Karen Babine—English 252
—Spring 2012
Joseph O’Connor’s Star of the Sea:
Imagination and Knowledge
What do we see when we look at a piece of writing? This is the central
question both of our classes will be asking. For us as fiction writers,
we carry a different perspective and body of knowledge than Dr.
Duncan’s class, who has been studying modernism, postmodernism,
and postcolonialism. We will come together in the digital space of our
class wiki to combine our knowledge and imagination.
The Imagination and Knowledge Project:
Starting in Week 12 (after spring break) we will be collaborating with
Dr. Dawn Duncan’s Contemporary British Literature class from
Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. Both classes will read Star of the
Sea and we will combine our different perspectives as readers and
writers to expand and complicate our readings of that book. We will
also be visited by Joseph O’Connor himself in digital form, so we will
be able to combine Nebraska, Minnesota, and Ireland in interesting
ways. The goal is to create a richer understanding of this book,
because of these different perspectives and the interactions with others.
The Wiki:
Our collaborative wiki can be found at <https://babineduncans12.wikispaces.com> You will need
to be added to the site, so please follow the instructions. Start with the “Start Here” pages to orient
yourself in the context of the novel as well as the author himself.
You will see two specific areas that you will be contributing to: the section on the book itself,
marked off in chapter increments, and the “Cross-Class Collaboration,” which is divided into craft
elements.
How the Project Will Work:
The Groups:
 You will be divided up into groups within our class and then your group will be combined
with a group from Dr. Duncan’s class. You will collaborate with your UNL group as well as
with your Concordia group.
 Dr. Duncan and I will post names and email addresses to our Blackboard sites and it will be
your responsibility to establish communication between your two groups.
The Wiki:
 You will turn in hard copies of your weekly two-page Think Pieces to me, as usual, but you
will post one paragraph of insight to the appropriate page on the wiki. There will be a lot
of overlap between craft elements and such, so don’t worry too much about posting your
paragraph in the wrong place.
o This means choosing one paragraph from your Think Piece—or you could write a
paragraph on its own—and if you wrote on characters, you would post your
Karen Babine—English 252
—Spring 2012
paragraph on the “Characters” page. Include your name and identify yourself as
coming from my class, from UNL.
o You might think about things that we’ve talked about earlier in the semester and how
they’re represented in the novel, you could write about an idea or discussion that
came up in class—really, you could write about anything as long as it adds to our
cross-class collaboration.
o These paragraphs are to be posted to the wiki no later than 10:00 am on Fridays (3/30, 4/6, and
4/13).
How to Post to the Wiki:
 Click on the wiki, sign in, and find the right page on the lefthand navigation. If you wrote
on character(s), click on the “Characters” page. As I mentioned, there may be several places
you could post your paragraph, so do not be afraid of posting in the wrong place.
 Click on the “Edit” button.
 Scroll to the bottom of whatever is posted there hit the return button to create a space
between the paragraph above you and then paste your paragraph. Please try to match, as
best you can, the formatting of the page (Arial font, same or similar size font).
 One way you can format your paragraph:
o [Your Name], UNL:
 If you have any questions at all, please let me know.
The Final Collaboration Project:
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I will be Skyping with Dr. Duncan’s class and she will be Skyping with our class, so each
class will get to talk to and ask questions of the other class’s professor.
Our goal is also to have a conversation (whatever form that takes) with the author of our
book, Joseph O’Connor, so we’ll be compiling questions you have for him and if we cannot
coordinate a Skype conversation with him, we’ll do our interview via email and internet.
o If you have a question for him, specifically, follow the above instructions and post
the question to the “Conversations with Joseph O’Connor” page.
You will be working with your combined UNL-group and each group will be assigned to
one of the craft elements. As a group, you will take the raw material posted there by your
classmates, synthesize it, and create one master document that incorporates the perspectives
that the raw material represents.
o I might suggest a Google Docs approach, but it’s up to you how you want to do it.
o I am not putting a length requirement on this document, but it will be graded on
thoroughness and the contribution that it makes to the overall collaborative
conversation.
o This master document is due to be posted to the wiki no later than Saturday, 14 April 2012 by
6:00 pm.
Set up a Skype conversation between your UNL-Concordia group to discuss the ideas,
information, and such.
o To facilitate this, you might set up a Doodle Poll (http://www.doodle.com/) to find
a suitable time for all of you to meet. I understand that trying to find a time when all
Karen Babine—English 252
—Spring 2012
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10-ish of you can meet will be difficult, but try. Skipping this Skype meeting will
reflect poorly on your own contribution.
Then, on Monday, 16 April 2012, your UNL group will present your findings to the whole
252 class. Prepare a group presentation ten minutes long that incorporates what you’ve
discovered, how your reading of the book has been informed, complicated, and illuminated
by your work with the other class as well as your classmates.
Your participation and work here on the wiki be graded under “Out of Class Work,” and I
will grade your work on the level of analysis and original thought.