Because MediaWiki is not appropriate for use in the classroom setting due to its decentralization, arbitrariness, and sharing, its flexible characteristics complicate concepts of practical design when applying MediaWiki in a mandatory writing context. This dissertation identifies a need to add extensions to facilitate increased accountability,…

In an era of reductionist approaches to teaching and assessment, this dissertation returns to the fundamental question: "What is the value of writing, particularly poetry writing, in our society today?" The poet's central task, to abstract reality through symbols, requires profound cognitive and emotional work (Vendler, 2004; Steele,…