Paper and Pencil, Keypad and Screen

Pencil and Paper, Keyboard and Screen: Exploring Blended Learning in the Writing Classroom Veronica Darer, Ph.D., Spanish Department, Wellesley College; Heather Corbally Bryant, Ph.D., Writing Program, Wellesley College The purpose of our presentation is to share the results of the assessment of two sections of a First-Year writing course titled The Selfie in American Life. There were two sections of the course, one section included blended aspects, while the second section did not. The goal of the assessment was to better understand student learning in the differing sections of the same course Having two sections of the same course gave us the opportunity to compare and contrast improvement in student writing, specifically in the structure of their writing, depending on the writing medium; one class section wrote exclusively online, using blogs, while the other section wrote exclusively in a notebook. The purpose of the assessments was to evaluate quantitative and qualitative differences in students’ improvement in their writing between the group of students who wrote in a notebook and the group of students who wrote online. The data for the study were student beginning and end of the semester entries on the question, what is a selfish. The writing of both entries of both groups was done in class, by hand, within the same 10-minute time limit. In our talk, we will present various qualitative and quantitative research perspectives and methodologies we used to compare and contrast the writing of both groups. The results of the assessment study point to the need for an overt and ongoing dialogue between instructors and students to share goals and reasons for using blended learning in order help students understand possible benefits of using blended learning approaches in the classroom. In our presentation, we will share ways to balance online activities with “paper/pencil” writing practice, as both seem to offer students different types of opportunities to improve writing structure.