Wanted: Reviewers for Free Rhet/Comp Wikitext

Submitted by platypus matt on November 28, 2005 - 15:58.

All semester, my students and I have toiled to get the Free Rhetoric and Composition Wikitext ready for use in composition classes. There's still work to be done, as even a cursory glance will reveal. However, I think we've made enough progress to start getting serious about finding reviewers (and, as always, collaborators). If you have a few minutes, why not venture over and give us your impressions? You can use the "Discussion" tabs on each page to offer insight, ask questions, or just make comments. You can also make changes yourself if you so desire--it's a wiki! What do you think about our progress? What would it take before you'd use this wikitext as the textbook for your first-year composition course? What's good? What's bad? Your feedback is needed!

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Your Free Rhetoric and Composition Wikitext

Submitted by Tom Wright on November 29, 2005 - 11:11.

I have to say that I'm impressed. This free wikitext shows more potential than a lot of the published textbooks I've seen. Too many textbooks (and teachers) still present writing as a linear process, as if students could start at the beginning, continue until the end, and then stop. Too many textbooks--most of them, actually, even today--present the modes as "types" of essays, and teachers tell students not to stray from the assignment. "No, no! This is a description essay! You're not supposed to be making an argument in it!"

This book has none of those problems, and in fact, I saw nothing that seemed out of line with what I teach. I'd be happy to offer some detailed comments when I get a chance. In the meantime, I'll be passing the link on to some colleagues.

J. Thomas Wright
Department of English
Kansas City Kansas Community College

Nice Project

Submitted by scott on November 30, 2005 - 00:57.

I like the idea here. My students just posted an entry on to Wikipedia on print culture. One thing we'll be looking at for the rest of the semester is what happens to the article and why.

Wikibooks has some real potential in terms of writing intensive courses.

Scott Banville
School of Literature, Communication, & Culture
Georgia Institute of Literature

adding to rhet/comp wiki

Submitted by bleckb on December 3, 2005 - 02:02.
Nice project Matt. Congratulations to you and your students. Just to be sure, can I add stuff? I don't want to step on the toes of you and your students, even though this is a wiki. For instance, I'd say the prewriting stuff if a bit thin. I have a number of strategies in my fyc class blog that I could just pop in. Is that cool? Bradley
platypus matt's picture

Please, Add!

Submitted by platypus matt on December 3, 2005 - 11:44.

Bradley, I want to encourage you very strongly to add this material. I don't claim ownership of this project. My belief is that the more people we have working on the project, the better it will turn out. Add and edit away! I look forward to seeing your changes.