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Geoffrey Rockwell asked >How do we know when instructional technology works? >There seems to be very little on evaluation of information technology that >does not involve complex empirical studies that yield almost useless >results. Do you have more informal ways of assessing what is working? Can >you recommend evaluation techniques that are not time consuming and >artificial? If you're doing the assessment purely for your own purposes, truly "loosey-goosey" subjective evidence may be best. For instance, I find that in an electronic environment students "take charge" more readily and depend less upon being told what/how to think/respond. I also see better attendance among undergraduates and fascinating innovations among graduate students. And so on. My freshman writing students write more, sophomore lit students actually discuss Spenser intelligently, upper division majors in HEL comb the internet for information on language, grad students discuss contemporary rhetorical issues on a bulletin board that averaged 3 posts per day per student and (a different group) have joined Ansax-l. The teaching assistants are trying to get their own bulletin board so they can engage in on-going scholarly discussion in an informal way at all hours but at individual convenience. Of course, this kind of evidence won't satisfy a dean, department head, or budget committee. They only believe the "complex empirical studies." With your permission as soon as I hear from you I will forward your inquiry to the Alliance for Computers in Writing list to try to elicit some helpful information. Suzanne S. Webb PhD Program in Rhetoric [log in to unmask] Dept. of English, Speech, & Foreign Languages Professor of English Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX 76204