Looking More Closely at PostNuke

ENC 1102 Online

Overview of the class (see Course Policies and Course Calendar).

Note that the hypertext course policy and course calendar help to model multilinear hypertexts for students. Real hypertext writing versus the default folder setup of Blackboard.

Introduction and Rationale

I have to admit. Blackboard is an effective virtual classroom space that serves the needs of many institutions. It provides a password, gated community where students see a uniform interface for all of their classes. It has the necessary administration tools that make teaching online easier: grading lists, testing modules, a GUI email interface for teachers and student to send emails, and automatic student registration from registrar records. The institution sets up and administrates these spaces. For the most part, teachers need only plug in content, configure the site for a short time, and teach.

Virtual Classroom or Internet Community

Introduction and Rationale

Looking More Closely at PostNuke

For me, teaching is ultimately intertwined with learning in a way that blurs the boundaries between the two subject positions of learner and teacher. As a teacher, I try to help my students not so much to learn, but how to learn. Yet, my First-Year Writing classes at Florida State University are a place where I, too, am a learner, learning about writing and teaching.

Teaching to Learn
In composition studies, David Bartholomae has argued that every time students sit down to write, they must "invent the university for the occasion," that it is our job to somehow teach students to appropriate the discourse of the academic community. However, over the last few years I've come to believe that my first priority should be students. What happens when we place heavy emphasis on academic discourse as the focus of writing classes? Are we seemingly ignoring the fact that most of our students do write for a variety of contexts outside of the academy before they arrive in college, that they will continue to do so while here, and that they may never write for the academy again once they complete their four year enrollment?