by Christine Hult

IT'S THE END of an arduous semester and your desk is piled high with student papers. You sigh deeply as you contemplate the days of reading and grading that lie ahead of you. Surely there must be a better way? You'll be happy to learn that recently developed technologies can help you to handle the paper load. Web course-management systems (e.g. Blackboard or WebCT), initially designed for distance-education courses, also provide classroom teachers with excellent tools to help them manage the deluge of papers they face each term. Word-processing features such as "document comments" and "track changes" help to turn responding and grading papers from a chore to a pleasure (almost). Course management systems help teachers translate their classroom materials into Web-based documents that students can access via the Internet. These systems all provide a similar range of user-friendly course tools, from chat rooms to bulletin boards to gradebooks. Many regular classroom teachers have found that Web classrooms are a convenient way to provide information such as syllabi and class assignments to their students. They also may use a Web classroom to communicate with students between class periods via discussion forums, bulletin boards, e-mail lists, or chat rooms. What many teachers don't realize, however, is that Web classrooms also provide excellent help for managing student assignments-including both on-line quizzes and written work.

I'll describe how I use a course management system and Microsoft Word in my sophomore English composition courses to help me handle the paper load. You could adapt these procedures using any course management system available to you. Many such systems are now offered by publishers free of charge when you adopt a particular textbook (e.g. CourseCompass from Pearson Education). Prior to the start of the semester, I set up my Web classrooms using SyllaBase, a course management system developed by the English department at Utah State University (www.3gb.com). I upload my syllabus, course policies, and assignments as well as a calendar that indicates when assignments are due. I also set up the "homework manager" that will automatically post to students' Web pages the course assignments as they are due. Since I am teaching a writing course, most of the assignments are essays and written projects, although I do give a few quizzes on items of grammar and usage.

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