Webessays: Challenges for students
     

One of the main challenges for students in producing webessays will be the technical know-how. This may be exacerbated for NTL's whose access to technology may be limited, and whose abilites in using it may be behind younger traditional students. If webessays are being integrated into courses which have some element of e-learning then we might assume some of the basic access and internet issues have been resolved.

   For me one of the challenges has been the issues of form and content. I felt I needed to get the form right before I could move forward with the content, and I felt that the possible uses for metaphor were exciting. However, it can (and did!) become a very time consuming activity looking for and developing the visual aspects of a webessay - time that could have been spent developing my knowledge of e-learning theory!

How then do we teach hypertext? Landow suggests a stage by stage introduction supported by the use of specific packages which can lead into fully-fledged web writing.

   It is also easy to spend hours fiddling with the links and look of the essay.
     

Assessment

As discussed elsewhere - assessment criteria needs to be different for webessays and this may be challenging for NTL's who may be more anxious about assessment than other students.

 

Ability

Writing in this new way requires a different set of abilities than conventional writing. The technical interest and know-how, working with images as well as concepts, and looking for connectivity may all be new skills. People who are used to doing well in conventional assignments may not do so well, and new experts may emerge.

What about challenges for teachers?
     

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