Web pages provide an ideal format for this type of class annotation in that they can be universally accessible and updatable publications of students' thoughts. They offer an easy way for students to exchange ideas, and they create a written record of class dialogue. When you tell a class that one of their projects for the semester is to create a web page, the usual reaction is one of mixed enthusiasm and fear. If you ease students into the idea gradually, the fear can diminish quite rapidly. How you choose to begin that process of easing them in to the idea of creating web pages is up to you.
Time constraints are an important issue to consider.
As with any technical application that forces students to learn new skills, you should also consider it in light of the focus of your course. My recommendation is to use one of the quick and easy methods for web publishing available to your students. Purists will object to the masking qualities of these programs. Their argument claims that, if students don t understand the underlying HTML, they will never fully be able to have control over their creations. However, whether it s the place for a literature instructor to teach computing skills is also an area for debate.