"
The young are rude today; anyone who teaches undergraduates can tell you that. They are not so much aggressively rude as inconsiderate, as though no perspective but theirs existed." -Amanda Cross, "Murder Without a Text"When I received this semester's teaching assignment, I shuddered: I would be teaching an introductory writing course through the distance education program. I had not taught a distance education course before, but I had heard horror stories: the course would devour my time, the students would be cheaters, and the "cooperating teachers" at the high schools many of the students attended would be uncooperative; they would modify and contradict my instruction.
However, my biggest concern was that all of the communication would be handled electronically. I was already disturbed by how inappropriate many students' electronic messages were. Students, attentive and polite in class, were often demanding and rude in email. Students who carefully edited their assignments sent email that was barely literate. In short, I frequently found that everything I taught about audience awareness was forgotten in student email.
Because I was concerned about how students presented themselves in email, I decided to experiment with ways to make them think about issues of respect and politeness immediately. We began with a discussion board assignment that was a modification of the "class charter" that Anson and Schwegler describe in The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers (the class' required textbook). Students "discussed" what kinds of exchanges would be appropriate and inappropriate and decided on their own that respectfulness was critical. So far, the class charter experiment appears generally successful, though there are aspects I must modify before I teach the class again next semester. This presentation explores how a "class charter" can help professors in distance education courses establish authority and teach audience awareness.