Extractions: As I read Donald Leu's previous column, I found myself wondering about the many possible uses for the Internet in the classroom and the emerging forms of literacy brought about by its many dynamic virtual environments. I thought about the many new possibilities for communication that were mentioned and noticed that many of these new communication forms (e.g., chat sessions, e-mail) involved writing. I reflected back on Leu's statements about "standing on the cusp" between traditional and new forms of literacy and realized that today's students would use written communication for purposes both traditional (e.g., letters) and new (e.g., listservs). This realization impressed upon me the need for developing writing-centered literacy experiences that help students develop traditional and electronic literacy skills. The more I thought about it, the more I considered the practical concerns of using virtual environments like the World Wide Web (WWW) to facilitate the teaching of traditional literacy and new forms of electronic literacy. Although the wealth of information on the WWW provides great potential for incorporating rich information resources into writing-centered literacy activities, the sheer enormity of the WWW's seemingly limitless boundaries makes locating appropriate information quite time consuming. In addition, once individual sites are chosen, they must be carefully analyzed to make sure that information contained within is conducive to instructional goals and students' level of language use.
Extractions: 6th November 2001 The aims of the workshop were governed by three factors: 1) the increasing rise of interest in various forms of narrative and issues related to these forms, 2) the implications for interactive learning environments which have not been well articulated either nationally or internationally (although the continued significance of the MENO project is highly valued by the organisers and the wider community), and 3) the wish of the organisers to draw on the vast experience of creating different kinds of narrative found in various communities of practice (novelists, film producers, multimedia developers and storytellers,...). This experience relates to all aspects of narrative including the three levels found within the classic structuralist view of narrative as well as postmodern conceptions. (In what follows, the term ``narrative'' is used to refer to the collection of views of narrative that form the subject of narratology.) Prior to the workshop in late August/early September 2000, a great deal of interest in narrative had been evident. The 1999 AAAI fall symposium on `Narrative Intelligence' was the best attended of all the symposia. The AAAI Fall Symposium on Socially Intelligent Agents held in 3-5 November 2000 at North Falmouth, MA, USA covered some related ground.
Extractions: nils_peterson@wsu.edu This project created on-line practicum and mentoring experiences for pre-service teachers and developed the research, information literacy, and writing skills of eighth-grade students studying the American Civil War. The task given to the eighth-grade students was to write a story of historical fiction about the American Civil War from the perspective of someone living during that time period. The system described supported all aspects of the pupils' research, data organization, pre-writing and drafting process. Pre-service teachers could interact with the pupils through an internal email system and by writing comments directly on the various elements of the students' work. Keywords: Project-based instruction, Collaborative learning, Collaborative research, Teacher education, Professional development school
Internet In Action- Resources: Program 1 collaborative project featured in Program 1 where participants read interactive online stories with accompanying activities and a suggested reading list http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/ntti/iia/resources.html
SAGAs Writing Interactive Fiction SAGAs writing interactive Fiction Module 1 March 12 18 1999 This activitycould be for a single player, or could be collaborative (multiplayer). http://www.sagasnet.de/sagaswif/page.php?id=19
Welcome To StoryCrafter.com, An Interactive Story Community. Current Stories in collaborative Community There will be no need to stopwriting just to get another character s response. I can provide examples if http://www.storycrafter.com/main/stories.php?cat=Collaborative Community
Extractions: Save a personal copy of any page on the Web and quickly find it again with Furl.net. It's free. Get started now. Using a collaborative virtual role-play environment to foster characterisation in stories. Journal of Interactive Learning Research March, 2003 by Judy Robertson This article reports the results of a field study evaluation of a virtual role-play environment, Ghostwriter, which was designed as a preparation activity for writing stories. It examines the effects Ghostwriter has on characterisation in children's imaginative writing. Ghostwriter is based on a commercial computer game. Two children and one role-play leader interact with each other in a perceptually realistic virtual world. Each role-player controls an avatar representing a character in the adventure story. Children can move these avatars around in the virtual world, and can communicate with others by sending and receiving typed messages.
Good Teaching + Multimedia = Writing Success Students are composing interactive adventure stories, using HyperCard software First, by writing stories for their peers to read, students have a highly http://www2.edc.org/NCIP/library/mm/Wayland.htm
Extractions: Good Teaching + Multimedia = Writing Success Martha Gowetski's tenth-grade English class in Wayland, Massachusetts which includes students with learning disabilities is buzzing with activity. One group of students is crowded around a large fow chart mapping out their adventure story. They are busy editing text cards, taping pictures, and placing compact disks on the chart. Several students are drawing pictures, and others are scanning photographs into the computer. Two girls are working together to create interactive "buttons" which link rock songs to their story. Someone calls out "Twenty seconds of silence please so I can tape!" and the room is quiet. View Video Clip (993K) text transcript What is going on here? Students are composing interactive adventure stories, using HyperCard software, for others to read on the computer. Martha has been doing this project with her English classes for the past three years. She starts the three-week unit by showing her students stories composed by previous classes. After her students read these stories, they are eager to get started. Students begin their projects by forming groups and brainstorming story topics and plots. These often refect their interests and concerns music, dating, parties, and bizarre (and sometimes gory) events. Once they have formulated a basic "plot plan," groups begin writing. Each story includes points at which the reader is asked to make a choice between two actions like "go to Valencia's" or "go to drug store." Each choice leads the reader down a separate story path.
WEB RESOURCES Web Resources Reading, writing and the Internet Quick Picks CollaborativeLesson Archive Lesson plans are teacher generated and are arranged by http://www.bordentown.k12.nj.us/resources/professional/quickpicks.htm
Extractions: WEB RESOURCES Web Resources Reading, Writing and the Internet: Quick Picks Sponsored by Bordentown Regional School District Teacher Tools BRSD Lesson Plans Subject Links Student Links ... Administrator Links Online Collaborative Projects E-Mail Projects - electronic pen pals Epals - the largest keypal network; allow teachers to set by exchanges between students in over 97 countries More Collaborative Projects The Global School Net - This is a fabulous one-stop resource for collaborative projects on the Internet. It includes current projects and a site for registration of new projects. Projects can be searched by age level or project date. You can even join mailing list where projects are send directly to your e-mail address. The Monster Exchange - This is an online collaborative project designed to promote reading and writing. Interactive Projects K-12 - Part of the Youth Net site which lists projects which are ongoing or continuous throughout the year.
Modularity Of Online Writing--The Hypertext I conclude with a brief description of the modularity of writing for the computer Is there a unity which is still essential to an interactive hypermedia http://faculty.millikin.edu/~rbrooks.hum.faculty.mu/hypermodularwriting.html
Extractions: Resisting the Modular Nature of Writing in the Info-age We live in revolutionary times, where the computer has become the central tool for all areas of personal, social, political, and professional life. Yet we still teach computer writing based on old fashioned models of manuscript production. More often than not, our instructional use of computers is limited to a single word processing program, with the end result being a printed manuscript that could have been produced on a typewriter more than eighty years ago. Computer writing instruction rarely uses the full potential of the computer as a new media for seeking and presenting information. In this hypertext, I consider the role of quick-access to information in our society and the computer information skills students will need in their daily lives. Then I revisit the emphasis on manuscript conventions and a single prototypical essay which continues to dominate Freshman composition pedagogy. Attempts to integrate computers into this traditional curriculum merely
Modularity Of Online Writing Essay Is there a unity which is still essential to an interactive hypermedia form of The modularity of online publications changes the nature of writing. http://faculty.millikin.edu/~rbrooks.hum.faculty.mu/oldmodularwriting.html
Extractions: Millikin University We live in revolutionary times, where the computer has become the central tool for all areas of personal, social, political, and professional life. Yet we still teach computer writing based on old fashioned models of manuscript production. More often than not, our instructional use of computers is limited to a single word processing program, with the end result being a printed manuscript that could have been produced on a typewriter more than eighty years ago. Computer writing instruction rarely uses the full potential of the computer as a new media for seeking and presenting information. We live in the dawn of the Info Agea time in which power, wealth, management, government, knowledge, security, productivity, and entertainment are all defined by access and use of information. But we also live in the age of information overload-we are glutted with too much information every day. There are too many books to read, too many news stories, too many research studies, too many databases to search, and too many records to keep. In the Info-Glut-Age, success depends on the ability to search and find important information via the computer, and the ability to restructure or massage that information for re-Presentation via the computer. We need to teach our students much more than typewriting conventions which can be easily simulated and enhanced on the computer. We need to teach our students to ride the ever-changing waves of information flow-to be surfers through the information glut. We need to teach our students how to explore the web of information and how to make use of all the types of information available including quotes, text, sound bytes, video clips, charts, graphs, and graphics. We need to teach them how to harvest relevant information from the multiplicity of available sources.
Extractions: Journal of Interactive Learning Research 14 (1), 5-29. [Online]. Available: http://dl.aace.org/11570 Using a Collaborative Virtual Role-Play Environment to Foster Characterisation in Stories Judy Robertson, University of Edinburgh, Scotland; Judith Good, University of New Mexico, USA This article reports the results of a field study evaluation of a
3801: Writing For New Media 523801 writing for New Media meets Tuesdays, from 100-450pm The majorendeavor for this course will be a collaborative web project building on the http://www.curragh-labs.org/new_media.shtml
Extractions: Welcome to the information page for 3801: Writing for New Media. This page will also serve as a gateway to the course website when that comes on line. For the time being, a few tidbits about the course are below: This course explores the emerging logic of the digital age. Join us as we venture forth into the electronic wilderness to document what we see and read. Throughout the semester, we will examine digital texts (web sites, DVDs, video games) as well as more traditional objects that influence digital thinking (films, comics, digital music, photographs). We will then develop our own strategies to harness this electronic logic by creating and publishing aesthetic, inventive projects on the web. 52-3801: Writing for New Media meets Tuesdays, from 1:00-4:50pm I teach full time in the English Department at Columbia. I specialize in Composition, Media Studies, and the Rhetoric of New Media. I teach using a student-centered model that focuses on process and production rather than on tests and lectures. To learn more about me, feel free to peruse this website. You may want to look at my old syllabi to get an idea of the kinds of projects I assign.
Extractions: in the book "Shop Talk and War Stories" 1. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE Write and edit with online readers needs and habits in mind. Web usability studies show that readers tend to skim over sites rather than read them intently. They also tend to be more proactive than print readers or TV viewers, hunting for information rather than passively taking in what you present to them. Think about your target audience. Because your readers are getting their news online, chances are they are more interested in Internet-related stories than TV viewers or newspaper readers, so it may make sense to put greater emphasis on such stories. Also, your site potentially has a global reach, so consider whether you want to make it understandable to a local, national or international audience, and write and edit with that in mind.
Open-sourcing The News | Newsmakers | CNET News.com Now they are trying the collaborative wiki process on news. There s an interestin writing more current events type of articles, but they aren t http://news.com.com/Open-sourcing the news/2008-1025_3-5515166.html
Extractions: Can Internet volunteers improve journalism? Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales is out to find out. Wikipedia is a very successful online encyclopedia written and edited by thousands of volunteers. Now they are trying the collaborative wiki process on news. The project, called Wikinews , is in its early stages and faces clear challenges, from the difficulty of doing original reporting to delivering news quickly in a peer review model. Then why do it? Wales and others think that the mainstream media have let slip their pledges of objectivity and commitments to high-quality journalism. The goal of Wikinews is to give the straight story, neutral and unbiased. And to get the facts rightan area where mainstream media has lost some credibility. Wikinews is just one of several wiki-related effortsfrom an online dictionary to freely available textbooksbeing run by the nonprofit Wiki Media Foundation . But Wikinews appears to be the project in development getting the most attentionat least from journalists. Wales spoke to CNET News.com about Wikinews and the "burgeoning culture" around wikis.
Schoolzone Evaluation Of Be A Director The program is built around five interactive stories which present pupils with a I would have liked to use some of the concepts in our creative writing http://www.schoolzone.co.uk/resources/evaluations/printcon.asp?p=NELS-0748772332
Super Surfin' For Spec. Educ. Pitsco s Launch to OnLine collaborative Projects A collection of www sites that KidsCom This site gives students story starters for creative writing. http://fritschi.home.mindspring.com/where.html
