Richard Beach, Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
Blog: http://teachingliterature.typepad.com/
Bio: Professor of English Education at the University of Minnesota. He is author or co-author of Teaching Writing through Blogs, Wikis, and Other Digital Tools(Christopher Gordon, November, 2008), Teachingmedialiteracy.com: A Resource Guide to Links and Activities, and Teaching Literature to Adolescents.
Bio Link:https://k12online08presenters.wikispaces.com/Richard+Beach
Presentation Title: “Using Online Argument Role-Play to Foster Learning to Argue and Arguing to Learn in a High School Composition Class”
Description: I describe the use of online role-play in a 12th grade high school composition class using a class blog and a Ning forum. In a role-play, students adopt fictional roles associated with competing positions associated with influencing a final decision on an issue. Students were highly engaged in a Ning role-play on the issue of student Internet access in their school because they were assuming different voices, writing to multiple audiences versus just the teacher, and developing arguments to make proposals for actual changes in the school’s Internet policies.
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Supporting Links:
Richard has developed the following resource sites for teachers interested in teaching media and digital writing:
– media literacy
– media literacy wiki
– teaching digital writing
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[tags]k12online08pi10, k12online08[/tags]
Thank you for your thorough analysis of using the on-line forum as a way to better engage students in argument and debate.