What’s the big deal? For years now, all sections of ENG 111 have used the same textbook. It hasn’t always been the McGraw book we use today, but no section of 111 had its own text. Introducing the idea of allowing an instructor–an adjunct instructor at that–to choose her own text and vary from the long-standing tradition is the big deal. And I’ll go ahead and spoil the suspense: they said I could.

There are factors too sensitive for me to disclose on this semi-public site, but in general, having one textbook is easier on many levels. Every semester there are last-minute changes to the schedule. For instance, I was scheduled (since May) to teach sections 01, 03, & 04. Then, just before school started, they canceled a lit class and gave my section 01 to the full-time instructor who’d lost her lit class. A few days later enrollment jumped and they created section 09 and asked me to teach it. If I had ordered my own text and the bookstore had a label that indicated that the book was for those in sections 01, 03 & 04, imagine the mess that would have ensued with all those section 01 students suddenly in front of a different instructor who expected to use a different text. And I don’t see a way around these last minute changes. They happen.

So the biggest question was, Do we want to allow instructors to choose their own text? Allowing me to use NWLM is the first step towards allowing that.

We also discussed what we each thought were the necessary resources to teach 111. We decided a handbook and a collection of readings is what we want. Someone suggested a custom reader. We all agreed we’d like students to hang on to their handbook so they can refer to it in all three English courses they’re required to take.

But that’s not why you’re here reading this. You want to know what they thought of NWLM.

They loved it. They were impressed. People, even students, keep calling it “pretty.” Someone said it was “simple” and I’m pretty sure they meant it as a compliment.

They love the “custom reader” aspect of it and seemed pleased that there was a rhetoric section.

I made a handout for the faculty (see David L if you want a copy) that outlines the contents and functions of NWLM. I started my spiel by showing them my Moodle site. I demonstrated the layout, and then zeroed in on how students complete work. They click to open a PDF. They click to open a document with questions. They save the doc with a new file name. They type their questions, save again, go back to Moodle, browse for the doc, upload, submit. Lots of steps. Then I showed them NWLM. (I had both pages already open, so it was a quick click.) I said, “Let me show you how students complete a reading assignment in NWLM.” And I showed them. Geez, it’s simple.

Then I backed up, went to NWLM’s schedule. Again, I compared NWLM to Moodle by describing how Moodle is a shell meant to accommodate any course, any material. It has lots of functionality which makes it nice, but also more complex than what you need for a comp class. NWLM, on the other hand, has everything you need and nothing you don’t. What are the ingredients of a comp class? Readings, questions, papers, grammar, overviews of modes, and writing strategies. That’s it.

I showed them how I built my schedule. I told them how my students love the clarity of that schedule, how they can tell what’s going to happen on any given day. How they can access their assignments if they miss class.

And then I talked about videos. I called them a “good introduction to a given aspect of writing.” I showed them “Revision” and said I would show this video on a day when students had written a first draft and were being asked to revise that draft. The videos are discussion starters; they’re meant to open students’ minds to the reality that as creative people, we go back again and again to our first efforts and rethink them. Revising is central to writing, but also to a lot of other creative processes.

Two things the faculty want to see in NWLM: a gradebook and a paper uploader. And I agree those two things are essential. When I showed them the notebook, faculty asked how I could assign a grade to assignments, how I could give feedback. We need to be able to assign a number grade and write at least brief comments about the assignment. Let’s say someone doesn’t answer the questions in complete sentences. You dock their score, but need to tell them why. A box for that would be nice.

So it’s good news, but it’s not as if the department as a whole wants to adopt NWLM. The dept agreed to let me use it for my one online section next semester. They want to see how it goes. They want feedback from me.

We decided we cannot bypass the bookstore for two reasons: students with financial aid will need to use the bookstore, and we want to keep the bookstore in business. So, next up for me is to talk with the bookstore manager and put her in touch with Soomo to order passcodes–but the Chair also said I should post a sign on my Moodle site (where students will go first) that points students to the publisher should they care to buy wholesale instead.

That’s all, folks!

I’m sure there’s a rationale for this, but I don’t see any use case where the student would need to see a complete list of readings.

One girl said “It just looks like an English site. It’s pretty.”

No peanut gallery comments, no cynical remarks. I asked students if they minded having their password show while they were registering and a couple of students said it didn’t matter. I got few shrugs. No one said it was bad.

One hitch today: A student (Amanda Moore) repeatedly clicked “Save to Notebook” with no response. At some point she refreshed her page and lost all her answers. She was okay about it.

The lab computers at MHC have Internet Explorer 7 only; they don’t have Firefox. NWLM looks a lot different on IE7. The banner is very deep, and buttons are stacked vertically instead of horizontally. Even in the questions, the “save” and “hide questions” buttons are stacked vertically.  I’m off to section 13–will report my findings thereafter.

Additionally, I have not used Moodle as extensively at Mars Hill as I have at Haywood. MHC students have submitted a few assignments through Moodle, but have not had to answer questions on the readings on Moodle like my Haywood students have. As I mentioned in an earlier post, having the reading and questions side by side is a huge improvement to opening a Word doc alongside a PDF. It’s a huge selling feature for those HCC students, but there won’t be that point of comparison for the MHC students.

However, using the reordering tool and the the schedule editor, it took me no time at all to line up a completely different schedule for Mars Hill. Way easy! What a relief.

Students read the rhetoric page, “Process Analysis,” then we discussed it, and then they started on the “Attitude” reading and questions.

Comments students had:

• Once I save it to the notebook, will I be able to still see it or will it “submit” my answers? (This is important for those who did not finish their work, and plan to continue answering the questions at a later time.)
• Students did not like that their password is in text. I showed them where to click to hide it, but they voted they’d rather type it in twice than have it obvious to those around them. One boy said it “creeped him out.” Basically, it is different from what they are used to, and since they are in a lab and sitting mere inches from the next person, they don’t feel it is private enough. Perhaps we could have the default be hidden and then there could be a place to click to reveal it. Or, they could type it in twice.

1) have students upload documents (papers and other assignments)
2) post my syllabus and course intro (but not as an “assignment”)
3) create dynamic grammar exercises (still thinking about what this should look like)
4) be able to categorize readings by theme and rhetorical mode for easy browsing.
5) create quizzes

Matt’s concerns last week were these:

• A six-month subscription means students won’t have access to the handbook components they might wish to access later. My answer to that: the current 111 text is not purely a handbook, and as a freshman text, is not likely to be kept, so though it’s true that they won’t get to keep NWLM, I don’t think they keep the text book, either.
• Will the content in NWLM truly be a replacement for what is in the textbook (will it be as thorough; will it cover all the same things?) My answer: it will not have as much content as the textbook. But it will have the content that I use; it will have the useful content.
• If students can’t complete all their work on NWLM (and they can’t without a paper uploader and a test maker), how will students know where to go to do their work? My answer: I will have to work to make that very, very clear. They will, for now, do some work in Moodle and some in NWLM, and until features are added to NWLM, it will be more work for the instructor and more confusing for the student.

Other instructors may have their own concerns, and Matt may have new ones. I will take note of these so that I can pass them on to you.