Although Daedalus can be used as a writing-assistance program or as a word processing program, I limited my use this year to its "discussion" capabilities--interchange and mail. The women's history class met in the Wallace computer lab once each week for most of the semester. In the honors class the computer lab was an add-on about halfway through the semester; I had not intended to teach this class with computers. As I began preparations for the semester I had visions of integrating computer discussions with face-to-face student-teacher interaction during the class period, but this lab was not designed to facilitate "front-of-the-classroom" teaching. To begin with, there is no space at the front of the lab!Then too, a 50-minute class period is just barely long enough for students to really get into a discussion; my attempts to interject verbally were unwelcomed intrusions in rather intense on-line discussions. So, after some experimentation the class and I settled into a routine: I posted four different leading questions, based largely on readings assigned in the previous week. (Students read some documents and articles for nearly every class.) Initially, I assigned students to a group and requested that they stay with one discussion for at least fifteen minutes; I also suggested that they keep their comments brief--three to five sentences. As their individual preferences and interests emerged, I stopped assigning and allowed students to scout around before settling into a discussion.
And they did settle--and divide into groups of students more interested in the readings and the historical dimensions of the subject and groups more interested in the implications for contemporary issues. I found, however, that each individual could and did move back and forth between past and present quite easily. The classroom was silent except for the clicking of keyboards and the occasional outburst of laughter at a comment posted on screen. I roamed around in the discussions but for the most part remained out of the talk. Frequently I ended the class by asking students to summarize what had happened in one of the discussions and print it for my records.
For additional information on this innovation:
kjwj@vt.edu