Defining Online Composition Courses

Not surprisingly, online composition courses have become difficult to define. University writing courses come in many varieties, spanning an entire spectrum of involvement with computers and the Internet—from occasionally using word processors to meeting completely online—which makes the question of online course definition difficult. Most composition course instructors currently apply some form of the Internet in their courses, be it through email correspondence or Internet researching, and I don’t know of any writing course these days that does not make some use of computers—even my eleven-year-old sister is required to write her reports on a word processor.

But after that, the lines get blurry. What exactly is a fully online course? The answer seems easy enough: students and teachers never meet face-to-face and the entire course is taught through tools on computers and the Internet. Yet, exactly which tools are utilized, who manages the course, which information is emphasized, and how skills are taught varies from course to course—varies even more widely, I believe, than the difference between traditional composition courses.  The definition of an online composition course gets more complicated when traditional face-to-face elements are added to an online course (or, as is most often the case, when online elements are added to traditional courses). These mixed courses then fall under a new definition: the elusive “hybrid” course. Indeed, hybrid courses come by many names: media enhanced, mixed mode, computer intensive, blended, or my personal favorite, click and mortar. The hybrid environment also involves a variety of uses for technology, such as face-to-face meetings during class but online discussions and assignments outside of class; or a class may meet face-to-face only four or five times a semester with most of the instruction, collaboration, and conferencing going on online. As the amount of technology increases, the course becomes more complex, and evaluation becomes more and more critical. There are many variations on how technology is incorporated into courses, but in all cases, as more online elements are added, the more complex the course becomes.

Next