“Open up the world to your students.” That’s one key piece of advice offered by Colorado State University Professor Mike Palmquist during his recent workshop at Texas A&M entitled “Click on This: E-Resources to Enhance Writing Instruction.”

For Palmquist, a professor of English who has been teaching with computers since the mid 1980s, one of technology’s great benefits to students is that it allows them to contribute to real-life discussions that would never have been accessible to them without the Internet. Palmquist says having students join listservs or discussion forums allows them to expand their awareness of the dialogues at the heart of their academic discipline.

Some of the faculty at the workshop questioned Palmquist about the decidedly unacademic tone of such discussions, but Palmquist sees an unexpected upside to that informality, as it challenges students’ notions of what it means to write. Students who might be intimidated by more formal writing get so engaged in their online conversations for a class that they often don’t even realize that they’re writing.

Contributing to online forums can also help make students aware of the importance of audience. As Palmquist sees it, “The best thing we can do for young writers is help them understand audience and situation.”

Palmquist also urges instructors to harness technology to streamline their own teaching process. During the workshop, he introduced participants to the classroom management system he designed. Called “The Writing Studio,” it differs from offerings like WebCT, because it’s centered not on specific courses but on student writers and their work.

It’s a seemingly subtle shift of focus that allows the site to function as a repository for the work of both students and instructors. Palmquist also hopes the site will infuse the writing classroom with the creative energy of an art studio, where students are actively engaged with their work.