CREATING CLASS PUBLICATIONS
Both student and professional writers
usually feel pride when their work is published. Some departments at UH
Mānoa thus issue publications that feature student work (see, for
example, the Department of English’s annual Fresh Review.)
Individual instructors as well have developed several methods for
creating publications for students within their classes. For example,
some are using the internet.
Traditional hard-copy class
publications can be produced in many ways. These include:
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Dividing a class into groups, each
assigned to produce a newsletter, anthology, magazine or other
appropriate publication. Newsletters, for example, are now very
easy to produce using the templates that are bundled with new word
processing programs.
-
Assigning or electing an editorial
board within the class to take responsibility for selecting and
publishing a class publication. All or some portion of the
remaining students may act as writers who submit their writing to
this board.
-
Allowing the instructor to act as
the Editor-in-Chief who selects what will be published. Students
may be required to submit their work to her or him on disk in a
preferred word processing format. Instructors can organize these
materials to reflect course goals or selected topics. Copies of
such publications can enhance student pride and may prove useful
to instructors in teaching subsequent versions of the class as
well. (For examples of this approach, see
Professor
James Tiles’s Philosophy 101 or
Professor
Michael Weinstein’s Sociology 100 classes.)
Steps to Publishing
Student Writing on the Web
Many instructors find that seeing their
work in print provides great satisfaction. Students experience a
similar pride when their work is published. Knowledge of this has led
many instructors to create class magazines and journals.
Some instructors encourage students to submit their work to existing
publications (see, for example, UH Professor Wayne
Iwaoka’s Food Science 430 course). The internet and course support
software such as Blackboard and WebCT now offer
an additional and in some ways superior place to publish student work.
The benefits of student publication on
the Web include:
-
Increasing motivation and pride
among students.
-
Making the work available to a
worldwide audience.
-
Building links to other classes in
Hawai‘i and elsewhere that are studying similar course material
-
Creating a library of materials
for use by present and future students.
Some instructors choose to publish work
throughout the semester; others, as a culminating activity. Work from
all students may be included or only work from a selected few. Some
instructors choose to remove student publications from the Web at the
end of every semester while others view these student Web pages as a
part of an archive that will grow larger each time the class is taught.
Getting Started
Instructors who have never created web
pages can receive help from many sources. We discuss four of these
sources here.
Students in your class
Many rich opportunities for successful group projects are
created when the whole class or groups within the class work
together to create a linked web site. Instructors themselves do not
have to be experts in the process since most college classes today
include students who are skilled at creating web pages. These
students can teach their classmates and the instructor the basics of
web publication. Such instruction need not take much class time and
encourages the maximum number of students to become involved in
every step of drafting, revising and polishing their own Web
writing.
The Digital
Media Center (DMC) in Kuykendall 105
The Center provides expert individual assistance to faculty wishing to create
Web pages. Instructors may stop by the DMC between 8:30 and 4:30
daily but are encouraged to call ahead to schedule an appointment.
Instructors may bring work ready to be posted to the web or visit
before they have such work to learn how to begin. The DMC staff can
be reached at 956-2719 or by e-mail at
dmc-l@hawaii.edu.
Your department
Many departments, divisions and programs at UH now have their own
Web servers. The people in charge of these computers may be willing
to help interested faculty publish student documents at these sites.
Written guidelines from Information
Technology Services or the web
ITS offers information on their website:
http://www.hawaii.edu/infotech/thewww.html
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