In fact, one of the purposes of the assignment is for the students to explore the many different interpretations possible for that passage. The students can consult different editions of the play, getting a sense not only of what details editors choose to annotate, but also the many different possible explanations editors and commentators can provide. In working on their projects, students move beyond the instructor's knowledge of that particular passage and of the software as well, as they explore the various ways of presenting the material. With each new link the students create, the project expands, and students see immediate, concrete results of their efforts. Their work is truly public, because the project is a group effort, in which each member of the group sees the individual contributions as they are added.
Students become mutually responsible for the quality of the project.
Their motivation thus increases, because they don't want to let down the group, and they want to impress their peers with their efforts. Since the final hypertext documents are displayed to the class as a whole, students can take pride in their accomplishment. They enjoy displaying a product of their intelligence, creativity, ingenuity, and effort, reaping the public reward of their work. For the MLA Conference, I propose to demonstrate one or two of the multimedia projects created by my students, as I present the pedagogical and hypertextual theory that underlie the projects. I would also discuss the pragmatics of including such projects within the structure of a typical Shakespeare class.