I students, and encouraging a one-hour lab for second and fourth term writing courses. While these labs have mainly been used by students to draft papers, the advent of networking technology, which enables digital communication between computers, provides another option for teaching writing. First, we experienced a positive, if somewhat painful, shift in the dynamic of the class.
Students sit quietly, answer questions, and discuss ideas at the teacher's prompting.
Even in cooperative learning activities, students follow the lead of the instructor. On Connect, this dynamic shifts. Into this dialogue, the instructor is forced to teach in response and in process. Teaching occurs in real time, not in the mind of the instructor before the class begins. While most instructors would like this kind of interchange to occur in the classroom, in my experience I have found that it really does not.