“Wanted: Some Black Long Distance [Writers]”: Blackboard Flava-Flavin and other AfroDigital experiences in the classroom

Chapter 7. Designing a More Equitable Scorecard: Grading Contracts and Online Writing Instruction

“…Rather than the instructor being the locus of knowledge, students are encouraged to discover their own meaning-making and knowledge-building capacities through collaborative discussion. This collaborative, meaning-making discussion is exemplified by the "Blackboard Flava-Flavin" that Kynard (2007) observed in her hybrid first-year writing courses. Trickstering and digital signifying are meth-ods of re-constructing knowledge and the university that are culturally specific to the Black working class students in Kynard's study.…”

“…My use of cohort-based discussion extends the research and application of group discussions in OWI, a pedagogical method that is currently underutilized in OWCs. For example, Carmen Kynard (2007) has described a hybrid model of first-year writing in which she used group-based Blackboard discussions in tandem with F2F class wide discussion. Also using a form of cohort-based discussion, Ken Gillam and Shannon R. Wooden (2013) have endorsed an ecological model of writing in OWCs where students collaborate in small groups for a single assignment cycle in order to balance cognitive and communal writing outcomes.…”

Foreword: Turning Research into Practice,

“…Also using a form of cohort-based discussion, Ken Gillam and Shannon R. Wooden (2013) have endorsed an ecological model of writing in OWCs where students collaborate in small groups for a single assignment cycle in order to balance cognitive and communal writing outcomes. The logical next step from both Kynard (2007) and Gillam and Wooden (2013) is to implement cohort-based discussion in a fully online course for an entire semester. Fewer peers means greatly reduced literacy loads, allowing for deeper reading and more meaningful conversation among peers.…”

Chapter 15. PARS for the Course: Using PARS to Teach PARS in an Online Graduate Seminar

“…My use of cohort-based discussion extends the research and application of group discussions in OWI, a pedagogical method that is currently underutilized in OWCs. For example, Carmen Kynard (2007) has described a hybrid model of first-year writing in which she used group-based Blackboard discussions in tandem with F2F class wide discussion. Also using a form of cohort-based discussion, Ken Gillam and Shannon R. Wooden (2013) have endorsed an ecological model of writing in OWCs where students collaborate in small groups for a single assignment cycle in order to balance cognitive and communal writing outcomes.…”