Patricia, the announcements I create are never very long either- nor the videos I upload yet I constantly face the challenge of students not reading and viewing, so having the writer's memo accompanying the assignments should really help analyze and re-examine such elements; however, what do you suggest if students have numerous remarks that differ from one another? Or do you believe this is a non-issue? I also would like to ask how you recommend instructors can embed this into the assignments? I know I am an on-line instructor, so the assignments are already published to Loud Cloud. Thank you so much for sharing your insightful paper. I thoroughly enjoyed it! 

Patricia,

I truly enjoyed reading your paper, as I was unfamiliar with the concept of the writer's memo. You had me sold on the idea when I read your two student comments under the heading, The Writer's Memo and the Traditional Classroom.
The only change I would recommend is the spelling of Angelo's name in your reference page. 
Thanks for educating me on the benefits of the writer's memo and allowing me to review the paper.

Cheryl

Hi Patricia, 

The "Writer's Memo" is very interesting. I had never head of this before and as I read, I began to understand the value in this assessment technique. I was also skeptical at first, thinking that at the end of writing a paper, the last thing a student wants to do is write more. However, you anticipated this audience concern and spoke to this. 

I do note that you indicate that this is an "ungraded" portion of the paper. My question then is how does an instructor get students to complete this writer's memo if it is really not 'mandatory" since it is not graded? 

I would have liked to have seen a better described background on the "writer's memo' and a robust literature search review on this topic. Is there any evidence (other than your anecdotal examples) that validate this technique in that it does involve the student more as an active participant in their learning, that greater learning takes place, and that the writer develops their writing skills more? 

Additional recent scholarly reference support would be beneficial too and perhaps a discussion of the limitations of this method of assessment. 

I am going to check into this assessment further for my own classes.  Thank you for sharing your paper and this assessment technique. 

LeAnne

Thank you for your submission. I am going to implement the reflective memo in my upcoming class to see if I find similar results.  There are few areas that I would recommend developing. The first is the need for such a tool.  Where the value is shown anecdotally, what is the generalizable gain for a larger audience. Does it affect student learning? Does it increase their review of feedback, does it identify areas in teaching where an instructor may be deficient that can be shored one this feedback is known? What is the return on investment of adding this extra step for both faculty and student? There is additional work for each party so I am curious as to tangible gain for either party.

I really appreciated that you gave consideration to the fixed curricula online and how this might be implemented considering such. You introduced the idea of using it in the discussion forum which is an awesome idea, but, given varying learning systems, how easy it to reconcile the students record, paper, and, post. Might this be an overwhelming process?    Is it accurate to generalize Soderlund's 1993 research to the online environment given the time to download, review, upload and submit papers?  What efficiencies/best practice do you have that would make this less cumbersome?   I notice that some of your sources come from the 80's. Is the memo still considered best practice? What does current literature suggest regarding this CAT? I encourage you to note limitations even if there is not a solution so as to encourage additional research and also to limit the findings to your specific application, LMS, and modality. 

Finally, I am curious the effect of this process on student learning. The value from the educator is clearly noted, but what about the student? Does this change the caliber of writing from the students as opposed to when this has not been used? Is there existing research on this that could be included in your lit review to justify your decision to implement? Anecdotally have you seen dramatic changes in a student's writing given the formative and summative feedback?  If so was it for all students? If not why might this not have been consistent?

Your implementation and feedback from your students was well presented.  I like the CAT recommendation and application potential. The study needs to be more robust in the literature review, outcomes, and limitations.  I appreciate your time and ideas and sharing something I will be trying in my own classes.

Jennifer Jones Ed.D

I really enjoyed your paper! You had some very interesting content. It would have been great to have a thesis in the first paragraph, though, to set the tone. There were several places where the use of "I" was used. Please don't use "I" in a scholarly paper. Looking at your references, of the 10, weren't 5 over 20 years old, with one not having a date of publication. But, I enjoyed this very much!! Thank you for sharing! 

I have never heard of the concept of the writer's memo before, but I did find it interesting in application to the online classroom.  While it generally does feel that most students do not review feedback given to them in graded assignments, there have been occassions where students reflected on their experience with assignments in comment boxes or by sending me an email.  I always take this opportunity to engage with the student when this happens.  But the student initiates it.  In the online classroom, the student often determines how much they take away from the class. Some are just trying to get by with what little they can do.  I'm not convinced the writer's memo would be useful to these students as they might see it as more work to do in an already busy class.  But I do see that there would be some students who would really get into it because they are already in the class to learn and not just get by.  Interesting article. 

I think that reflection is an important tool in learning. When we reflect on what we know or what we learned, it helps us to see our thoughts in a new or different perspective. I know that when I think something, the idea looks different on paper. Good work!

As a concept, the writer's memo as "a tool for improving student learning and instructor feedback" sounds wonderful, and there are certainly some worthwhile suggestions to be found here. My initial response was echoed on page 4 with the admission that "some instructors may feel this adds to the overload of paperwork when they feel burdened with the numerous assignments to evaluate." I was somewhat encouraged by the comments from Soderlund (1993) and Sommers (1988) that reading and commenting were not particularly time-consuming for either of them. However, the dates of this research indicate that this was probably in an on-ground institution. I have taught undergraduate English in a traditional setting, and I can see how the memo might enhance the paper-writing process for the student and the grading process for the instructor. However, the same might be done in a face-to-face student conference in just about as much (or perhaps less) time.

The online environment is addressed later on, and I read this section with particular interest. The fact that adjuncts have little to no control regarding the curriculum is addressed (p. 8). However, suggestions are offered about using the comment box often provided with submission, or by adding an equivalent feature to the discussion area. Berhardt (2012) has found the first option useful, which is encouraging. If there is more research to draw on in the online environment supporting the efficacy of this approach, the idea of using the comment box does have some promise in pointing instructors to areas that need feedback.

Lacking a comment box, the suggestion is to resort to an additional discussion component. This changes the nature of the personal reflection, since it will now be open to all classmates. This is not necessarily a poor alternative, but it is no longer a "memo" in the way it has been described in the preceding pages. Furthermore, if we prompt students to respond with the offer of participation points, it is now part of the grading process. Depending on the group, the reflective exercise could easily turn into a gripe session for credit. However helpful this may be, it is not part of the curriculum; assigning points may be problematical without appropriate approvals.

Finally, as much as I like the concept (and despite all my naysaying, I do): students who sincerely want to improve their writing will take advantage of every opportunity. Students who just want to pass English Comp. may lack interest. And however motivated students are, they simply may not have the time to craft thoughtful memos about the writing process. I would like to know if there are alternatives available that might help us effectively apply the memo concept to the online environment.

I

Hello,
Thank you for your submission and for sharing this CAT with us, which not only can forster active learning, but also process learning. Aside from all the feedback you have received, I would encourage you to review the literature within the last five years and notice what have been done to substantiate this technique as productive, efficacious and a best practice.
Again, thank you for sharing with us.
Genomary Krigbaum, Psy.D.

Thank you for all the responses. I appreciate both the suggestions as well as the compliments.  Below are responses to both the comments and the questions.

What do you suggest if students have numerous remarks that differ from one another? Or do you believe this is a non-issue? I also would like to ask how you recommend instructors can embed this into the assignments.

Since the strength of the writer's memo is based on individual feedback, I address the issues when giving individual feedback. When addressed during an open forum, I still respond individually to the student. The open forum also allows other student comments, so many times, others will also address different issued.

I embed the memo in the requirements for the paper. In my traditional classes, Students are instructed to post it as the last page in the assignment. The Loud Cloud does not allow for changes. In this case, I post a thread in the main forum asking for a reflection. While this cannot be required, I do offer participation credit for responding. Many students do respond, but sadly, some don't.

Response to the dating of some of the articles.

I found the memo is not a highly researched topic, and finding specific information about the memo was a little challenging. I hesitated about using some of the older dates.  When reviewing the literature and noting the credentials of the author, the information was relevant to the topic contributed to my decision to use some older information. Sometimes looking back to see what may have been suggested and noted at an earlier time does not always mean the information is not relevant. Some good information may have been lost. Angelo and cross's highly acclaimed Classroom Assessment Techniques has a copyright date of 1993. Yet, this is quoted in many recent articles, and this is the main source used for implementation of using CATs in the classroom.

Still, I will continue to look for more updated material on the topic.

Implications for the students

While the paper did address the value of the memo for the instructor, student benefits by having more personal feedback that will allow the student to improve in the writing. In my traditional classes, I have noted students taking suggestions and have seen an improvement in writing. Many times, a student does not know where or how to improve. The writer's memo provides a means of communication that helps the instructor meet the need of the students. After using the memo, I see my students use the suggestions in the next assignment.  Since the online curriculum does not allow curriculum change, the use of the memo has to be more creative. In some classes, the comment box works, but not all classes have this, so using the memo as separate thread during the discussion time will get some response. The students who accept the suggestions change; those who don't, keep writing the same way they always do.  However, I do feel when writing becomes an important part of life, the feedback will come to mind and future writing may improve. 

In either situation, the students do not always respond. I have noticed this when using CATs. While the students, who are energetic about the work, always take part, those who need it the most don't. As an instructor, I can offer the tools to make writing better, but I can't make someone use them.  Motivating students to go beyond the requirements would be a great topic for further research.

The use of first person

For many years, I have argued first person should never be used in scholarly paper, but after noting the use in some scholarly papers, I checked out the information, and in certain circumstances, the use of first person is allowed.  I did try to only use first person in according to the APA guidelines. Here is a good site from APA that refers to the use of first person: http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2009/09/use-of-first-person-in-apa-style.html. The information can be checked in the APA style guide on pages 69-70.  In my paper, first person was only used when referring to what I actually did in the classroom or used in a direct quote. Still, I will go back through the paper and investigate this a little more and make sure I am within the guidelines as well as not overusing first person.

Final Thoughts

 Ideally, the use of the writer's memo would be a value to all students, but in online environments, this cannot be required. Suggesting this as an addition to the curriculum is one suggestion. Still, change is slow.  In my traditional classes, the memo is not graded in the same way as the rest of the paper, but I give points for submitting it. This inspires students to complete the memo. During the online discussion, participations points can be given.

In either situation, the students do not always respond. I have noticed this when using CATs. While the students, who are energetic about the work, always take part, those who need it the most don't. As an instructor, I can offer the tools to make writing better, but I can't make someone use them.  Motivating students to go beyond the requirements would be a great topic for further research.

Thank you for your submission. I was challenged regarding to the importance of learner feedback and providing quality responses to questions or concerns. I agree with Maria in using the discussion forum as a platform. Your information is timely and a catalyst in helping me move in this direction.

Thanks again for your hard work!

Blessings, DPM