Introduction: The Question of Teaching Composition Online

Lev Vygotsky asserts, “To study a phenomenon means to study the history of that phenomenon” (cited in Haas, 1996, p. 17). Similarly, I believe that in order to understand and assess online composition courses, we must first examine their history. Online composition courses have generally developed from two directions: 1) university distance learning programs and 2) individual instructors enthusiastic about technology. Both arenas have contributed to the new area of online composition, and the variety between courses can be explained in part from this divergence. In this webtext, I discuss the problems of defining online composition and present a history of online composition course development, first, from the perspective of distance learning, and second, from the part of individual composition instructors. Finally, I present course assessment as an answer to the question of teaching composition online.

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