Between the Cracks of Real and Virtual Time

Between the Cracks of Real and Virtual Time: Choreographing Literature Instruction On-the-Ground and On Line

Session Coordinator: Sara Cordell
Dept. of English, Univ. of Illinois at Springfield
487 Brookens, Springfield, IL 62703
scord1@uis.edu

The Once and the Future?: Teaching Arthurian Literature On-line and In Class

Medievalists were quick to jump on the World Wide Web, developing huge databases to disseminate images of manuscripts and data about them. At the Medieval Institute Conference each year, we gather to discuss our use of discussion boards, audio streaming, and other technology to teach the languages and literature of the period. Yet we have not fully analyzed differences between on-line and in-class medieval literature courses. This paper describes my experience simultaneously teaching two sections of Arthurian Literature, one on-line and the other in class The two sections mirrored one another. I created a joint discussion board and used the same BlackBoard site, texts, and devised similar assignments for each.

This experiment challenges two objections to on-line education: On-line courses are weaker versions of in-class courses, thus cheating students. My experience taught me the limitations and opportunities of both types of “classrooms.” My paper analyzes student responses to material in each section and concludes that “tandem” teaching is a valuable opportunity for understanding how class site affects student learning. In-class courses are not the rex quondam of the academic world nor are on-line classes the rex futurus: both are valuable and mutually informing.

In this paper I will discuss the differences in face to face and online methodologies in teaching a course “Symbolist Movement in Europe: Art, Literature, Music.” In my discussion, I will focus on the following issues:

Face to face and online interaction between the students, and between the students and the instructor.
Assignments, their presentations and discussion in both media.
Ways of introducing new material.
Similarities and differences in student responses to face to face and online discussions.
Similarities and differences in student responses to assignments in both media.
Similarities and differences in students responses to lectures in both media.
Instructor’s efficiency in introducing new material in both media.
Instructor’s efficiency in introducing lectures in both media.
Instructor’s efficiency in creating discussions in both media.
Instructor’s efficiency in working with students on assignments in both media.

In conclusion, I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each media and offer suggestions on achieving efficient teaching results by combining selected features of online and on campus courses.

Because they abstract the imaginary order and foreground the symbolic, online courses represent a unique challenge for literature instructors. That instructors are aware of the implications of this inversion while most students are not is easily explained. As graduate students and professors, we continually pay the Other its due. Such payment represents, according to Gary Olson, “the specific traditions, histories, techniques, vocabularies, and methods of inquiry unique to [our] intellectual specialization.” Such a stance, alien to most undergraduates, indicates recognition of the gaze via its effects. As I will demonstrate, the gaze functions precisely like any literary text, simultaneously looking at us and showing us what it sees. The line between looking and seeing thus sutures the time needed for understanding the difference between the show and what puts it on. For online students, as I will argue, online learning doubles the suturing effect by canceling the time for understanding inherent in regularly scheduled classroom sessions. It risks leaving the student adrift, “free” to perform for an accustomed audience, a semblance of understanding precisely mirroring her own. My paper will suggest strategies for reducing this risk.