Kairotic Design: Building Flexible Networks for Online Composition

• Intro
• Design Process
• Instructor Perspectives
• Student Perspectives
• Implications
• References

• Intro
  • Premises
  • English111
  • Methods
• Design Process
  • Starting Assumptions and Assets
  • Dissonances
  • Space Decisions
  • Kairotic Design
• Instructor Perspectives
  • Making Space Work (Lance)
  • Making Space for Collaboration (Renea)
  • Party Time at Burke's Place (Ryan)
• Student Perspectives
  • Initial Nervousness and Uncertainty
  • Interacting Online
  • Agency in the Timing of Learning Activities
  • Challenges
• Implications
  • Principles of Online Course Design
  • Rethinking Traditional Writing Instruction
• References

Student Perspectives

As instructors, we aimed to build learning spaces that would engage, challenge, and support students, that would foster collaboration and interaction, and that would put students and student work at the center of the course. As we describe in the "Instructor Perspectives" section, we felt we had been successful at doing so. But how did the students experience and perceive the online learning spaces? In this section, we draw from interviews and surveys with students to address that key question.

After providing an overview of some demographic information, we discuss key issues students identified about the learning spaces, specifically their initial feelings of uncertainty about online learning and what helped them to become more comfortable in the online spaces; how they learned to interact online and what interfaces they found most effective for that; and their increased sense of agency in the timing of learning activities.

Overview of Student Demographics

In all, 56 students were enrolled in the five online sections we studied: 36 in three summer sections and 21 in two fall sections. Of these students, 47 were first-year, 3 were sophomores, 1 was a junior, and 5 were seniors; 54 were from United States and 2 were from other countries (Belgium and India). As reported in pre-semester surveys, 72 percent had no experience with online learning while 28 percentreported having some prior experience with online learning, including using laptops in their school classes, using computers at work and taking fully online classes. Three students from the summer courses, all from the United States and native speakers of English, participated in the focus group interviews in September: Brandon, a male first-year student; Alexa, a female transfer student; and Kelly, a female first-year student.