[Englecturers] A 1B assignment in search of classes

[Gray Scott]

Hello all,

If you're an experienced instructor slated to teach one or more 1B classes next quarter, would you be willing to fit in a collaborative essay I have designed? The assignment is an experiment connected with my dissertation research on team authorship, and I'm looking for up to a dozen classes, in order to ensure a good sample size.  

The assignment is a team version of the Justifying-an-Evaluation essay, with a few alterations (described below, under my signature). It is designed to replace the usual Justifying-an-Evaluation essay, and would be followed by a quick survey for students as well as an online survey for instructors. 

It should not impose a great deal on your schedule, aside from the 5-minute surveys. The assignment is one that's normally included in a 1B course, and you'll end up with fewer papers. Moreover, since part of my research entails scoring the essays and comparing them, you wouldn't even have to grade them if you didn't want to -- all you'd have to do is ask me to give you a report with my scores on it, and then you could do with those whatever you wish. This isn't to say that there aren't some possible disadvantages: My assignment might not match well with the way you've themed your course, or with your usual approach to teaching. 

Some details appear at the bottom of this document, below my signature. If you're at all interested, glance through them, and if you're still curious, contact me. If at any point (even mid-experiment) you decide you don't want to participate, just say so. Also, if you have a quid-pro-quo in mind (like subbing for you on one of your classes or something), go ahead and fire away, and we'll see what we can work out. I need as many classes as I can get!

Thank you,

Gray Scott

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Procedure: If you decide to participate, I'll assign each participating class you have to one of two sets. For one set, much about the assignment will be predetermined: Classes in that set will have to write within a particular theme and follow specific instructions. They'll have some models for team procedures that they will have to follow closely. Their work will be evaluated according to a set rubric, provided to them. For another set of classes, the assignment will be more flexible. Teams in those classes will be permitted to choose their topics with relative flexibility, will get to set many of their own team procedures (based on the same models that the first set is required to use), and will even be permitted to negotiate changes to the rubric with the rest of the class, subject to approval or veto by you. 

Both sets will be asked to turn in full packets, including their final drafts, previous drafts, invention work, planning work, and individual reflective statements. They'll also turn in a cover sheet with their names on it, which you'll keep. Their names should not appear on any work in the rest of the packet -- just their team, class, and participant numbers. (This step is designed to ensure that they remain anonymous.) 

Once they've turned them in, you're asked to distribute a quick survey, collect the survey when it is completed (in about 5 minutes), and then put both the surveys and the papers in my departmental mailbox. I'll make the photocopies I need and then return the originals to you. If you want to use my scores and let me know, I'll send you a report with scores by team number as soon as I've finished with them. 

Lastly, there's an online survey (also about 5 minutes) that I'd ask you to complete, once the class is done with the assignment.

That's pretty much it.

Confidentiality: Just as the student teams will use numbers to ensure confidentiality, your class will be assigned a number. Once I've collected all of my materials, I'll destroy my key, so that it will theoretically not be possible for others to determine which essays go with which instructors. 

Research Goals: The purpose of all of this is to determine how much of an impact autonomy has on team performance. Research in tangent disciplines like psychology and management suggest that the autonomous teams should outperform the restricted teams significantly in most activities, but there hasn't been much research to establish whether this effect holds up for writing, specifically. Hence, my experiment.

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