After reading all of this week’s articles and talking to several classmates I was struck by many people’s resistance to the advance of technologies in the classroom and the promotion of technology as an avenue for learning composition.  While I understand there are limitations on technology for teaching, I believe those limitations are no more or less than what would be encountered in a traditional classroom. To me it all depends on the type of student and their learning style.  In many of the online classes I have participated in the amount of writing required is significantly higher than that of a traditional class.  If we take Emig’s assertion that writing and composition lead to greater learning and understanding to be true, then I see no reason why we can not suppose that the addition of writing in online classes enables many students to learn the subject material just as well if not better than their traditional classmates. Indeed the level and quality demanded of me in my online classes is typically at least double that I have encountered in my traditional classes, and the online classes require a higher level of dedication and interaction than is expected in my “normal” classes.  If learning is promoted by composition and writing, then I feel that online communities can only foster further understanding.   Perhaps I have been able to be part of exceptional online classes, but to me the one’s I have participated in still had a community feeling to them. I was able to chat with other classmates, knew many by name, and saw many people schedule study sessions and group activities on the websites.  If one is suspicious of the truth of these claims, they need merely look at the format of this class.  While we do meet “in class” we are all hid behind computer screens and are “plugged in” to the net.  I consider this a class in which much learning and community action has taken place and the majority of the format takes place online.  Nor do I feel that we have lost something as a result of the technology employed in this class. Instead, I am able to read other people’s responses to the same material and am able to hear every one’s voice in the class instead of those who just speak up in the physical class.  To me the online community allows for every one’s voice to be heard where in a big forum class at the university individual opinions are rarely voiced.