Writing About Literature

Writing About Literature:
the WWW, the Literature Classroom, and Distance Learning

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Terry Eagleton, in his boook Literary Theory: An Introduction, states that literature is a local process rather than a universal object. The value judgments that make up this process of privileging certain texts and not others represent the importance of the social context in which literature is read and constructed. Eagleton states that “All literary works, in other words, are ‘rewritten’, if only unconsciously, by the societies which read them; indeed there is no reading of a work which is not also a ‘re-writing’” (11). Introducing computer technology into this “re-writing” process and bringing this process into the classroom precipitates further complications.

When initial political and personal obstacles are mitigated enough to allow us to teach a literature class in a computer-assisted classroom or at a distance, what do we do? The very presence computers in the classroom causes apprehension on all levels of the process: administration, instructor, and students. Can I be in the right place? is a question we find ourselves as instructors asking as thirty-five breathing machines greet us. The structure of the class will have to be changed by the very physicality of the computers. Or, imagine having to develop a distance-learning components for a literature class; can that even be done effectively? There are questions that will need to be answered.

What can I as a literature/writing instructor do with computers in my teaching?

One of the most powerful tools of a classroom equipped with computers is access to the World Wide Web. Not only will students benefit from access to this tool, but we as instructors can begin designing our literature classes with its help. One of the best ways to begin answering our first question is to find out what other literature instructors are doing in their classes.

Brenda Silver’s Hypertext and Literature at Dartmouth
cyber_lit at the University of London
Steve Jones’ Reading and Writing Hypertexts
N. Katherine Hayles’ Homepage
World Lecture Hall
Virtual Classroom
. . . more at Eastgate

OK, these professors all seem to stress hypertext, but I want to teach traditional texts -- you know, books! Consider beginning with etexts, or electronic texts. As the popularity of the Internet grows, so do the archives of information, including digitized libraries of literature, theory, and criticism. Many of these archives contain simple ASCII versions of everything from Shakepearean sonnets to the Homeric Hymns (like Wiretap), while others offer new translations of newly discovered texts from ancient Greece (like the Perseus Project).

Palimpsest’s Introduction to Electronic Texts
Art.Net Links -- Literature references with full descriptions
Electronic Text Center at Virginia Tech
The Internet Classics Archive -- Almost 400 classical Greek and Roman texts
Literature and Humanities Links -- Organized into well-defined categories
Perseus Project -- A digital library of ancient Greece
Wiretap
Oneline Book Initiative
The Online Literature Library
University of Maryland’s Online Books Page

Etexts may be used instead of expensive books; include course-specific annotations; be available from any computer with Internet access; compiled into a coursebook; and offer an electronic prompt to begin class discussion. Etexts provide a great entré into the use of computers in and for the classroom.

What tools will I employ?

Before answering this question, another should be posed: which tools are available? Chances are that more tools are available than a single instructor would or could use in a single semester. You do not want to overwhelm yourself or your students by attempting to do too much with the computers. I recommend an integrated software tool that supplies a single web-based (or LAN-based) program incorporating an interchange, email, and presentation space, like the free Blackboard.com. Each of these writing tools offers its own unique components; decisions on which to adopt must consider desired features, product availability and support, and system configuration.

How do I use these tools?

Just because a classroom is equipped with computers does not mean they have to be utilized on a daily--or even weekly--basis. I recommend a hybrid approach that incorporates “traditional” methods with online components like interchanges, research, and presentation. I would like to briefly discuss and illustrate the former: the online interchange. There are two basic types of interchanges, the “synchronous” (in quotation marks because it is not really sychronous, but only give that illusion) and the asynchronous.

Chat Rooms / MOOs: “Synchronous” Interchange

I call these interchanges “synchronous” because all participants have to occupy the same virtual environment at the same time in order to interact. These virtual environments simulate real-time interaction in a textual form, even though the participants do not have to be physically in the same location. Use synchronous interchanges for discussions where students share and develop ideas in shorter expressions, like conversations. Given the nature of the real-time simulation, long thoughts (read: long, pensive paragraphs) do not work well in this environment because once they are written and sent, the conversation has moved far beyond that thought. These sessions often get frantic; long paragraphs will usually be ignored in this fast-pasced venue.

Though there are many more available, I have used three “synchronous” interchanges in my classes: Daedalus, WebCT, and LitMOO.

WebCT provided the interface for the first synchronous interchange assignment for my Introduction to Fiction class discussing Ursula Le Guin’s novel Left Hand of Darkness. Since the class was getting used to the WebCT interface and to each other, some of their conversations during the session were not on-task. In my experience, students take some time to get used to this unique mode of communicating, not because they are unfamiliar with chat rooms, but because they have never used those chat rooms for a directed, academic discourse. Most acclimatize themselves quickly and, if they have finished the assignment, will contribute valuable interpretations to the discussion.

Listservs / Bulletin Boards: Asynchronous Interchange

Listservs and Bulletin Boards present an easy way to discuss issues outside the classroom environment, and new Web-based interfaces make them easier to use and administrate. While often synchronous interchanges will take on a culture of their own, listservs seem to harder to get going. I recommend direction that separates the use of the listserv from the use of the chat room, like journal posts and responses.

I use two asynchronous interchanges in my classes: Lyris and WebCT.

Conclusions

In a computer-assisted classroom or when using distance learning components, several suggestions might make the expereince rewarding for the students and the instructor. Keep these guidelines in mind:

Make sure students know that they are in a computer-assisted course
Do not try to use the tools everyday
Do not try to use all the tools at your disposal: use one or two per class
Use a hybrid approach incorporating “traditional” and computer-assisted pedagogies
Give students specific assignments and goals when working with writing tools
Gage your audience -- begin immediately or wait a few weeks
Tell students that you are experimenting with new approaches to literature
Ask students for their imput after the completion of an assignment

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