Chapter IV

The Setting, the Participants, and Data Analysis

This chapter introduces the online classroom, the teacher and the students. While basic demographic information and educational information cannot hope to depict the richness and complexity of the individual students and their instructor, these descriptions will serve to provide a context for their comments. Van Manen (1990) states, "Research and life are drawn more closely together in our understanding of research/writing as a form of thoughtful learning" (p. 155). This written discourse then was an attempt to move the reader and myself into a mode of "thoughtful learning" about these participants.

Twelve students met the profile described in the previous chapter. However, only nine of them chose to participate in this study. Thus, there are nine students' experiences and one teacher's experience in the following chapters.

The Online Class

Understanding the environment of the online class is a challenge, as one must set aside preconceived notions of the classrooms. Boundaries in the traditional physical sense do not exist. Walls, chalkboards, and graffiti filled wooden desks are absent. The lilt of a teacher's voice or the cadence of student muttering are not obvious to other individuals in the classroom. The concept of class meetings must also be rethought, as students do not show up at 8:00 a.m. to begin class. Nor is the teacher required to stand in front of the room delivering lectures at a specific given time each day. The teachers and the students are not required to ever share the same space and time. That is not to say the critical elements of the classroom are not present; indeed, the sense, the essence of the classroom still exists.

The Curriculum

At the beginning of the term, Dr. Jon Sutherland, whose name has also been changed, the professor of the class, posted on the school's web site a number of documents. The first was the syllabus, which seemed typical on first glance, but when printed, it turns out to be a ten-page document. The first section, a page in length, depicts characteristics of most first-year composition classes, delineating instructor information, course description, and objectives. This document is single-spaced, no-nonsense tract (Appendix D). Two and one-half pages of "special" concerns follow, all pertaining to the needs of the online student.

The last five and one-half pages contain information about,

	"Policy for Completing Assignments,"
	"How to Interpret Your Scores,"
	"Final Exams,"
	"Ethical Considerations,"
	"Difficulty,"
	"Information and Assignments,"
	"Personal Records,"
	"Sfile,"
	"Writing Process Tasks: Pre-Planning, Planning, Translating, Reviewing,"
	"Review Draft (RD) Session,"
	"SASE," and
	"8-Point Manuscript Checklist for RD's and FD's."

In addition to the ten-page syllabus, a series of how to documents are available to students. These handouts are

	(a) How to Tips,
	(b) Survival Tips for an Online Class,
	(c) Quick'n'Dirty Upload Method,
	(d) How to Log On to the Internet,
	(e) How to upload and download a file,
	(f) How to Send an Email Message to the Class,
	(g) How to upload your RD3,
	(h) How to download your email peer comments,
	(i) How to View Jon's English 100 Webpage without Netscape, and
	(j) Correction Symbols and AIP Errors.

The final documents available to students on their initial enrollment in the class are the course schedule and detailed instructions about both the assignment due dates and procedures for the first few weeks of class. With all of this information, students are ready to begin their online adventures.