Author-Editor Learning Communities: Writing Science.

This paper presents the experiences of educators at North Georgia College and State University while developing learning communities connecting the two disciplines of biology and English in the teaching of writing and editing within the scientific context. The paper states that for seven semesters English grammar and composition courses have been linked with biology courses in author-editor relationships. According to the paper, these learning communities have produced student learning opportunities that have proven their value for both the biology and English courses. It finds that the key to making the process work depends heavily on preparing each group for its tasks; the exchange process of materials between biology and English students and within each group employs WebCT (Web Course Tools), and e-mail. The paper notes that the biology students focus on scientific method, while the English students consider the task from the perspective of rhetoric. It states that in the author-editor learning community, at the student level English students review the biology students' writing, making qualitative and quantitative judgments, while biology students evaluate the feedback received and make decisions on using it. It adds that in all courses and at all levels, the evaluation collected from students demonstrates the merits of the author-editor relationship--instructors' evaluations indicate that students in both disciplines have shown marked improvements in their writing as it relates to the discipline. (NKA)