Project Three: Plan Something

Colin M. Griffin
ENGL 7766
Submitted on 26 March, 2015

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Description of Project
My initial goal for this project was to plan an interactive web space that would
address some of the contemporary issues facing distance education and instruction. I see
a definite need for such a space; I perceive learning in higher education to be a social and
collaborative endeavor, as knowledge is created (in my opinion) through the expression
of idea and engaging with the differing perspectives of others. While online courses can
use blackboard and other tools in attempt to replicate the community of the classroom, I
believe that such tools lack the ability to wholly reproduce the engagement and
spontaneous learning experiences that are fostered by synchronous, physical
conversation. However, I was concerned my lack of DE teaching experience would
prevent me from being pedagogically versed enough to create such a space with any
degree of effectiveness.
Upon this realization, I decided that I would instead use my experiences with
rhetorical theory and teaching freshman composition plan an interactive web space that
functioned as an extension of the physical composition classroom. I was inspired to do
this by the second screen phenomena common to contemporary television programs.
These apparatus continue user engagement beyond the scope of the show itself,
encouraging consumers to visit a website or engage with a companion app to deepen the
experience. While there are already methods of extending instructor-student interaction
outside of the classroom, they are not without their limitations. I want to combine digital
tools commonly used in modern academia--video conferencing (i.e. Skype), synchronous
group chat (i.e. todaysmeet.com), and discussion forums (i.e. Blackboard)with aspects
that draw users to social media (likes, open sharing, etc.) to construct an interactive
digital arena that was accessible, relevant, and entertaining. Most importantly, I want to
create a space that would encourage first-year students early on to regularly engage with
evolving conversations that help them to see the relevancy their work has to larger
contexts outside of the course itself. In synopsis:
Context
Student Learning in First-Year Composition Classrooms
Media
Website/Interactive Web Space
Audience
First-year composition students and first-year composition instructors
Purpose (Twofold)
-To enhance student engagement by further helping them to form relevant
connections to course materials via social collaboration
-To use ongoing and evolving conversations to encourage self-agency, critical
thinking, analytical reasoning, and to show the relevancy of course work to larger
contexts
Justification of Media Choice
I am more than comfortable in positing that digital web spaces are an appropriate and
effective media through which to conduct educational discourse. We can observe this
currently through the recent rise of DE and the numerous tools that have been developed
to help make teaching in virtual classrooms effective. Even in the context of face-to-face
instruction, web spaces like Blackboard and Google Docs are routinely being used as

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places for storing and sharing course-relevant information. Technology opens up many
new possibilities for creating and expressing meaning, and my observations and
experiences would suggest that the academy has inarguably taken notice of that fact.
I feel that my choice of media is appropriate for target audience for many of the
reasons I mentioned in the previous paragraph. In thinking about the age demographic
(18-20 years old) of the traditional college freshman, I find it almost irrational to suggest
that they do not have experience expressing thought through digitized mediums.
Facebook, Twitter, and the numerous other social networks popular in todays society
and are easily accessible from a smartphone (something most all college freshman today
are likely to possess and have a notable deal of experience operating.) In considering
todays college composition instructor, many of these same posits are equally as likely to
hold true. I think it is of note to mention that my intention to mimic certain aspects of the
social network model is because of its relevancy and familiarity with my target
demographic. In thinking about Gloria Jacobs theories of play and progressive learning
experiences, I think a space like the one I am proposing will offer students learning
experiences that are interactive, engrossing, and student-centricnot that impose the
rigid structure and power dissonance that scholars like David Barthalomae purport
freshman as believing the academy to embody. Websites like Luminosity.com have
experienced a fair amount of success in getting people to pay for learning experiences
that feel more like games, and that suggests that users of said service are enjoying its
provisions. I think that it is possible to achieve the same user reaction through a critically
designed course web space. Instructors presumably want their students to develop
connections and engage actively with their course materials. As multimodal instruction
and numerous pedagogical theories advocate, providing students with multiple means of
achieving those goals increases the chances that they will do so.
List of Necessary Tools/People/Resources
To complete a project such as the one I am planning to undertake, I assess that I
would need the following:
Approval from the university endorsing the course that wished to incorporate such
a webspace for instructional purposes
A personal computer, or feasibly another device that could access the internet and
engage with the web-creation software
An comprehensive and current understanding of writing pedagogy
A URL provided by a company or a parent-site host the webspace (there are many
of these, a good portion of which are available free of charge) readily accessible
Widgets or other tools that would allow for video conferencing, private and group
chats, and discussion forums. It would be possible to incorporate existing services
like Skype and Todaysmeet into the space, but I believe that would require
negotiations between and consent from the owners of those two entities.
A database or cloud-type system that would allow users to upload, download, and
otherwise share information with other users.
A tool to make the webspace accessible on mobile devices like smartphones and
tablets.
An individual skilled in web design that could help to build and manage the
internal framework of the webspace. This individual would work collectively with

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the webspace admin (the instructor) as to what functions he or she wished the
space to offer/provide for users (students) and themselves.
Envisionment of Design & Layout
The musings of prototype theory are largely responsible for influencing the way I
envisage the webspaces overall structure. Communications scholarship from Kirk St.
Amant and others suggest the plausibility of using prototype theory in the design of
websapces. What this theory basically suggests is that people are prone to categorize an
unfamiliar entity based on how it correlates back to their perceived ideal representation of
a given category. For example, if hammer is the ideal embodiment of the category tool,
then the likelihood of an individual classifying a new item as a tool is dependent on it
matching up to the hammer ideal in appearance and perceived application. Such a theory
can greatly help us make choices in designing a webspace, especially if the goals of such
a space are already established.
For my space, prototype theory would allow me to structure a design that
mimicked social media networks while avoiding the traits that may cause my student user
demographic to dismiss the space as being just another Blackboard. In my experience
as an instructor, Blackboard is something first-year students exhibit apprehensions
towards. It is unfamiliar, generally uninviting, and offers the student nothing that
resembles the engagement and enjoyment provided by Facebook and equivalent
webspaces. Because of this, I feel that many times the learning and engagement potential
of Blackboard goes unrealized; it does not mater how competent the space is at serving a
purpose if a good portion of target users are reluctant to engage with it. In making a class
webspace similar in design to social mediasomething students are likely to already be
familiar with and enjoywe can feasibly eliminate this problem altogether.
My first step would be deciding upon what aspects of contemporary social
networks would both help the space assimilate to the prototype ideal and would work to
enhance notions of accepted composition pedagogy. I think that user profiles (along with
profile pictures) fit this mold, as they give students a place to construct their identity and
to give themselves a sense of control and agency within the space. I think a regularly
updated news feed type widget would allow students the ability to share information
with others and stay current with the meanings and perspectives being made by their
peers. I see this content is being displayed on the home page, making it the first thing
users encounter upon logging into the space. It is my belief that this will help establish
the desired associations early on in their experiences, which I believe is essential. To
further encourage said associations, I feel the space should feature albums that let
students upload photos, hyperlinks, writings, and other materials, as well as like and
comment systems to afford users engagement opportunities with each others ideas and
posits.
Choices of color, navigation tools, and foundational architecture are more
involved, but still use prototype theory as rationale. I see the color palate as using neutral
blues and shades of grey and white. Blue, I feel, would be welcoming on the eyes while
subliminally reinforcing associations to Facebook and Twitter. The use of school colors
is also a possibility I considered. I like the idea of having a sitemap tab, as well as links to
the other pages of the webspace, available on every page. I think it makes navigating the
space more accessible when users are aware of where they are and can easily move from

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one page to another. This layout is fairly universal in many of todays popular webspaces.
I feel that text font should be legible, but I also think it should be somewhat playful in
order to help students not associate it with their perception of formal academia. This
makes the space seem more inviting, and less like something being forced or otherwise
imposed upon them. I think, while text-heavy content should certainly be accessible
within and through the webspace, that the primary hub page should use more visual
elements to accent blurbs of relevant text. This will help to not overwhelm the user and
will make it less difficult for them to track down the text-heavy information they actually
want to engage with. This also would make it logical to place a search bar tool on every
page. These are widgets many users of the Internet will quickly recognize and will make
space navigation less difficult. Widgets for synchronous voice chat and user-to-user video
conferencing will be embedded into the page so as to not require navigation out of the
space in order to use them. This would be so that users could communicate while having
the information they wished to reference simultaneously accessible. In short, the design
model I want to employ focuses on three concepts: Association, Accessibility, and
Engagement.
Plan to Create
If I were to create this space, I would use Wordpress to host the web address. I
have experience using Wordpress, and I think this would make physically building and
managing the space myself more plausible. I would more than likely purchase a domain,
as I understand the out-of-pocket cost to be less than twenty dollars annually. I would
next orchestrate a series of roundtable discussions with other instructors to determine
what type of content would be sensible to include in a space like the one proposed by this
plan. I would seek to consult the experience of versed DE instructors to gain a better
understanding of how they work to recreate the physical classroom in their digitized
instructional practices. Using the information gathered from these discussions, I would
begin to piece content into the established architectural framework. Throughout this
process, I would likely share progress with the roundtable groups to ensure that what had
been discussed was being properly implemented. It is possible that I might do preliminary
research by surveying current composition students, asking questions about what type of
content they would want to find in such a webspace and how they would prefer to engage
with that content.
Once the space was in an operational (beta) state, I would seek permission to test
it in a controlled context before moving into the final stages of development. My ideal
test group would be students actively engaging in first-year composition classrooms.
They would be the ones who would best be able to tell me how my target demographic
engages with my model design. They could inform me if there were issues with space
navigation, content accessibility, and anything else that conflicted with user engagement.
I think that this testing period would function best if allocated five (5) weeks; one week
would be spent familiarizing the instructor with the webspace, while 4 weeksthe
amount of time ECU typically designates for each specific project students are tasked
with completingwould be spent observing how students engage with the space as an
instructional supplement. Analysis of the findings from this trial period would prove
useful in making necessary modifications to the space before its full release.