Digital writing and labor-based grading: an equitable and inclusive approach to undergraduate writing instruction

Abstract

The tradition of digital writing instructional practices is nearly 50 years old in the US (Handa, 2004). Sometimes, students fully online digital writing courses may fail to engage with and finish the course because they do not feel competent in handling the technologies in the academic context; thus, it is important to find out what equitable practices and what factors influence student success in these courses. Therefore, this study aims to examine digital writing assignments requested in a writing course, with the goal of demonstrating an inclusive and equitable practice: the Labor-based grading contract, in a way that promotes equal and fair grades. This practice is proposed as a solution to the shortcomings detected, since it has been observed that students inexperienced in pre-college education in the delivery of online writing assignments persist in their difficulties with technological educational platforms in college. The creation of a contract between the teacher and the students -at first-, fosters knowledge, motivation, involvement, or engagement with the task; thus, digital writing assignments go from being an unattainable goal to being a feasible task to engage in. Also, the cooperative creation of this online writing with an easy-to-use platform (Eli Peer Review) stimulates them to persist in the following tasks, as they have already reflected on them and have already found out among their peers what they consist of and how to deal with such tasks. In our research we present a case study of a course based on online writing instruction. Therefore, this study aims to examine a particular course in the United States in which multimedia writing assignments and labor-based grading allowed for deep student engagement and success (Dickson,1974; Inoue, 2019). The data comes from the use of mixed methods that combine qualitative information collected through document analysis (teacher materials: syllabi, guidelines, instructions; student materials: personal research, blog entries, and final letter); classroom observation field diaries and the semi-structured teacher interview, with the quantitative methods of a student survey. The results show that there is a high degree of alignment between the course and the best practices of online instruction, and that the nature of the assignments and the Labor-based Grading Contract (Dickson,1974, Inoue, 2019) appear to play key roles in student engagement and success in the course. Likewise, the most highlighted aspect by the students has been the emotional factor, since the tasks have allowed them to get involved and enjoy writing in the digital support. The systematic observation of this writing course aims to deeply understand its provenance, objectives, taxonomy and functionality, with the final purpose of highlighting the capabilities of this methodology in order to offer it as a model in other contexts to promote a fairer and more equitable education.

El propósito de este estudio de caso es explorar la eficacia de un curso de escritura autorregulador enriquecido con tecnología que emplea contratos de calificación basados en el trabajo con el objeto de desarrollar calificaciones más justas y equitativas. Específicamente, el estudio examina el nivel de eficacia de los materiales docentes a partir de categorías obtenidas de los National Technology Standards. También se valora su eficacia con las percepciones del docente, mediante una entrevista semiestructurada. Por último, mediante un cuestionario y escritos de estudiantes sobre sus percepciones del curso. Los resultados son positivos en cuanto a la adecuación del diseño del curso a los criterios de eficacia. Respecto de las percepciones del docente destaca su implicación con elsistema de calificación para el compromiso de los estudiantes. En cuanto a los estudiantes, por encima de este factor procesual, destacan los aspectos emocionales, porlo que podemos proponer esta práctica como modelo para otros contextos.