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To everyone who has been responding to my request for ideas and advice on introducing computer-asssisted writing support into our writing centre, THANK YOU. I am especially intrigued by the comments about the differences between face-to-face consultation and providing written feedback electronically, and how this difference may create "challenges" for undergrad peer-tutors. At the moment, some of our peer tutors do in fact provide written commentary on hard copy drafts for distance courses, so some of them might be said to be "experienced;" however, I am quite persuaded by your comments that we should not blithely waltz into a situation that places unrealistic demands on our peer tutors--they have a hard enough job as it is. I think I'll make sure that our proposal includes the personnel angle as well as the hardware/software angle--as Mary Louise says, we need people who are experienced/qualified in both writing pedagogy and technology. It seems as though the software that other people have been using for "virtual" consultation varies considerably--I'm assuming that this has to do with institutional contexts but also, I wonder, how does the choice of software affect the off-campus student's ability to participate in the consultation? I am really terribly unknowledgeable about things like "html" and "webboard" and so on. . . I f I ask for money for software (specifically for consulations), what ballpark area should I be thinking of? $5,000? $25,000? Is there any easy answer to this question? Finally, I wanted to know whether anyone has ever worked with software that (ostensibly) "teaches writing"--you know, the kind where you can assign a module and then have the student--whether on-campus or off-campus--work independently to complete the module. I've seen a couple of web courses somewhat like this, but are there other kinds of software I should know about? Is this extremely dangerous territory to venture into, in the sense of being counter to "progressive" writing theory? Does anyone see benefits to these kinds of programs? (assuming they exist--I know of a couple in French, essentially grammar programs) Can they play a useful supportive role in some kinds of language/writing learning, as long they SUPPORT and don't REPLACE people? Or should we avoid them like the plague? thanks again for listening to my questions--please ignore them if you're tired of the subject. Philippa