I very much enjoyed learning more
about how computers could be incorporated into the composition classroom and
using one day a week to experiment with distance learning techniques. I
think my better students gained more fluency in writing as a result of having
one day out of three for written work and/or peer review. Weaker students
may have taken advantage of the time off, not applying themselves to the week's
writing lab assignment as I would have liked; I think, too, some students may have
used "computer problems" as a readymade excuse for not completing work
on time. And indeed the system did go down once or twice during the
semester.
I will say that the 3 or 4 students who completed optional mid-semester
evaluations of the course indicated that they were profiting by the writing labs online. They were somewhat more ambivalent about peer review--but no
more ambivalent than students I have had in the past who did peer review as a
classroom exercise.
I think I probably wrote one of the best lectures I have ever delivered when I
missed class one day and decided to make up for it online. I can look back
and know that I said what I intended to say, whether or not all my students have
learned the material I posted.
In future online courses (or courses with strong online components) I may well
participate more as a peer -- doing some of the assignments alongside the class to
see if I can demonstrate more about writing through writing than I communicate
through critiquing my student's work.