Language and learning in the 'late age of print': situating a web-based essay writing project

In 1999, the Language and Learning ,Services Unit at Monash embarked on a 'Strategic Innovations' project aimed at providing online web-based learning to students. One of the main components of the project has been the creation of a series of online tutorials in a range of academic skill areas. This paper provides a description and. a critique of one of the first tutorials developed - an essay writing tutorial. In evaluating this resource, our aim is to give a sense of the processes of learning and reflecting we have been engaged in on the project and also to situate these within broader debates about the new technologies and their impact on language and learning practices. We shall argue that the success of web-based language and learning resources is contingent on recognising the implications - both textual and pedagogical of the technology used.