Print

Print


In reply to Jesse's question about the reasons for having students develop
hypertext editions, I would say I have two main ones.  The first is that
writing for the web gives students a real audience to write for, which makes
an amazing difference in the quality of some students' work.  In my trial
run this fall, I had several students ask if I would give them suggestions,
not to improve their grades, but because they were genuinely concerned for
the quality of work that would be publicly attached to their names.
 
The second reason is that the hypertext project allows me to get students
involved in very traditional literary tasks--glossing words, providing
historical context, comparing sources--as well as employing current critical
approaches to analyze both texts and performances. In fact, the students are
doing little that they couldn't do on paper, but the attraction of the
technology, and of an audience beyond the classroom gets them much more
engaged in those tasks.  Thus, while there are those who say that we
shouldn't use new technology unless it allows us to do something we couldn't
in more traditional ways, I choose to believe that what teachers have always
done is try to find new ways to engage student interest in what are
essentially the same basic tasks of sensitive reading of a text.
 
I might just add that my purpose in getting students to produce a hypertext
edition is primarily to get the students to dig deeply into the text, rather
than to provide a resource for others using the web.  There are some sharp
insights in their work, but it should be read with a critical eye, as it by
no means as finished or as polished as some of the other hypertext editions
on the web.
 
Peter Greenfield
U. Puget Sound