Collaboration Disconnect

Chapter 7 from Writing Together: “Old Beginnings”

In chapter 7, Lunsford and Ede quite astutely, point out that many of the students in writing classes are not studying to be professional writers; and many of their chosen professions will have them working collaboratively in creating work-place documents. I found this very provocative because while the goal for genre-based writing is to teach them to be able to write well in a myriad of areas, the “purloined letter” of solitary writing that has burrowed deep into the humanities can be seen as a disservice to our students.

After I read this chapter, I reflected on my writing classes and this class is the first that allowed a seminar paper to be a collaborative effort (which with Dr. Rupiper-Taggart’s history with collaborative writing it isn’t a surprise). Still, it causes concern as to why we as teachers of writing are seemingly so antiquated in this area. This seems especially odd because, from my experience, many of my teachers stress how studying in groups can assist in understanding a topic, and through practice I believe this to be true. So, if studying in groups can lead to stronger learning, why is it seen as different for creating a document? Wouldn’t that also enhance the learning process? This notion seems to dismiss different learning styles and forces a modus operandi that limits students rather than enables them. Perhaps the worry is that the distribution of work won’t be fair, that one student will do most of the work while the other barely contributes. And while that could be a real issue, there are a series of balances that can be put into place that will help keep that kind of behavior in check. Also, the benefits, as we have discussed in class, aside from increased learning, could include how collaboration can also lead to a decrease in plagiarism. 

Allowing for students to collaborate perhaps shouldn’t be a requirement but to say that it can’t be an option seems antiquated. Interestingly, this idea is so pervasively engrained in the humanities that though working together on many published articles came easy for Lunsford and Ede, they were warned against such practices (because they wouldn’t receive “favorable tenure decisions”, implying that they collaborations are somehow lacking). And those that did not discourage the practice bombarded them with questions and were amazed that they were able to effectively write together ay all.

This idea (or “purloined letter”) of “solitary writing” is especially interesting in view of the ideas discussed Latour, Foucault, Barthes, and even Eliot.  If we apply the post-modern ideas of authorship writing, even if done in solitude, ceases to be a solitary activity.  According to aspects of these theories, everything we create is in collaboration with other objects, other ideas, and other traditions that have impacted our beliefs, our research, our understanding. How then, can we dismiss out rightly the idea that an actual collaboration can be anything but beneficial?

Questions:

What other benefits can our students gain from a collaborative effort?

Are there any ideas for assignments especially designed for collaboration?