Pedagogical Goals
Part of my inspiration for this development of a web-based class hypertext is derived from Jonathan Alexander’s article, “Digital spins: The pedagogy and politics of student-centered e-zines.” In this essay, Alexander posits that the development of a class hypertext or e-zine can work to create a more realistic and concrete sense of audience for student writers as they also begin to work on web-based collaborative projects (p. 387). Alexander adds that the ability of students to publish their own writings on the Internet also has the benefit of increasing the students’ investment in the writing process and motivates college writers to develop alternative views and to see writing as a political endeavor (p. 387). As is the case with my own sense that in their electronic conversations my students sometimes just imitate and parody my own arguments, Alexander believes that the traditional essay format motivates students simply to imitate their teachers because the sense of purpose and audience is so staged (p. 387). By turning to the construction of a class e-zine, Alexander asserts that students can begin to construct their own audience and develop their own purposes, and thus, the writing process becomes more real and effective (p. 388).
Technology, Writing, and Higher Education
Student Writers as Hypertext Users
Changing Conceptions of Academic Writing
Home and School Models of Literacy