Michigan’s Jackson Community College and the University of Michigan joined forces to expose students to different ideas, issues, and cultures and to teach writing skills through a computerized bulletin board. Taught by Ann Green and Michael Joyce at Jackson, and Bill Condon at the University of Michigan, the writing classes instructed students to interview each other, discuss and debate, critique papers, and discuss common readings.
Jackson’s classes met on different days from the university’s, which gave the messages between students at the two schools time to travel across the bulletin board, Confer II, says Green. In the beginning, students met on-line by introducing themselves and reading about each other. They collaborate using a network of 25 Macintosh SEs.
They then formed work groups that shifted slightly throughout the semester. Mutual interviewing gave the students the opportunity to write joint papers about their lives. Readings from Harper’s Forum in subjects such as the environment, pornography, and the military were discussed. They also received critiques of their writings from students at the other school.
Confer II arranges conversations by item. If a student posted an essay, all responses to that essay would stay within that item. They could exchange ideas, had a clear sense of the topics they were discussing, and got a better handle on their target audiences for the writings.
The collaboration was a great opportunity for building community relations, says Bill Condon. Students and teachers alike discussed their schools, interests, and hometowns. Considering that the university students were from the same socioeconomic and age groups and the community college had a mix of ages and backgrounds, students found they had a number of common interests.
To top off the class, some students traveled 35 miles to meet their on-line friends. The schools’ spring breaks were a week apart, so students visited during their respective breaks and talked while sharing pizza. It was an excellent opportunity for cultural exchange, says Green.
For information, contact Dr. Ann M. Green, Jackson Community College, 2111 Emmons Rd., Jackson, MI 49201; (517) 787-0800; AppleLink: acca.jcc; or Dr. Bill Condon, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; (313) 936-3143. BillCondon@um.cc.umich.edu.
