TETYC article by Juan Flores and Becky Flores

A new article in Teaching English In the Two-Year College claims that, as composition classes move more towards electronic teaching and collaboration, the drop and failure rate for our first-year classes seems to be increasing. The Floreses state that we must remember that our students are at varying degrees of dependency when they take our classes, but are usually first-year freshmen and still figuring out how to be responsible.

Well. This is a totally new argument for traditional classroom teaching, in my book. While I still see technology as a viable tool to assist my teaching and to help collaboration, I think it's important that we realize that we are still trying to estabish community, and that community seems to be stronger when it is built face to face. Yes, sometimes it's easier to state my opinion when I'm not looking someone directly in the eye, but when I do learn to stand up for my opinions and tell someone to their face, it's liberating in a way. The same goes for writing. I do take my writing more seeriously when someone is wiling to sit down with me about it, rather than shooting off an e-mail.