β Scribed by Dan Quigley
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
As computer-mediated communication (CMC) distance-learning programs increase, college writing faculty will be asked to adapt their regular composition courses for the compuler-generaled "cyberspace" classrooms of college online programs. One immediate concern is the course syllabus. A CMC online course demands a radically different course syllabus that takes fuIl advantage of the verbal and textual merger that a computergenerated teaching reality creates. This article begins with an overview of the New York Institute of Technology's On-line Campus (OLC) programand then examines difficulties thai arise in adapting a traditional course syllabus and structure to the "conceptual" classroom of a fully online composition class. The article next proposes an "evolving" syllabus as one solution to these difficulties. Finally, discussing issues Ihat leaching an online course with an evolving syllabus has raised, the article poses questions aboutthe role a traditional syllabus plays in classroom-based writing courses.
As advances in telecommunications technology make computer-mediated communication (CMC) distance-learning programs a more viable form of higher education, an increasing number of faculty will be asked to move writing classes into the virtual reality of computer-generated "cyberspace" classrooms of college online programs. As such transitions increase, writing faculty will need to reassess fundamental elements of courses to accommodate institutional, curricular, and student interests and concerns (Harasim, 1990; Maso~ & Kaye, 1990). One immediate concern is the course syllabus, a document which gains importance, given the independence in which distance-learning students work. A CMC online course demands a radically different course syllabus, one that takes full advantage of the verbal and textual merger a computer-generated teaching reality creates. I begin with a brief overview of New York Institute of Technology's (NYIT) On-line Campus (OLC) program. Then, focusing on a first-year composition course I have taught several times online, I discuss problems that arise when teachers adapt a traditional syllabus and course structure to this new teaching environment. Next, I examine how an "evolving" syllabus lends itself to a CMC-based course. Finally, I identify questions that online teaching raises about a traditional syllabus.
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