Conclusions

New technologies that enter society today are inevitably used and misused for some time before their full potential is realized. Since its introduction, online learning has become one of these technologies that instructors and researchers have argued can be developed to enhance the teaching and learning of written composition. Though these claims are not new, the ways that online classrooms can enhance the teaching of writing are still being realized. In my classroom, I've watched the ways my students form productive groups online. I've enjoyed seeing my students who are usually uncomfortable with in class participation and group work thrive in an environment that allows them to feel that their peers are not scrutinizing them as people, but as writers. And through my students' online interactions, they've become more accustomed to the rhetorical intricacies of writing for an audience.

Online education is no longer a second choice alternative to adult education. It is a growing, changing, educational system that can lend itself to certain kinds of learning better than any other media. Although students of a freshmen composition course might value online education for different reasons than distance learners, both kinds of students have the advantage of learning to write by writing when they take composition online or have the opportunity to use an online component in a face-to-face class.