The History of Online Course Development:
Distance Learning Courses

The Distance Learning Model
The online composition courses that have been developed through distance learning programs are based on a model that assumes students can learn almost anything well without being physically in a teacher’s presence. Proponents of these courses usually see technology as a tool to enhance a course rather than as a threat to traditional pedagogy. Distance learning-based online composition courses are usually fully online (with no need for students to be near a campus) and are developed through large-scale university distance education ventures (as opposed to being developed through individual English or composition departments). Furthermore, large-scale general education courses such as first-year composition are preferred over specialized literature and writing courses because there is greater demand for this type of course. These online courses are often more standardized and generic than their counterparts that spring from individual composition instructors. They are also usually produced through university funding or outside grants and are administered by distance education programs; therefore, the evaluation of these courses also falls under the distance learning department umbrella instead of under English or composition departments. These latter departments simply supply the instructors to teach the courses. Incidentally, just as adjunct, part-time, and graduate student instructors are employed more often to teach general education courses, universities that produce online courses through distance learning programs generally staff their composition courses with even more adjuncts and part-timers than traditional courses, and many of these instructors live in completely different geographical areas from the university.

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