Abstract
This chapter describes the process of converting a traditional semester-long graduate seminar, titled Edith Wharton: From Old New York to the Jazz Age, to an online course and provides descriptions of major assignments and outcomes. Organized chronologically, the course begins with Bunner Sisters (1893) and ends with The Children (1928). Using the discussion board as the centerpiece of the class discussions with weekly posts on each primary text, short YouTube lectures for each text, and the course website Desire2Learn, which includes a “Writer’s Corner,” the online course emphasizes student discussion and writing. Especially with its reliance on frequent, informal discussion posts to replace traditional discussion, the online course provides an opportunity to create a classroom space that facilitates the integration of workshop strategies and emphasizes writing as a process to encourage critical reflection on reading, writing, and teaching, so that the redesigned course aligns with new approaches to the graduate seminar.
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Renfroe, A.M. (2021). Wharton Goes Online: Reimagining the Traditional Graduate Seminar. In: Asya, F. (eds) Teaching Edith Wharton’s Major Novels and Short Fiction. American Literature Readings in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52742-6_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52742-6_17
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