the recipe for teaching an electronic autobiography

ingredients:
     30 students
     1102: Writing about Literature
     1 computerized classroom
     1 class e-mail discussion list
     1 MOOville
     1 World Wide Web
     8 print autobiographies
     1 Text Book: An Introduction to Literary Language

  1. divide students into groups, or "bands" (as in improvisational garage bands).
  2. assign bands weekly presentations and e-mail discussions list leadership.
  3. teach bands how to MOO; have them turn in MOO logs during the course segments in which they are NOT presenting on the material.
  4. have students read roughly one book per week.
  5. design a schedule which moves from traditional autobiographies to more explicitly political ones.
  6. give students an early hypertext assignment to familiarize them with the techniques of html and the creation of hypertext.
  7. look for the instructions on how to design the project in the books.
  8. mix in a little text book (especially the "mystory" chapter) to crystallize project design.

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