How can we as teachers begin to recognize which students may need extra help and attention to succeed in future online writing classes? Perhaps we can learn from our past students' comments on their distance education experiences. At the end of the semester, we asked our students to reflect on their experience in the course. What follows are some of their insights.
"This class fit my learning style just fine because I am a person who has to see it in front of me to understand it."
"This was actually very good for my learning style because I really like to go at my own pace. And probably like some other people I really don't actually get that much from sitting in the classroom, I think a lot of my learning has to be done on my own."
"Online courses fit my learning style and schedule perfectly. It is difficult when working full time to make many of my classes on time, but with online courses it is much easier with deadlines and such."
"An online course format did fit my learning style because I learn best when I teach myself (with a little guidance)."
The above quotes suggest that students who are self-motivated, organized, and able to fight off procrastination can do well in an online class. Of course, this type of student would likely do well in any academic environment. Perhaps it is more useful to examine the reflections of students who didn't enjoy the online experience, or who ended up withdrawing:
"I think I will stick to regular class instead of online, because I think that sometimes I'm not really motivated enough to do an online. It's definitely not an easy way out."Here are comments from students who withdrew:"I don't think this internet course fit my learning style; I would have been better off in a traditional learning environment. I think I need more social interaction."
"Keeping up with everything in this course was hard for me mainly because I think it was easy for me to forget about it because I was never actually in class."
"My least enjoyable aspect of this course would have to be WebBoard. The fact that you can't really log in until around 6pm and it is really slow if you do."
"I'd like to drop [the course], and take it later on in a conventional classroom environment. I think the constant reminders to get my work done will help, and I won't let myself fall as far behind as I have in this class."These comments indicate a few different factors that may limit student success in online courses. For some, procrastination and self-discipline become a problem, as they seem to need the physical reminder of going to class to stay focused. The physicality of face-to-face classes was a factor for other students as well, as the lack of "social interaction" in the online course led to dissatisfaction for at least one student. Technological limitations also affected the satisfaction levels of the online students. Electronic access seems likely to remain a problem for distance education in the years ahead, but teachers need to work to identify which students may experience this hindrance as soon as possible. Learning of these frustrations only after the student has completed the course doesn't allow teachers to help students maximize their educational experiences."Unfortunately, due to my class load I am unable to continue in this course. I am involved in multiple lab science classes and they are taking up more of my time than I anticipated."
"I have decided that I need to drop this class. I just bit off more than I could chew this semester and that has been most evident in this course. I don't want to settle for a lower grade when I know I'm quite capable of receiving an A. I just haven't had the time to dedicate to this class."
"I really think I should drop this class because I rally don't think it is working out for me. I know I am capable of doing better. I think it is just the whole internet thing that got me."
Despite these potential drawbacks, the online writing classroom offered many students a positive experience. The following students reflected on how their writing was impacted by the online format:
"Taking the course online was kind of liberating because I was able to write what I thought without feeling the pressure of having to see the people I might offend in class. If I had taken the course in a classroom, I probably wouldn't have written about gay and lesbian topics because I wouldn't want to deal with the repercussions in the classroom. At the same time, this forum still provides for effective peer feedback, which I believe is necessary for growth. "These quotes suggest that writing courses can not only be successfully transferred online, but may provide some real advantages over their face-to-face counterparts. It seems likely that online students may be more at ease with dissensus, feeling freer to discuss controversial or difficult topics openly. That they discuss these topics through writing and are constantly forced to critically evaluate both what they want to say and how they want to say it seems to reinforce our pedagogical goals for first-year composition."Another factor that influenced my writing in good and bad ways was the fact that this class was taken online. I can say without a doubt I felt more comfortable putting my true opinions out there for everyone to see. Which in turn had an influence on my writing style (no restrictions). At the same time, if this class would have been conducted in a regular classroom I bet we would have had some fun class discussions!"
"I have learned so much about other's concepts and have thoroughly enjoyed our discussions. I am amazed at how each of us can look at a problem or situation and come to completely different conclusions. In a typical writing class, you rarely become involved in such in-depth conversations - and such powerful opinions rarely evolve in a classroom. (Many people do not pay attention or are only there physically.) Writing forces participation, and learning to put opinions into an intelligent, informative format is rewarding."
"I am very happy that I took English 102 over the Internet because I feel like I told my true feelings in my papers, especially during the reading responses on various debatable topics. I know I would not have been very passionate in a classroom setting talking about my feelings about particular issues because classmates generally criticize and critique and a debate starts."
"What I really don't like about English is when you go to class and you raise your hand and people disagree or laugh about what you have said. Peers can be incredibly quick to make fun at what someone has said without thinking about what that person really meant. I feel this internet class enabled me to express myself without being publicly criticized. Writing papers without direct judgment has really stimulated my strong argumentative writing skills. I feel like I can say whatever I feel and I won't be embarrassed to back up my beliefs."
However, important questions remain unanswered. Do students take the ease they experience with dissensus in online environments with them as they leave our virtual classrooms? Does this skill transfer into other settings? Also, as we discussed elsewhere in this project, a dependable strategy to discern which online students may be at-risk remains elusive. Much more research is needed to begin to answer these questions, but it seems clear that at least some face-to-face composition pedagogies can be successfully moved online. We hope that our work may help future teachers of online writing courses identify potential advantages and disadvantages of teaching in this medium The activities described here offer ideas on how teachers might structure aspects of online courses; we hope they will serve as a springboard for further discussion and study.