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I'm under contract to do a course like this, a contract I accepted because the alternative was having someone else do it. But I haven't started it yet because I'm disputing the notion that someone like me should be finding the software: I think I should say what the software needs to do, and some person skilled at finding and testing software should be paid by Distance Education to find what I need. Judy Segal recently did such a course for UBC, but I don't believe she was very happy with what she was able to create. In my mind, the software should enable the sorts of activities that normally go on among small groups in the workshop-like classes I teach, e.g., multiple responses to drafts where the process is visible to each person in the small group and where I am able to intervene occasionally if I think the process is getting off track. Another big problem seems to be getting the DE people to recognize that writing courses are a lot of work and that tutor markers need to be paid significantly more per student for writing courses. In short, there is a lot of politics between where I am now at SFU and where I think I need to be in order to do this task with integrity. At 09:36 PM 10/19/98 -0400, you wrote: >what's happening in our program is interesting. Yes there has been growth >but in really only two areas--the rhetoric and professional writing program >and in our "service" courses. This is the on-campus story. > >Waterloo has also had a long history of Distance Education >involvement--especially in English. Across Canada right now DE is >declining, and this is now affecting our programs as well. I think the >stats we have been talking about mention the decline in part-time students. >Well a lot of those students might have been DE students. My impression is >that after years of profiting from but ignoring DE, universities, including >WAterloo, are now scrambling, trying to invent new courses and programs to >bring back the DE students. I think, however, we are going to need a lot of >investment to compete with on-line resources that already exist. > >I have already ventured in this direction myself by creating an on-line >writing course. I am piloting it right now--my biggest challenge has not >been the interactive part. Several software systems exist that facilitate >on-line discussion. The tough part has been the annotation >software--software designed to facilitate peer editing and comments on >drafts. I looked into Common Space, but it wouldn't work in a purely >on-line, web site environment. The THING I am struggling with is an new >IBM product, and it is truely driving me crazy. > >If anybody knows of a better software for on-line editing please let me know. >Catherine F. Schryer >Dept. of English >University of Waterloo >Waterloo, Ontario, Canada >N2L 3G1 >(519) 885-1211 (ext 3318) >