Keywords
asynchronous, email, Comp-Lab, computer-assisted instruction (CAI), computers, history, grammar checkers, pedagogy, technology, wcenter listserv
First Paragraph
In recent years historical inquiry has found a niche in writing center scholarship. Most of this history has addressed macro issues—such as the professionalization of writing centers (Riley 1994), global notions of center theory or practice (several in Landmark Essays 1995), the development of writing center organizations (Kinkead 1995), the nature of early centers (Carino 1995 “Early”), and models for historicizing the center (Healy “Temple,” Carino 1996). Micro issues such as tutor training, one-to-one techniques, or computers in writing centers have received less attention as the scholarship has first tried to trace a broader historical arc. Yet these smaller matters certainly underpin macro-histories. Computers in particular present a challenge for center historians because from the early workbook-on-screen programs such as the Comp-Lab modules, to the cumbersome heuristics of early CAI programs such as WANDAH, to today’s OWLs, MOOs, and MUDs, computer applications in writing centers have been so varied that it is difficult to draw historical generalizations.
Citation Information
Type of Source: Book Article
Author: Peter Carino
Year of Publication: 1998
Title: “Computers in the Writing Center: A Cautionary History” (available online)
Publication: Wiring the Writing Center (available online)
Page Range: 171-193