Course-driven literary hypertexts, mandated 'discovery tracks,' and cooperative, interactive exploration within the online classroom writing community and global Internet 'village' both mirror and efficiently utilize the associative structure of memory. The pedagogical objective here is improved education through strategic, discipline-oriented integration of technology into the curriculum. Thus we were able to maintain 'asynchronous' communication as active explorers in our Metatale Paradigm course, discussing stories as powerful tools for understanding without waiting for the weekly three-hour seminar. Several months after the course concluded, many of these students continued to build upon the footings established in the seminar. These continuing students are intimately involved with the value-based system toward which any complete university education aspires.
Stories are the perfect contextual medium for new hypermedia tools to sound.
This is very good news indeed for learners bound by jobs, family, and distance, and for all of us committed to the University Without Walls. These applications will help to target needs within the burgeoning telecommunications infrastructure we enjoy - even those not currently connected to theUS National Information Infrastructure. But only systematic reviews from 'real-world knowledge' will effectively coordinate the progress of integrating these new technologies into the humanities. These will become more and more necessary to make annual technology expenditures by local school districts count. Success will involve real vision and close cooperation among faculty, administration, and specialists.