Launch Post
Sam Schneider - Team Protagoras
Virtual Realities: Transitions from University to Workplace Writing
In this section of the text, the authors (Patrick Dias, Aviva Freedman, Peter Medway, and Anthony Pare) continue an argument they made previously which stated they felt school-based simulations of workplace writing do not necessarily “adequately replicate the local rhetorical complexity or workplace contexts” (423). The authors are careful to state that, while they do not find course-based studies useless, it’s important to have actual workplace experiences. Throughout the rest of the text, they highlight examples of contexts, whether it is school, work, or an in-between transition, and the different aspects and requirements each experience entails, noting that as a student progresses away from the school-based work, learning still occurs, but becomes a "by-product" of the writing's true purpose (439).
For the school-based section, the writers state that “the activity is being undertaken primarily for the sake of the learner […] [through] a carefully shaped context” (425). The motivation behind the work in this sense is to earn a desired grade and their work would most likely not be applied any farther than that. Dias, etc. did note that students could pick up “the social language or register they had heard” (426) in course discussions and readings and apply that in their writings. In the end, however, it all comes down to earning a grade for the work.
In the next section, the writers explored a school-to-workplace arrangement. They observed a 4th-year systems analysis course that participated in a case study assignment. “The course engaged students in writing that, in contrast to the simulation of a case study, succeeded in giving them a real experience of workplace discourse, though it was a highly scaffolded and protected introduction” (427). In spite of the amount of supervision, however, participants were allowed to be a little more independent and teach themselves along with learning from coworkers in addition to an instructor. The authors highlight this experience for its applications besides simply earning a grade. The writing itself was oriented toward the clients and “the documents led a continued and indeterminate existence in the clients’ workplace” (430), which gave more meaning to the students’ work and effort.
The last two stages, “attenuated authentic participation” and “legitimate peripheral participation,” allow students to have a little more independence, though attenuated authentic participation did involve students either working alone or in groups and meeting with a supervisor. From this situation, participants have an experience that focuses on real, if limited, tasks, and also receive an overview understanding of the community, among other things. Legitimate peripheral participation goes a little further and increases the responsibilities while decreasing the amount of guidance (436). With these stages and their opportunities for students to participate in the workplace community, newcomers are able to achieve a little more influence and also gain a sense of membership/belonging. “We see developing a sense of membership as essential to effective workplace learning” (432). As the newcomers gain this sense of membership, they learn more about the practices within the community, the rituals, language, and the writing (434), which better assists them in adjusting to the workplace, and eventually, cases are turned over to the student to work with on their own. In the final stages, the students work is no longer centered around earning a grade, instead the “focus is on achieving a goal, on doing something with his text, on performing mature practice” (438).
In conclusion, the authors use this text to highlight the importance of “authenticity, or virtual rhetorical reality” in student experiences. Instead of focusing on grades, the authors noted that students could still learn from the participation stages, but that learning was “secondary” to the actual purpose of the writing they were producing for actual applications for a workplace and client.
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