Writing the Web: Linking Computer Technology and Writing Courses

CROSSING DISCIPLINES—CROSSING BORDERS 32 Web page authoring poses a double challenge as both a technical and a writing task. During fall 2000, Watauga College offered two linked courses aimed at providing first-year students with both the technical and editorial know-how to write for online audiences. Tom Van Gilder, computer consultant for the College of Arts and Sciences, taught “Exploration of a Wired World,” a hands-on course designed to give the students the technical background needed to create content for the World Wide Web. These same students enrolled in Derek Stanovsky’s sections of Watauga College’s “Tools of Human Understanding,” an interdisciplinary writing course required of all entering Watauga College students. These sections, entitled “Future Histories: Reading, Writing, and Remembering After the Internet,” dealt with the intersections of technology, writing, and culture and asked students to produce writing specifically for this new medium. These courses were made possible through the support and encouragement of Cynthia Wood, Director of Watauga College; Richard Carp, Chair of Interdisciplinary Studies; and Linda Bennett, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.