In "Community-Service Learning and Computer-Mediated Advanced Composition," Alison Regan and John Zuern describe the 1997 pilot project of the Center for English Studies Technology (CEST) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa: an upper-division "Rhetoric, Composition, and Computers" course, entitled "Going to Class, Getting Online, and Giving Back." Designed by Regan and Zuern to be a technology-centered course with a significant service-learning component, students worked with residents of the Kuhio Park Terrace and Kuhio Homes (KPT), the largest public housing complex in Hawaii. The students made regular visits to KPT’s computer lab (which had been upgraded through funding associated with the CEST project) and tutored residents on using a variety of software and Internet programs.
As assignments for the course, students "produced print and Web-based learning materials for members of the target community, essays reflecting on their service learning experiences, and formal research papers on topics such as literacy, public access to technology, and social policies relating to computers and the Internet" ("Community-Service Learning and Computer-Mediated Advanced Composition"). Regan and Zuern comment that "Rather than viewing technology as the centerpiece of our project, we see computer-mediated communication as a means of facilitating a variety of coordinated service learning activities that can help prepare members of underserved communities for life in a society that relies increasingly on information technology" ("Community-Service Learning and Computer-Mediated Advanced Composition"). Lessons learned from the pilot project guided the development of subsequent CEST courses. More information on these courses and examples of the resulting student work can be found at the CEST website.
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