The History of Online Course Development:
Individual Composition Instructors Teaching Online

Expansion
During the 1980s, computers and composition scholars connected through networks that were precursors to the Internet, such as BITNET and ENFI (Electronic Networks for Interaction). Meanwhile, many were developing programs to teach grammar and writing skills, now referred to as “drill and kill” software, such as WANDAH (Writer's AND Author's Helper) and Mimi Schwartz's PREWRITE (Wilferth & Cesarini). At English and composition conferences, these scholars created their own special interest groups (SIGs) where they discussed the latest technologies and the possibilities of using computers with writing instruction. In addition, in 1983, they held the first conference, Computers and Writing, devoted completely to this topic. Later they also communicated by e-mail, which evolved into today’s computers and composition mailing lists and listservs, including TechRhet and 7c-l. At the same time, Gail Hawisher and Cynthia Selfe, now the foremost names in the field, began publishing a small newsletter entitled Computers and Composition, which has turned into one of the most prominent journals in the field of composition. With each new innovation, individual instructors adopted the technologies they found appealing and experimented with implementing them into their classroom. Some added a little, some a lot, and some turned their classes into fully online composition courses.

Next