While I had read hypertext theory before I taught
Patchwork Girl, this essay is not a theoretical
article. I wanted
to observe the students and their work as closely as possible to discern
for myself how learning happened in the reading of hypertext, and
discover ways in which my teaching might better encourage and respond
to that learning.
The students' own writings on the experience of reading
a literary hypertext form my primary sources: I draw comments from
informal journals, the final examination essays, the end-of-term survey
and my own notes on what happened in class.
The students themselves had no advance warning the
class would involve any form of technology-enriched learning. No self-selection
for an interest in computers or new technologies occurred. While the
end-of-term surveys indicated that most students were surprised to
encounter computer-mediated learning in a literature class, nearly
one-third indicated that they found the experience of lasting value
(either for college study or as a preparation for work).
At one extreme, R. resisted the commitment required
even to pull assignments from the web: at the other, M claimed she
learned more about hypertext and computers in English than she had
done in her computer class. Two students, one of whom worked in the
university's Media Authoring Center, formed the nucleus of a group
of (male) computer 'experts.' Several students self-diagnosed as computer
illiterate.
However, the distribution of final grades (five As,
4 Cs, and the remainder Bs) was similar enough to that of other classes
I had taught to suggest that the students represented a fairly typical
cross-section of the George Mason community registering for an English
200-level class. Thus, I hope their reactions to literary
hypertext might prove a useful guide to the pleasures and potential
problems of working with the new medium.