A Professional Development Mentors Program proposal
Dr. Michael Lewis
Department of History, Salisbury University
I will develop a WebCT module for my class “Local Environmental History” (a small research seminar cross-listed with the Honors Program). This module will be used to (1) post written drafts of student research, (2) allow other students in the class to read classmates’ work and offer feedback, (3) share student generated bibliographic resources derived from their individual research projects on a larger overall class project (their topics will be separate, but organized around a common larger theme – the Wicomico River). The students will be working towards the eventual goal of a composite class report – “The Environmental History of the Wicomico River” - to be published as a CD and on the Web, using FrontPage. This final report will be a community resource, a text for future classes, and a tangible reminder for the students that their research projects and writings are not just “school-work,” but intellectual contributions to public knowledge and debates.
PURPOSE:
Writing and student research are valuable tools for deepening student learning in university classrooms. Salisbury University’s commitment to writing and research are seen both in our Writing Across the Curriculum program and our annual University-wide student research conference. With my project I hope to use WebCT and FrontPage to enhance students’ writing and research skills. I will use WebCT to workshop student writing. Work-shopping student writing is an effective way to improve student writing – not only is it useful for students to receive feedback on their written work, but it is also useful for students to read and help improve other students’ writing. Work-shopping is often difficult to successfully implement in a classroom for a number of reasons, including the time that is required for students to read and respond to other students’ work, the tendency of some students not to take seriously their obligation to make substantial comments (heightened by a lack of accountability for their comments if given orally), and students’ lack of knowledge about classmates’ research topics. The last problem can be addressed by assigning student research projects on related topics. I will use WebCT to address the other two concerns by allowing students to post and read papers on the internet, and by logging students’ comments in a password protected site (where I could also review the comments). More generally, student research projects are often plagued by the suspicion on the part of students that papers, once graded, have no other purpose. By making student research projects part of a larger published report, professionally reviewed and available to the community at large on the web and as a CD-ROM, I hope to inspire students to see their research as more than just another class assignment. In sum, I hope to use web-based and CD-ROM technology to improve student writing and research by increasing their commitment to the process of writing, and to the final result. This project’s true outcome will not be just the final CD-ROM or web-page, but the students’ writing and research skills.
DESCRIPTION:
Over the next three months, I will
develop a WebCT module to facilitate writing work-shopping and exchange. In the
spring of 2002 I will ask the students in my research seminar, “Local
Environmental History,” to create “An Environmental History of the Wicomico
River.” They will each conduct individual research projects, but their
research will be combined into this larger report.
Students will be divided into smaller groups, and will use my WebCT
module to post written work, and to read and comment on the work of the other
members of their group. The class
as a whole will contribute to a WebCT “Class Bibliography and Research Tips”
bulletin board, so that they can share the resources they discover with their
classmates. In February, three
consultants/speakers will meet with the students and discuss their experience in
writing history for a larger audience, using non-print media in presenting
history, and working on the history of Delmarva and the Chesapeake. The former
editor of the journal Environmental History will review the students’
combined report (pre-arranged so that he expects the report, and can quickly
return it with comments). After the
students have addressed the reviewer’s comments, the report will be published
as a CD-ROM and on a class web-page. This
CD-ROM will be distributed in the community, and used as a class text in
subsequent courses. If the
experience proves successful, I will submit an article to the “American
Society for Environmental History Newsletter,” describing this class project.
MENTORING PLAN:
In addition to the required
presentations (as at the Faculty Development workshops), I will volunteer to
present my project and results to the Writing Across the Curriculum group, to
the UMES/SU New Faculty Initiatives program, and to the History Department
(where every major is required to write four major research papers).
I will contact other departments on campus and volunteer to discuss my
project, or to meet individually with faculty members hoping to use WebCT or
computer publishing to encourage student writing and research.
EVALUATION PLAN:
(1): I will ask students to evaluate the WebCT component of the class, the research experience, and the creation of the overall finished class-product in a supplemental page for their course evaluations.
(2): I will evaluate the success of the project as a pedagogical tool by considering the quality of the students’ final written work, the improvement seen in their writing over the course of the semester (as seen in their drafts placed on WebCT), and by monitoring the quality of student participation in WebCT bulletin boards work-shopping student writing.
(3): I will ask Dr. Hal Rothman – a
colleague of mine who has just stepped down after ten years as editor of the
flagship journal for environmental historians – to evaluate the quality of the
finished class project as an outside reviewer (with comments both for me and for
the students). I have worked with him before and am confident that he would
accept – in the event that he could not, I would approach a similar
national-level figure in my discipline.
TIMELINE:
November 1-January 25th:
(1) Develop Class WebCT module
(2) Schedule class speakers, and confirm outside project reviewer
(3) Purchase books that will serve as class “models”
(4) Consult IT on eventual placement of project on SU web-site and the creation of CD-ROMs
January 28th:
(1) Begin WebCT portion of project with class
(2) Plan FrontPage web for eventual class end-result
February:
(1) Outside speakers/consultants meet with class
April 15th:
(1) Students will have completed their individual research papers, and will begin to create the overall class document
May 1st:
(1) Send combined student work off for review by outside reviewer
May 8th:
(1) Go over reviewer comments with class; make final modifications to class project
May 15th:
(1) Publish to the Web
(2) Give a public presentation on findings to the campus and community
(3) Burn CD’s of class project
Summer, 2002 (Project completed by July, 2002):
(1) Review evaluations, write final report, and prepare mentoring presentations for fall
(2)
Distribute class CD in community
BUDGET:
$400: Outside Consultants to speak with class about project (2 @200 each):
Dr. Vasant Saberwal: A historian who specializes in bringing environmental history to a lay audience through films and popular writing.
Tom Horton: Award winning local writer and environmentalist.
donated time: Dr. Jack Wennersten: Specialist on environmental history of the Chesapeake region (recently retired from UMES) (not yet confirmed)
$250: Outside Reviewer to review class report (1 @ $250)
Dr. Hal Rothman (UNLV): Former editor of Environmental History.
$108 Reference texts for class (to be donated to library in May, 2002):
$30 “The Chesapeake: An Environmental Biography,” John Wennersten
$16 “Gila: the Life and Death of an American River,” Greg McNamee
$38 “The Los Angeles River: Its Life, Death, and Possible Rebirth,” Blake Gumprecht
$24 “Discovering the Chesapeake: The History of an Ecosystem,” Philip Curtin
$ 758:
TOTAL BUDGET EXCLUDING STIPEND
$2,500
I will request a stipend, not a course release, to implement this
proposal.
$3,258: TOTAL
BUDGET INCLUDING STIPEND
TECHNICAL SUPPORT:
I will use the following equipment, available on campus: computer labs for students on campus, digital camera, scanner, CD-Burner, printer for CD covers, and the WebCT program. As I am developing my WebCT module, I may need some technical support on-campus in answering basic questions, but anticipate that most of what I need will be available in reference texts.