James Potts writes:

The best benefit I have gotten from going online is a genuine dialogue with some students who otherwise would assume that I am available during business hours, for a paycheck. So far, just requiring them to use e-mail (and I've been using it for about six years) has had the most effect. The relationship between us changes when they find out that I really will answer questions and read drafts. We become partners. No effective pedagogical approach and no amount of enthusiasm seem to establish the same tone in the classroom, where they are shaping their image for their classmates. In private, they ask focused questions and work through the details I wish they'd ask about in class. After that, they usually take on leadership positions in the class, which improves the general level. As far as that goes, I was already prepared for that; I just had to wait for enough students to catch on to e-mail.

I have yet to get much benefit from the chat-room, but I think I have figured out how. I have let them "play" once. Perhaps they have gotten that out of their system. (They were like exceptionally vulgar five-year olds in a sandbox.) What I have yet to do to prepare is to become skilled enough to track identities so that I know who's behaving disruptively. Still, it occurred to me as I was screening Kenneth Branagh's version of Frankenstein the other day, that between segments, I could turn them loose on the chat board, and they might actually turn their vigor towards the issues in the film. Maybe with a little practice in systematic desensitization we could do the same with literature.

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