Archive 2.0: What Composition Students and Academic Libraries Can Gain from Digital-Collaborative Pedagogies

Archive 2.0: What Composition Students and Academic Libraries Can Gain from Digital-Collaborative Pedagogies

Pedagogy

Participation in digital archives and collaborative digital environments, according to Vetter, can lead to increased student motivation, rhetorical awareness, and an increased awareness of library resources and the concepts of public information, while serving as stewards of the genesis and preservation of public knowledge. The research project began through the desire to produce and evaluate an assignment that designed and measured “collaborative-digital pedagogy,” directly engaging composition students with library services and special collections with the aim of increasing student awareness and usage of library services, and special collections for future research. Vetter constructed the study with the hypothesis that Kenneth Bruffee’s concept of peer learning, a cornerstone of composition pedagogy, could be enacted and extended through the design and implementation of activities that utilize collaborative technologies in the classroom and eventually engage a broader network of collaborators in an online environment like Wikipedia. Citing one particular student’s experience as a case study, Vetter attempts to illustrate the pedagogic value of providing students with the opportunity to collaborate with multiple individuals during the course of a service learning project. Vetter also discusses the potential of such exercises to teach the rhetorical situation, notably the concepts of authority and authorship, as well as the factors of motivation that accompany such unique learning models and environments.

Vetter, Mathew

2014

Foley, Christopher

Journal Article

Vetter, Matthew A. "Archive 2.0: What Composition Students and Academic Libraries Can Gain from Digital-Collaborative Pedagogies." Composition Studies 42, no. 1 (Spring 2014): 35-53.