESL also included discussion
of peer review using technology. Often this work was published in journals that I was
unfamiliar with” (Flynn).
 “Most of the recent articles on peer evaluation dealt with teaching English as a second
language either in the U.S. or elsewhere or using computer-assisted technology in the
process. Some combined the two” (Flynn).
“Adapting Peer Review to an Online Course:
An Exploratory Case Study” by Linda Knight
and Theresa Steinbach, 2011

 “Clearly, peer reviews can be conducted within online classes. However, the electronic
process is far more complex than it is in a traditional classroom using paper forms for
feedback. This is due in part to the fact that minor procedural steps that are easily made
both unambiguous and obligatory in a classroom become far more difficult to implement
online” (Knight and Steinbach 94).
 “Peer-review comments were briefer online than on-paper. This could be an inherent result
of the two different methods or it could be a result of the differences in the two student
populations” (Knight and Steinbach 94).
“Direction and Misdirection in Peer Response”
by Thomas Newkirk, 1984
 “Students and instructors…frequently use different criteria and stances in judging student
work” (Newkirk 309).
 “The teacher’s role in the workshop should not be passive. If students are to enter into the
evaluative community of the instructor, they need to see the norms of their new community
applied to student work” (Newkirk 310).
 “The instructor stands as the representative of a larger community and has the
responsibility of making the norms of that community clear and plausible, even appealing”
(Newkirk 310).
“Responders are taught, not born” by Jay
Simmons, 2003
 “Students must be taught to respond helpfully to the writing of their peers. Simple
academic ability does not ensure that seniors will know how to read like writers”
(Simmons 689).
“Improving Student Writing Through Effective
Feedback: Best Practices and Recommendations”
by Jody Underwood and Alyson Tregidgo, 2006

 “Feedback is most effective when used for formative improvement, as in the case of
multiple drafts of writing. It is also most useful to the student when the locus of control is
with the student” (Underwood and Tregidgo 90).
 “Students should be able to relate feedback to their writing products, choose which pieces
of feedback are important and relevant, and understand what needs to be done in order to
improve their writing” (Underwood and Tregidgo 90).
“Personalized Versus Collective Instructor
Feedback in the Online Courseroom” by Tara
Gallien and Jody Oomen-Early, 2008

 “Students who received personalized feedback from the instructor on assignments were
significantly more satisfied and performed academically better than students who received
collective feedback” (Gallien and Oomen-Early 474).
 “Students from both treatment groups associated feelings of connectedness with the type and
frequency of communication they experienced with the instructor” (Gallien and Oomen-
Early 473).
 “Students related their overall satisfaction with the instructor to the instructor’s involvement
with them in terms of guidance and support with course material, and the feedback they
received on class assignments” (Gallien and Oomen-Early 467).
Our findings at this point …

 There seems to be no connections between instructor

feedback and student confidence in the research
 We believe this method builds student confidence
 The “Anonymous Workshop Method” of
instructor feedback
 Instructor long frustrated with lack of quality peer response in face-to-face classes.
 Instructor long felt students lacked confidence in themselves as both writers and readers
(peer reviewers).
 Many students are better writers than they think they are.
 Student writers share many of the same issues with writing but think they are the only ones
with those issues.
 Instructor felt peer feedback would be less productive and useful in an online class.
 Method developed during first time teaching an online version of her freshmen
composition class.
 The “Anonymous Workshop Method” of
instructor feedback
 Students produce drafts of “major” projects (informative piece, persuasive piece).
 Students upload their drafts to Canvas.
 Instructor downloads, removes names, and saves drafts on computer.
 Instructor add comments in drafts in same way as if drafts are being returned.
 Instructors uploads all “eligible” anonymous drafts to Canvas.
 Students read drafts and analyze instructor and their own findings.
 Students write a graded reflection post discussing their findings and how what they saw
informs their own revision needs.
The assignment: Discussion Post Reflection on
Project Drafts with Instructor Feedback
 First, read at least half of the project drafts and my comments. You will need to read enough to be able to respond
fully and to accurately represent my overall comments. Reading too few will likely result in your presenting
information that is not an entirely accurate reflection of my comments to drafts.
 You may need to download and open the drafts to see my comments.
 Then, in at least 500 words, discuss what you see in the other students' drafts. What are students doing well?
What do students need to work on? In what ways are students falling short of the assignment guidelines? While
your comments should focus on "overall" issues you're seeing in aggregate, include several comments of your
own about 2-3 specific papers, using the paper's title as the identifier.
 Be thoughtful and specific. Do not focus on MLA or grammar issues.
 Then, in another 250 words, relate your above analysis of your peers' work and my comments with your own
work. What are you doing well? What revision needs do you have for your project? Be thoughtful and specific.
 While these posts do not have to follow MLA, your writing does need to follow general conventions of academic
writing. These conventions include proper sentence structure, appropriate paragraph breaks, transitions, and clear
word choice. Proofread your post carefully. I suggest you type your response in Word so you can edit, proofread,
and save your work so you don't lose it. Then copy/paste your reflection into the Discussion Post window; do not
upload as an attachment.
In reflections, students say …
 When reading Tracy’s comments on my own draft compared to the rest, it immediately
made me feel better. I realized that most of what she commented on, was what she had said
about many other drafts.
 All these papers really helped me to see what I was and wasn’t doing right. It bolstered my
confidence in a few areas like my introduction and calls to action. This also helped me to
realize that the mistakes that I made were more common to the rest of the class as well. I
found out that my lack of connections and establishment of my issue were not an outlier.
Student comments continued…

 Now that I have read other students' responses and Tracy's feedback, I have a better
understanding of what Tracy is expecting from me and I think I will be a little more
confident when I write my next response paper.
 After reading my classmates essays and letters, I now don't feel as nervous or self
conscious about the faults in my own writing. I now see that I am almost like everyone else
and we all have some things in common we struggle with. Such as I now know that i'm not
the only person that needs to work on being a little more specific and concise with what
i'm talking about by addressing my target audience, and what school i'm talking about.
Another thing that I feel kind of ridiculous about before reading, but now don't is that I
need to constantly proofread my essays that way I don't make stupid mistakes, and write
fragment sentences.
Student comments continued…

 I've learned about my own writing tremendously after reading the instructor feedback on
Projects 2 and 3. Its been very beneficial to me to see that other students are making the
same mistakes as me, as well as, seeing the different ways other students are portraying
their message. I think this has been one of my favorite parts of this class being online. In a
regular in class setting I wouldn't have seen all the student drafts and feedback, I would
have assumed that I was the only one having the issues I am having and would continue to
struggle with how to fix it.
 Works Cited
 Flynn, Elizabeth. “Re-Viewing Peer Review.” The Writing Instructor, December 2011. ERIC.
 Gallien, Tara, and Jody Oomen-Early. “Personalized Versus Collective Instructor Feedback in the Online
Courseroom: Does Type of Feedback Affect Student Satisfaction, Academic Performance and Perceived
Connectedness with the Instructor?” International Journal on E-Learning, vol. 7, no. 3, July 2008, pp.
463-476. ERIC.
 Knight, Linda V., and Theresa A. Steinbach. “Adapting Peer Review to an Online Course: An
Exploratory Case Study.” Journal of Information Technology Education, vol. 10, 2011, pp. 81-100.
ERIC.
 Newkirk, Thomas. “Direction and Misdirection in Peer Response.” College Composition and
Communication, vol. 35, no. 3, October 1984, pp. 301-311. JSTOR.
 Simmons, Jay. “Responders Are Taught, Not Born.” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, vol. 46, no.
8, May 2003, pp. 684-693. EBSCO.
 Underwood, Jody S., and Alyson P. Tregidgo. “Improving Student Writing Through Effective Feedback:
Best Practices and Recommendations.” Journal of Teaching Writing, vol. 22, no. 2, 2006, pp. 73-97,
http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/teachingwriting/article/view/1346. Accessed 12 Nov. 2018.
 Thank you!
Tracy Kemp, takemp@iupui.edu
Erin Lehman, elehman4@ivytech.edu