Helpful Hints
for Teachers of Hypertext
- Students will want to know what you will be looking for when
you grade their hypertexts. If you define this clearly, you will
also be defining the larger goal of the assignment.
- You'll need to decide whether you want to work with project
teams or individuals. Students on teams can get more done and can
learn from each other. As they can often work electronically,
they will not face the scheduling problems that group work often
poses for students. On the other hand, it can be difficult to
assess the work of individuals on teams, and some students work
better on their own.
- You may find it useful to distribute a questionnaire early in
the class to determine how much computer experience the class
members have and who has had any experience in using HyperCard,
StorySpace, HTML markup, etc. This will pay dividends if you
decide to organize your hypertext project by dividing the class
into small groups. If you try to distribute the more experienced
members so that each small group has at least one "guru," you
might save yourself some work.
- It is easy to forget in the throes of web-browsing that, just
because the information you find is in the public domain, the
usefulness to users of providing proper documentation that will
enable them to access that material on their own is not
diminished. To learn the suggested MLA documentation format for
World Wide Web material, explore Citing Web Sites, the web site for
Janice R. Walker's "MLA-Style Citations of Electronic Sources"
(endorsed by the Alliance for Computers & Writing).
- It is helpful to take class time to look at and discuss
existing hypertexts, and you might consider making the general
topic of "hypertext" an actual part of your course. As is
generally true for all types of assignments, students appreciate
an explanation of why you are requiring a hypertext, what you
hope they will learn from the assignment, and so on.
- Make back ups!
- If you frequently teach the same text, you can consider
establishing a hypertext project that several classes of students
develop over a series of semesters.
- Plan to use class time (more than you might think) for
instruction in using the technology. You will need to teach them
to use whatever hypertext tool you're working with; in addition,
there are still students who are not very comfortable with
computers.
- Make back ups!
- Student projects are likely to be better if you give
substantial assistance in defining topics and suggesting initial
organizational principles.
- Before the semester begins, make sure that the software you
want to use is available in the CIC (if that is where you expect
students to do most of their work). In addition, find out what
other public computing areas on campus have the software or the
scanners or whatever other tools the students need. Some students
will want to work at home on their personal computers, and they
won't all have Macs; be prepared either to tell them that they
can't work at home or to explain how they can.
- Make back ups!