What's Wrong with Online Readings? Text, Hypertext, and the History Web

Abstract

I ACHIEVED SOMETHING that I had been striving to do for several semesters when, in 2002, I revised my survey course on the history of the United States up to Reconstruction by replacing most of the photocopied readings I had assigned in the past with online texts. Readings on the web now provided the basis for ten of the twelve weekly tutorial discussions in the course, as well as for six of the ten essay questions. The tutorial readings included Thomas Harriot's 1590 text, A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, documents produced by the antebellum moral reform movement, and photographs of the Civil War.' Not only did using online material allow me to assign sources that I would not otherwise have been able to provide to students, it reduced the size and cost of the course reader, and relieved the strains on the library system created by over a hundred students seeking the same texts. Students had complained about those issues in previous courses that I had taught, but had responded positively to my course web site and the handful of online readings I had used. None had reacted negatively to being required to use the Web. Other teachers had reported similar positive responses when they integrated online sources into their teaching.2 I felt confident that my students would be just as enthusiastic about a larger online component in the course. I was wrong.