Christine Hult, Tharon Howard, and Donna Reiss call attention to problematic uses of technology in WAC and CAC courses, though each offers a different perspective on the issue. Christine focuses on the larger problem of poorly designed distance courses:
It seems to me that CAC has a crucial role to play in the development of these new Internet-based programs and curricula. All too often, when courses are translated to the Internet for distance delivery, the teaching methods and models that CAC has fought against for years are imported whole-sale into the new courses - thus perpetuating the worst teaching/learning models from the past.
Tharon observes that technology should not be viewed as a substitute for good teaching, noting that "the uses of technology that fail or that are (to use Mike's term) 'potentially problematic' are those which try to turn technology into a substitute for an authentic audience or for the teacher."
Donna builds on Tharon's and Christine's observations, suggesting that the problems related to using technology have parallels with earlier attempts to innovate. She adds that an important mission for WAC/CAC is to support faculty efforts to use technology effectively:
Left to flounder with new technologies, we often fail and then reject them just as we might have failed in our efforts to integrate group processes into our classrooms without sufficient training, planning, and understanding of the pedagogy and its application. WAC/CAC stepped in to demonstrate to faculty in all disciplines writing to learn, creative writing, collaborative communication, freewriting, the writing process, multiple measures for evaluating writing. So this problem - teaching effectively and appropriately with electronic communication - is a challenge WAC/CAC can take on to renew itself and instruction.
It seems clear that there are fundamental differences between the experiences of teachers and learners in online courses and face-to-face courses, and between face-to-face courses that use technology and those that do not. To what extent is technology itself a cause of problems and to what extent is lack of understanding of how to use technology a cause of problems? What role can WAC/CAC play in supporting appropriate uses of technology in courses?
– Mike Palmquist
Mike.Palmquist@ColoState.edu