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An Introduction to Teaching Composition in an Electronic Environment

An Introduction to Teaching Composition in an Electronic Environmentby Eric Hoffman and Carol Scheidenhelm
Allyn & Bacon 2000
ISBN 0-205-29715-3    $32.00 (paper)    257 pp.

Review by Christopher Penna
University of Delaware

Notes on external links

There's a significant paragraph in the Preface to Eric Hoffman's and Carol Scheidenhelm's An Introduction to Teaching Composition in an Electronic Environment. In the space of four lines, the word "basic" or "basics" occurs three times.  It's a telling choice of words, one that points to both the strengths of this book and its limitations.

Designed for teachers who are "average computer users" and who want "practical explanations and specific ideas for lesson plans" (Preface), the first half of the book consists of short chapters introducing the reader of "average experience" to the "basics" of word processing, e-mail, and the Web.  Each of these introductions is followed by a chapter with some general pointers and tips on using that particular technology in the classroom.  Thus, after "Word-Processing Basics" is the chapter "Using the Word Processor in Class." Several of these chapters include short bibliographies directing the reader to further information on the topic.  The second part of the book begins with a couple of chapters on "Preparing the Electronic Environment" and "Entering the Electronic Environment." These chapters provide reminders, cautions, and checklists as well as suggested activities for the first couple days of class.  The remainder of the book contains more detailed lesson plans for using word processors, e-mail, and the Web.  Additionally, there are some useful appendices, covering such things as using HTML, online writing and grammar sources, and troubleshooting guides.

This overview should make it clear that the authors are trying to"minimize the amount of initial preparation time required of teachers new to the electronic environment . . . . to provide teachers a series of templates and a running start toward successful use of technology in the computer classroom" (25). And there is no question that some teachers will find some of this material—basic as it is—helpful. For example, there are useful reminders about such things as ensuring file "translatability" among different word processing programs.  There are some interesting ideas about the word processor as a kind of writers' workbook where teachers can give students exercises in organization and mechanics similar to those found in a traditional workbook. Likewise the discussion on using Local Area Networks for "inter-class collaboration" or the steps in creating an on-line syllabus will be appealing to some.

Of potentially broader value, though, are the sections of the book that deal with Web-based activities.  The chapter "Search Engines" explains briefly how they work and how they differ, and has practical information on evaluating search results as well as a select list of online sites for evaluating Internet resources.  There is also a good appendix entitled "Writing Basic Course Web Pages" that gives the reader a template for creating such a Web page, a brief introduction to HTML, and source code for several of the lesson plans described in earlier chapters of the book.

Despite the thoroughness of this information, however, An Introduction to Teaching Composition in an Electronic Environment has some drawbacks.  For one thing, the book would have benefited from more careful copy editing.  It is disheartening to see stylistic inconsistencies, solecisms, and typos in a book targeted at writing teachers.  More substantively, though, it is the fundamental basicness of the book that disappoints. Going over Hoffman's and Scheidenhelm's meticulously laid out lesson plans, the reader can't help but wonder whether this will actually help make students better writers—especially when the authors frequently remark that as a backup plan the computer-mediated lesson they are discussing can also be done with pen and paper.  An unstated assumption behind the book is that computer- mediated composition (CMC)  is an important tool for teaching writing—that it is a positive value.  And yet this is an issue that the authors address only superficially.

Saying that questions of CMC theory are beyond the purview of their book, the authors encourage readers to investigate it on their own as they become more conversant with the technology.  But for now Hoffman and Scheidenhelm are content to argue that computers are here to stay and that we need to teach our students to compete in a computer-dependent society.   At the same time, though, they also state that teachers need to be enthusiastic about, and enjoy teaching with, computers (14).  Certainly it seems that attempting to make a stronger case for the distinctive pedagogic benefits of CMC could, perhaps, encourage that enthusiasm and enjoyment.

That case, after all, is the implied basis of this book.  And in a book that devotes so much space to the basics, it would have been nice to look more closely at the basis upon which those basics ultimately are built.


Notes on external links

An Introduction to Teaching Composition in an Electronic Environment and the first half of the book link to Allyn & Bacon pages about the book.

The book recommends these links:

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