The Paperless (Almost) English Class

Richard Felnagle, MCC
At Mesa, several instructors in the English department have been experimenting with what we call computer-mediated instruction in the open entry/open exit format. This approach is not the same as computer- assisted instruction. The computer is not the teacher; the teacher is the teacher, but the computer becomes a virtual classroom where most of the interaction between the instruction and the student goes on. One instruction even delivers a series of weekly "lectures" by VAX mail.

The Mission

Develop a paperless composition class.

The Requirements

A computer lab equipped with networked computers. The network had to be a peer-to-peer to allow students to collaborate when required and to permit access to online course materials.
The network had to be an open system that would allow students to use their own computer, both IBM-compatibles and Macs, to work on their assignments at home.
The network had to offer a versatile electronic mail system through which students could submit and receive assignments and instructors could return graded work.

The Plan

1. Outfit a room in MCC's Microcomputer Center with twenty-five color NeXT workstations, laser printers, and an instructor's station.

NeXT computers using 3.0 of the NeXTStep Operating System offered peer-to-peer networking, secure access to shared directories, IBM and Mac diskette compatibility, and an extremely versatile mail system

Since NeXT applications share common interfaces and commands, an added advantage is a much reduced orientation period. Students can be up and working on this system with less than an hour of tutorial instruction.

2. Develop a program that could efficiently edit and annotate student essays. In March of last year, Richard Felnagle started working with a programmer, Don Anderson, and in two months, they had a prototype of Commentator up and running.

Written assignments are added to NeXT Mail messages by dragging document icons into message windows. Faculty then click on the document icons to launch the grading program, which is also linked to an online gradebook.

Instructors can add buttons linked to custom comments, prewritten "boilerplate" comment paragraphs, or voice messages.

Students retrieve graded paper icons through NeXT Mail. The large high-resolution screen permits students to examine the annotated copy and the original copy side-by-side on the screen. Students can then easily make corrections or revisions and resubmit assignments to their instructors.

Teaching and Learning

Students receive a conventional paper syllabus and a few pages of orientation materials. All course materials are online so that students don't have to pay for them.
Students also download online worksheets and other course documents to their network directories or on to their own diskettes to work on at home on their own computers - either IBM-compatibles of Macs.
For assignments involving library research, the NeXT permits access to the VAX, through which students can access a variety of online databases. An added advantage is that students can block copy citations and drop them directly into document windows Ñ no retyping required.
Students learn computer skills that are applicable to any graphical user interface (such as Windows or the Mac).
Students learn to use a computer network, allowing them to upload and download documents. For example, a student can upload a draft of an essay on the EF (Electronic Forum) so that everyone in the class can read it and comment almost as if the student were reading out loud to the class.

Results

In practice, some students do well and others flounder. (But would they have floundered anyway in a more conventional classroom?) Some complain that the computer was too impersonal. (But would they have been the same students who sit in the back rows of every class?) Some students' writing clearly improves, while some change only marginally for the better. (But would their writing have improved any more in a conventional class?)

Conclusion

Teaching in a computer-mediated environment is no panacea. There can be good and bad computer-mediated teaching, just as there can be good and bad lecturing and effective and ineffective collaborative learning. Trying to decide if computer-mediated instruction is better or worse than conventional classroom instruction is a bit like arguing whether blackboards are better than whiteboards. They're just different, and they each can be used well or poorly. However, students in writing classes should spend their time writing, and to that extent, the computer-mediated approach does seem to have merits.

Maricopa Center for Learning & Instruction (MCLI)
The Internet Connection at MCLI is Alan Levine --}
Comments to alan.levine@domail.maricopa.edu