Russell Pennell, Marsha Durham, Conrad Ozog, Alison Spark, Felicity Rooney, University of Western Sydney Nepean, PO Box 10, Kingswood, NSW 2747 Phone: +61 2 678 7605 Fax: +61 2 678 7600 Email: r.pennell@nepean.uws.edu.au Home Page: Russell Pennell [HREF1]
World Wide Web, situated learning, business writing, composition, simulation
A Web-based simulated organisation has been made to situate the learning of writing in a professional writing environment. Real industry mentors respond to student queries. Multimedia elements increase involvement by students in their learning tasks.
Situating learning [HREF2] within a professional writing structure is of great value for final-year writing students, but it is difficult to locate and supervise sufficient industry placements. Mentors in industry are keen to assist teaching, but travelling time and their normal duties restrict their availability to occasional lectures. Using email, telephone and fax, industry mentors, in conjunction with exercises that are part of a Web-based virtual organisation, can assist students while they experience a professional writing placement.
Final year Professional Writing students need to gain professional experience but when placed in real companies find it hard to apply writing theories as they struggle with a new environment with which they will have only brief contact. They need to become attuned to the situational elements within an organisational culture, as evidenced by semantics, style and structure, and are often unaware of the depths of these until gaining experience of several different organisations. A single academic doesn't have the resources or time to supervise 60 students at separate sites, to attempt to help students be aware of situational elements, cope with them, and apply their theoretical information to solving real-life communication tasks.
Past solutions have included
Case studies: but it is hard to highlight contextual cues in these and they can't respond to student questions
Field research: but placement is difficult, lecturers are distant and the environment is often chaotic
Guest lectures: but integration with the normal course is difficult and contact with students is short due to the need for the guest to be absent from their normal work site.
This project (supported by a National Teaching Development Grant) aimed to combine resource-based and problem-based learning in simulated industry contexts with support for students from both tutors and industry mentors throughout the process. The learning is developed over three modules.
The Virtual Organisation: Students serve as interns in a computer-based organisation [HREF3] and are exposed to situational elements as they create written documents appropriate to the organisation and evaluate the organizational culture that influences communication choices.
A Research Paper: Using a bibliographic database prepared to clarify specific issues, students incorporate relevant research literature as they complete a report based on their virtual experience
A Scenario: Students work in a project team applying writing theories and research to a professional writing scenario.
The virtual organisation within which students were to experience professional tasks was established as a Website, allowing both students and remote mentors to observe and respond to situations. The student as a new staff member is assigned an investigative task by their superior, the Internal Communication Manager: reporting on the practicality and value of starting a staff newsletter. Two long briefings with this manager place the student in the writing community of the organisation and establish the Manager as an expert advisor. Over the two-week virtual placement, students are required to prepare two reports and a draft memorandum for their manager, based upon interviews they conduct with a number of staff members. The documents prepared are, in fact, emailed to their tutor from within the simulation.
Photos, superimposed drawings and audio accompany a series of scripted interviews with various staff members as the student questions them about their duties and attitude to written communication. The student can email their superior or their mentor from their virtual office to resolve questions concerning their understanding of the issues raised in interviews. Printed interview transcripts are made available retrospectively.
Limited JavaScript programming is used to enhance the complexity of the student's interaction with the organisation and to simplify their interaction with the computer.
The various facilities of the virtual office appear in windows overlapping the office view, retaining the context from which they were called. The design is sensitive to the confusion that proliferation of overlaid windows can cause for novice users.
The voices and other environmental sounds increase motivation and emotional involvement in the process, as well as conveying information additional to the print onscreen. The choice of 16 bit 22 kHz streaming Quicktime audio is influenced by the delivery parameters: non-FPU ethernet Macintosh workstations on the same campus as the Web server.
Working within the limitations of Web delivery, the student experience is intended to be theatre rather than a game, requiring some commitment from the student. The images and controls used are stage props, rather than a close imitation of reality.
A student trial (5 students, without mentors) occurred during May 1997. The students became engrossed in their interactions with the virtual organisation, seeking clarifying discussions with additional staff (which the computer could not provide). For those who approached the virtual organisation as fun, repeated contact changed the experience to one to be learned from rather than simply enjoyed. In the debriefing with an independent facilitator, all students expressed their valuing of the experience; "valid, very practical, a leap up, productive, exciting, promising". Student evaluations suggested only minor changes to the functioning of the system.
A short handbook about mentoring is being prepared to advise both industry mentors and students of protocols and expectations. The addition of contact with mentors in future will increase the collaborative social interaction between novices and experts which is vital to learning.
A Web-based virtual organisation allows students to experience the complexity of a realistic professional placement while being exposed to specific writing issues through scripted interviews. Industry-based mentors are expected to reinforce the situated nature of the learning experience.
Russell Pennell ©, 1997. The author assigns to Southern Cross University and other educational and non-profit institutions a non-exclusive licence to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The author also grants a non-exclusive licence to Southern Cross University to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web and on CD-ROM and in printed form with the conference papers, and for the document to be published on mirrors on the World Wide Web. Any other usage is prohibited without the express permission of the author.