The Best of Both Worlds: Teaching Basic Writers in Class and Online

Abstract

Basic writing students and online learning are not necessarily an ideal match. In hopes of stimulating more conversation and research on how technology can best advance the basic writing curriculum, this article first classifies the problems students and faculty encounter when a basic writing class moves online and discusses the pedagogical questions these problems raise. It then presents ten categories of arguments for making the move despite the problems involved. The article concludes with a description of how and why a hybrid model, one in which students meet with their instructor in a classroom on campus every other week and work online during the off weeks, provides one means of minimizing potential problems while maximizing learning opportunities for basic writers. Linda Stine is a professor in the Master of Human Services Program at Lincoln University (PA), where she has taught computer-mediated writing courses for adult students since 1986. For the past two years, she has been using Web-CT to teach a semi-online basic writing class. She has presented papers on technology and writing instruction at CCCC and NCTE, and has published several articles on this topic. Her most recent publication is Classroom Re- sources for Instructors Using Foundations First, published by Bedford/St. Martin's. Computers and Basic Writers: The Issue