Why use a webtext like College Writing Online instead of a traditional print textbook?
I have often had this conversation with my fellow compositionists, many of whom are not interested in computers. We might expand the question to one more germane to the field of Computers and Writing, namely, “Why bring computer technology into a writing classroom?” This question has always baffled me because I find it difficult to imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to take advantage of all the new electronic tools at the disposal of modern authors, editors, and publishers. I suppose that Gutenberg would have been similarly confounded by questions concerning the usefulness of printed texts. Why some of my colleagues still prefer the old-fashioned approach to teaching writing with pen and paper has long been a mystery to me. I suppose the question has more to do with good old American pragmatics than anything else: What practical advantage does CWO offer over printed textbooks, and are these advantages great enough to warrant the trials and tribulations that are a necessary evil of any si
