Observing EMMA: The First Year

During Fall 2002, the Director of First-year Composition at the University of Georgia and a graduate student
using EMMA for her dissertation research conducted an ethnographic study of seven teachers and ten classes
using EMMA. The study, which is being continued and refined in Spring 2003, involves observation of
classes using EMMA and analysis of student products. The study focuses on usability, student attitudes, and
the effectiveness of markup pedagogy on final products. Preliminary conclusions fall into the following
categories:
• Cognition and Revision: EMMA allows students to see their essays in a “new light”;
• Techne and Revelation: EMMA reveals the need for basic instruction, i.e., Parts of Speech;
• Technology and Community: EMMA encourages student-centered classroom pedagogies;
• Administration and Application: and in the future, EMMA may foster more consistent
departmental teaching practices.
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Initial student response is by nature mixed, but generally positive. In the pilot program, students
focused on EMMA’s utility for editing and revision, which may depend in part on the kinds of initial
assignments developed. Students also used metaphors of vision to a large extent in describing the kinds of
“insight” that they derived from using EMMA. The study will be repeated in Spring 2003 and a comparative
study of essays from “EMMA” and “regular” composition classrooms will begin.
REFERENCES
Cocoon: http://xml.apache.org/cocoon/
jEdit: http://www.jedit.org/