Student Reflections on a Web-Based Class Hypertext
I want to close this essay/hypertext by citing and discussing some online student comments concerning the development of a web-based zine in a university writing course. The first comment makes some interesting connections between new and old media and educational models:
"I like that we have a hypertext online. I think it is like being in a reality-TV show, where we are the authors now, instead of old dead white guys and our professors. I think it is well organized and clearly navigatable, and definitely could be a good reference for students considering UCLA or other big universities. Ultimately, I do think that it is a bit cynical, but then so is the youth of America. It is realistic, which is as much as we really can hope for."
It is interesting
that this student relates our class hypertext to a reality television
show: in many of the student comments, I find that they desire to place
this new mode of writing
within the context of older models of communication or other realms
of poplar entertainment. Furthermore, this student sees this new mode
of student writing as a way of countering the current-traditional literary
models that still dominates our educational systems. This writer also
believes that “our” site makes a useful social contribution;
however, the same student feels that the critical analysis of higher education
is by definition cynical.
Technology, Writing, and Higher Education
Student Writers as Hypertext Users
Changing Conceptions of Academic Writing
Home and School Models of Literacy