AN ELECTRONIC DISCUSSION LIST IN AN UNDERGRADUATE WRITING COURSE

A required listserv, borders@uci.edu, electronically enhances composit ion instruction for seven combined classes in an undergraduate course on Argument and Research at the University of California at Irvine. E- mail is a convenience for these students, easing access to research in formation in the library and to their instructors and peers. Even more importantly, the listserv's electronic community provides a forum whe re students and instructors can model, rehearse, test the limits of, e xchange, and reshape academic arguments. These seven instructors refle ct in this paper on the objectives of their innovative approach and it s implications For teaching and learning-particularly students' resist ance to an inevitable electronic relocation of the teacher in cyberspa ce. They also offer some practical suggestions based on their experien ces.