Reconstructing Spaces for Writing at an HSI: How Blackboard Transforms Students' Writing Behavior
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55420/2693.9193.v2.n1.96Keywords:
writing processes, Hispanic Serving Institution students, writing instructionAbstract
This discussion will examine how the introduction of the online hybrid environment of the Blackboard Learning System into the traditional classroom learning site impacts the writing processes of students at a mid-sized Hispanic Serving Institution on the U.S.-Mexico border. Rather than relying on Blackboard to enrich or supplement traditional writing practices, within Blackboard, HSI students construct a new writing and learning space that is at once real and imagined. In the HSI environment, Blackboard exists as an alternative thirdspace located (nestled) among the spaces of students' lifeworlds. Using examples drawn from Blackboard- based writing of over 100 students, I show that within Blackboard as an alternative space for writing, students' and instructors' goals come into alignment creating a learning environment that allows HSI students to successfully negotiate their home, work, and educational spaces. Students' writing behavior within Blackboard allows a substantive view into how students at a large HSI campus, which is also a commuter campus, reconstruct themselves as writers, moving toward higher levels of writing achievement in the context of this hybrid learning environment.
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