Webessays: Challenges for teachers
There
is little doubt that this new writing provides a new challenge, and teachers
are going to react differently to it.
Challenges
Inherent in asking techers to use this new medium are fundamental challenges.
Assessment will be different
and teachers need to feel confident that they have knowledge to assess
aspects of webessays which are not judged in conventional essays. There
may be generational issues where esteemed academics feel rattled as they
struggle to keep up with their students technological abilities.
There will no doubt be much debate as all of the implications
of e-learning are realised within academia and beyond.
Supporting
Staff
There seems to be a clear need to support staff in meeting this challenge.
However, supporting staff in developing and using new methods requires
a bringing together of technological and pedagogic thinking, and an institutional
approach.
Shepard
suggests that we need to see a continuum with staff support at one end
and professional development at the other, and with different strategies
being interpreted as at different points along it.
Littlejohn argues that in order to better integrate
face-to-face teaching and virtual learning spaces staff support should
be more clearly aligned with academic needs, and focus on learning rather
than teaching issues.
There seems a clear need for a team approach for webessays to be able to me a realistic option for teachers to support and mark.
