The Need for the Study

The theory about first-year composition is rich, yet little has focused on student experience of first-year composition online. However since the teaching of online, hypertextual, non-synchronous online composition has only been in effect for just a few short years, this is not a surprising fact. What we can find is varied and interesting. Bernhardt (1993), Charney (1994), Birkets (1997), and Slatin (1997) write of the effects of online text in reading and writing; others, Hawisher and Moran (1993), and Spooner and Yancey (1996), to name a few, researched the effects of email correspondence. Tobin (1990) and Tuman (1992) investigated more effective ways of teaching and learning in cyberspace. However the body of knowledge seems to center on computer conferencing and community as shown by the numerous articles to be found, of which a few are mentioned here: Cooper and Selfe (1990) focus on the social construction of knowledge and student composition. Harris (1997) insists that collaboration in the cyberspace prepares students for actual writing experiences. Moore (1995) and Miller (1994) discuss gender and its connection in the online environment. Understanding the impact of the virtual community was the focal point of Jones (1994), Moore (1995), Moulthrop and Kaplan (1994), and Stone (1994).

None of this research, however, addressed the question of how students feel about their online experiences and what they think about their journeys in the virtual classroom. What are their experiences with reading, with writing, and with navigating their online courses? That is what is missing in the theoretical frame. My intent was to follow a group of online 101 students and listen, allowing their voices to tell me, and through me tell others, what it's like to be a citizen of the online, asynchronous first-year college composition classroom. Again calling upon the words of Rich,

We are, I am, you are
by cowardice or courage
the ones who find our way
back to the scene. . . .

Subsections of Chapter II in Order of Apperance
[Distance Education] [Writing Educators Online] [Computers and Compostion] [Opposing Points of View] [Where Online Composition Fits] [The Need for the Study]

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Last Updated 10/20/01

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