GOINGPEDAGOGICALLY

GREENChris Friend • @chris_friend • friend@ucf.edu

Our students write papers for one-time consumption and are even penalized for re-

using work as an act of plagiarism. When they submit a paper for a grade, they

essentially can’t think of it again (except for revision in portfolio-based classes).

♻

I propose an “ecological” approach to writing classes that encourages re-use of

ideas and recycling of papers as the primary goal of writing—the value of student work is determined by how well/much/often it is

re-consumed by others.

WRITING SHOULD BE

OPEN-ACCESS

The push for open access in academic journals has not yet resonated in the classroom. However, calls

for more flexible, more situationally dependent, and more creative assignments—combined with

experiments in open-access courses like MOOCs—place more emphasis on the purposes and

potential re-use of texts created in class.

We know learning (and teaching!) doesn’t happen like this, but the image exemplifies the issue of

effective re-use.

Jean-Marc Côté created this picture postcard around 1900, as marketing material for a company that went

out of business before the cards were mass-produced. As a result, he had a nonexistent audience.

Isaac Asimov ultimately gained possession of the full set of 50 postcards and wrote a book about them, providing historical context for modern audiences.

Without the re-use, these cards could have been lost.

Chris Anson used the postcard about futuristic learning in his 2013 Chair’s Address at the Conference on College Composition and Communication, giving

the original image even more purpose.

Why do we not hold the same goals for students?

STUDENTS NEED

AUTHENTICAUDIENCES

Before coming to the university, students spend 13 years learning how to write to their teachers.

If we re-conceive the goal of writing as purposeful re-use, students must consider how to negotiate the needs of their unfamiliar audiences. Writing

would become a purpose-driven act, rather than a set expectation to achieve.

One Chapman University student was asked to write an “open letter” for his English 208 course.

He wrote about an NHL lockout, making an argument for why the commissioner of the sport should work to remedy the situation. The letter

was posted to a blog he made for the class.

A reporter for Yahoo! Sports found the letter, re-blogged it on the Yahoo! Sports page, and made the student’s blog popular

overnight…essentially “going viral”.

This practical re-use was only possible because the work was visible publicly, by the intended audience and other stakeholders.

ASSIGNMENTSARE SIMPLY

FERTILIZER

At the risk of over-extending my metaphor into inappropriate territory, we should view our

assignment as fertilizer for the ideas our students have in class discussion, giving those

ideas direction, energy, and purpose.

We must also allow student work to air out, be seen outside the classroom, potentially

influencing others and reflecting the real potential of writing: change.

Thank YouChris Friend

@chris_friendTexts & Technology

Transcript as Blog Post

Visual Gratitude

• Blades of grass courtesy Apple

• Door handle from adrazahl on Flickr

• Côté postcard from Wikimedia Commons

• Theater seats from Thomas Hawk on Flickr

• Excrement from PKMousie on Flickr