Digital Sense-Making: Narrating - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Digital Sense-Making: Narrating

the Transition to College

Philip KreniskeThe Graduate Center & Hunter CollegeCity University of New York (CUNY)

Kreniske

, P. (2014, May). Digital Sense-Making: How SEEK Students

Narrate

their Transition to College. In C.

Daiute

(Chair), 

Multi

-expressive

Genres for Development 

conducted at the Annual meeting of the Jean Piaget Society, San Francisco, CA.

 Slide2

Writing as a Social and Cognitive Tool

Writing as an explicitly social process

(Bazerman, 2004; Ede, 1989; McLane, 1992; Ong, 1975; and many others) and the importance of audience (Black, 1989; Flower, 1979;

Ong

, 1975;

Sperling

,

1996 and others) Slide3

Writing as a Social and Cognitive Tool and the Digital

The shift in recent years to massive use of digital and explicitly social writing has increased the importance of audience

  (Baker & Moore, 2008; Fishman, Lunsford, McGregor, & Otuteye, 2005; Magnifico, 2011;

Manago

, Tamara,

& Greenfield

,

2012) 

Slide4

What is a

blog?

Often, but not exclusively, blogs are written from one author’s or group of authors’ perspective.Distinct from platforms like Facebook and Twitter in two main ways.

Opportunities for interaction are more limited and

structured on a

blog

.

Blogs

generally place more emphasis on longer written texts, around 500 words, as opposed to Twitter where writers are limited to 140 characters, and though

Facebook does not have the same limitations – the average post is around 122 words.

(

Cvijikj

&

Michahelles

, 2011).Slide5

Affordances of the

Blog Magnify the Importance of Audience

Hypertext Blogger can explicitly select their audience; public, private with limited access to chosen others, or completely privateAllow writers and commenters to communicate across geographical space.

posts and subsequent comments can be appear synchronous - or asynchronous

(

Bolander

, 2012; Graves, 2007 ; Heft, 2007)

Slide6

Affordances of the

Blog Magnify the Importance of Audience

Formation of connections leading to increased implicit and explicit support as compared to most other writing mediumsSocial interactions and supports why blogging contributes to positive emotional development (Baker & Moore, 2008; Bane, Cornish, Erspamer

, &

Kampan

, 2010;

Boniel-Nissim

& Barak, 2011;

Ko

& Kuo, 2009; Schmitt, Davanim, & Matthias, 2008; Sosnowy, 2013)

and perhaps cognitive development too

(Davidson, 2011;

Ducate

&

Lomicka

, 2008; Fishman et al., 2005)

little systematic and empirical work has examined these claims

(

Wuyts

, Broome and McGuire, 2011) Slide7

Writing Supports Sense-Making During Challenging Transitions

Writing can be a tool to support sense-making.Sense-making involves figuring out how one fits into a context (Daiute & Nelson, 1997; Lucic

, 2013).

Slide8

Increasing college enrollment and importance of a degree Slide9

Writing as a Gatekeeper

Increasing college enrollment and importance of a degree Slide10

College Transition is Challenging for All

Especially for students from low income backgrounds many of whom are the first in their family to attend college. (Bailey &

Dynarski

,

2011; Clark

, 2005;

Terenzini

et

al., 1994; Hurtado, Carter, & Spuler, 1996; Hurtado & Carter,

1997; Zhang

& Smith, 2011

) Slide11

Percy Ellis Sutton Search for Education Elevation and Knowledge (SEEK) at CUNY

SEEK provides funding and support for students for families with annual income below $20,655

slightly lower SAT and high school GPA as compared to other students at the college

22 transfer students

(with over 120 freshman admitted in the fall)Slide12

Research Questions

How do SEEK transfer students use blogging to support their transition to a new college?How might their writing change over the course of the semester.

What are the implications of the change?Slide13

Design

Beginning

set up blog and respond to prompt and commentMiddle Respond to prompt and commentEnd Respond to prompt, comment and brief survey

Students write at the beginning, middle and near the end of the semester.Slide14

Design

Beginning Set up

blog and respond to prompt and commentMiddle Respond to prompt and commentEnd Respond to prompt, comment and brief surveySlide15

Design, Prompt 1Slide16

Emma’s First PostSlide17

Emma’s Last PostSlide18

Coding Narratives: A Significance Analysis

Emma’s 1

st Post Cognitive Words(Daiute, 2014)Slide19

Coding Narratives: A Significance Analysis

Emma’s 1st Post

Cognitive and Affect WordsSlide20

Coding Narratives: A Significance Analysis

Emma’s 3rd Post

Cognitive WordsSlide21

Coding Narratives: A Significance Analysis

Emma’s 3rd Post

Cognitive and Affect WordsSlide22

Comparing 1

st and 3rd Narratives: A Significance Analysis

Emma’s Cognitive and Affect Words

1

st

Post

3

rd

PostSlide23

Use of Affect Increased Over the Semester

Note: Mean ratios of affect words to total words per narrative.Slide24

Use of Cognitive Words Increased Over the Semester

Note: Mean ratios of cognitive words to total words per narrative.Slide25

Implications of the change in writing over the semester

Bloggers increased use of affect and cognitive words over time suggesting that this explicitly social writing was an enactment of emotional and cognitive development development. Bloggers used the writing activity to make sense of – and think through their challenging college transition.Slide26

Next Steps

Explore the comments and the interaction of comments and how bloggers’ writings changed.Next cohort of participants

Comparison of explicitly social writing (

bloggers

) and implicitly social writing (word processed).

Other outcomes – i.e. college graduation rates?Slide27

Thank You.

Questions?

pkreniske@gc.cuny.edu