So, this message applies to you if you plan to put any or all of your work online, or if you want to use the data you find to present to others as a part of a job interview or professional conference presentation/journal article. If you only plan to share it within our classroom, then you DO NOT have to use these forms for your interviews. Even if you are not sharing your work beyond ENG 315, you should still discuss your project with your teacher and the people that you are interviewing, as that is ethical practice for teacher researchers.

I have posted the consent forms on our wiki, on the syllabus page (http://eng315.wikispaces.com/Syllabus), under the inquiry project heading in the following paragraph:

If you are interviewing teachers or students, please describe your research process to them. If you plan on sharing your findings beyond ENG 315 (online, in other classes, in future presentations), you must get informed consent. For teachers, please have them fill out the teacher consent form. For students, please have them take a parent consent form home to be completed by their parents. Once that form is complete, review the child assent form with the student and complete it with him/her. If you have questions about this process, please contact Troy right away.

Good luck with your continued research. I am very excited to see your work develop this semester and I am looking forward to seeing your multigenre projects and portfolios in the coming weeks.

ENG 315 Podcast 5 (2-24-08)

If not, please let me know and I will work on something else for hosting it.

Take this article from the University of Buffalo Reporter and put it in conversation with the first four chapters of Lucy Calkins’ book. For instance, you could start with her idea that “We Care About Writing When It Is Personal and Interpersonal” (p. 14) and discuss her ideas in relation to the goals of this program.

What would Calkins have to say about this program? Would it dehumanize the writing that students do? Or, on the other hand, could it help improve their writing by getting an immediate, even if computer-generated response? Would the computer be responding to the same elements in the writing as a teacher?

I really hope someone takes on the challenge to write a response about this article in conversation with Calkins (or Spandel). Good luck!

Software grades handwritten essaysNew computational tool may boost students’ reading comprehension

By ELLEN GOLDBAUM
Contributing Editor

Computer scientists in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have been working with their colleagues in the Graduate School of Education to develop a computational tool that not only dramatically reduces the time it takes to grade children’s handwritten essays, but also may help boost students’ reading-comprehension skills.

The software has special relevance to the school systems and teachers involved in administering the standardized English Language Arts exams that are given every year, usually in January, by public school systems in every state.

This month, every New York school district will administer these assessments to their students in grades three to eight.The National Science Foundation recently awarded the UB researchers a $100,000 grant to develop new algorithms that eventually could allow computers to take over the grading of children’s handwritten essays.

More at: UB Reporter: Software grades handwritten essays

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Podcast #3 (2-1-08)

ENG 315 Podcast 2