Pieces of the Big Puzzle for the Small Abstract

I just picked out some sections from the paper that contain ideas we could use in the abstract. Just a starting point...

Through our discussions concerning the design and possible implications of this research, we began to see similarities between our basic skills students and ourselves—namely their anxiety in trying to get a foothold in the sometimes uncomfortable community of academic discourse. Basic skills students grow frustrated with the conventions and terminology of standard academic discourse—much in the same manner we felt the frustrations of learning new terminology, understanding the expectations and benefits, and navigating the terrain of doctoral-level discourse. As we attempted to cross the border from the familiar academic setting of our past into the unfamiliar setting of doctoral coursework, we felt a stronger connection to our basic skills writers. Thus, in order to best model our students’ basic writing experiences, we created a blog to influence, as well as reflect the research and writing process we engaged in as students. The data included in this paper represents this process. Our rationale for this method of research is tied into our beliefs that first-hand experience is the most appropriate manner to study the influences blogging has on the writing process because “...a blog is only as good or as useful as the blogger who builds it...If teachers incorporate blogging in the curriculum without blogging themselves, as some do, then the blog is a miserable add-on” (Penrod, 2007, p. 154).

Blogs seem to be a natural extension of collaborative writing within a social context of learning. In fact, a blog is an example of one of Vygotsky’s “cultural tools” that help human beings construct knowledge. De Lisi (2006) supported Vygotsky’s theory on cultural tools when she stated, “modern technology including the various kinds of computer software programs…would be considered to be important cultural tools and artifacts within the Vygotskian theoretical framework” (p. 22).

As Baron (1999) stated, “the computer is simply the latest step in a long line of writing technologies.” Prior to computers, controversial technologies included the pencil, telegram, and typewriter. While incorporating computers into the composition classroom remains controversial to some, we believe computers and writing are now intricately connected.
To understand how blogging may influence the writing process, we must first look at how computer-aided composition connects with basic writers day-to-day lives. Computers are ingrained in the lives of students, and incorporating the use of computers in the composition class helps students cross the bridge from personal writing to academic writing. Penrod (2005) stressed the importance of incorporating the abilities college students already have into the academic sphere. For instance, students already engage with writing through a variety of means, including communicating with friends via Facebook, as well as maintaining personal blogs and websites. In addition to bridging the divide between personal and academic writing, the use of computers helps basic writers become a part of the writing community. Computers have made it possible for students to join the writing community in a more direct and obvious fashion. With just a few clicks, they can connect to the internet and publish their work in many different ways.

Computers also provide opportunities for alternative types of writing and learning that may connect more effectively with basic writers than traditional assignments. Penrod (2005) noted that, “computer-enhanced writing instruction is purely holistic in the best sense of the word. Process is equal to product in the teaching of writing in networked spaces, and students' minds and bodies are engaged in solving the problems that arise in the action of communication” (p. 123). Our standpoint in this paper is that students are engaged in writing in network spaces already and the vast majority of them no longer write without the use of a computer. By incorporating this technology in meaningful ways, we can help basic writers become more skilled.

Barker and Kemp (1990) argued that increased student interaction occurs when computers are used to “manage text transactions between class members” (p. 16). Blogs are an ideal place for these text transactions to occur in a dynamic environment. Blogging helps students view writing as a social process, because blogging is a social process. Nardi, Shiano, and Gumbrecht (2004) stated that “while ‘thinking’ might seem a solitary activity, or one not quite social, in blogging the presence of the audience and the writer’s consciousness of the audience clearly introduce the social into an individual’s thought process (as Vygotsky argued…)” (p. 227). Blogging inherently promotes social interaction and collaboration.