As I was carefully choosing the combination of novels, short stories, and plays that would work for each course, I realized that I have not been bringing the same depth of experience and thought to selecting online texts for students. Part of this is due to the ephemeral nature of many online texts — they are so quickly dated that I feel that I need to make my selection the day before class, rather than at the beginning of the semester. Still, it’s no excuse for selecting a text without thinking about why I’m selecting it for a particular situation.

So I’m going to work on a set of criteria for choosing an online text for students to read and interact with — say a blog. I wonder if anyone else has already created something like this? I know that there’s lots out there on finding credible information, but I’m looking for something a bit more … pedagogical here.

Here’s my first try; I imagine I’ll come back and work on this more.

• Obviously — no objectionable content.
• Is the text’s date going to be a barrier to learning? (If it’s “so ten minutes ago”, then students may not engage.)
• If it’s a website or blog — does it have the reputation of producing only quality articles?
• Is it a good example of online writing? Are hyperlinks used judiciously to enhance content? Is it easily navigated?
• Is this type of text best for what I want to teach, or am I just using it because it’s cool?
• Will it provide students a launch point for their own thinking and writing?
• Am I mindful of giving space for a diversity of voices in the class? Does the text give an interesting, perhaps overlooked perspective?
• Can I actually access it, or will the school filter block it?
• And … how could I change this so that students would select the text rather than me?

Let’s see where this takes me for now.