Aaron Kendall guided me as I constructed an annotated Bath tour using Google Earth Web for location-based and virtual teaching of Jane Austen’s Persuasion (1818). Austen sets volume II of this novel in Bath, a heritage city that carries a Regency imprint aligning prosperity and social class with architecture and geography. In my course on Jane Austen (EN 363R), we visited all the pertinent locations and Austen’s four residences in just one class period. We entered the Assembly Rooms to view the magnificent chandeliers and acted out the scene where Anne Elliot steps forward to greet Wentworth in the Octagon Room! My knowledge of Austen and Bath and Aaron’s of academic technology made for a fine collaboration. “Placing Austen’s Persuasion,” the title of my forthcoming article, will soon be available to students and instructors.

WordPress provides an attractive, customizable alternative to Blackboard for faculty who want to design websites for their courses without having to work with HTML coding.  WordPress Blog Sites provide a visually and media rich environment for course information while individual or class blogs promote engagement with ideas and interaction among students.   Whether used as online journals, reader-response discussion forums, or exchange and critiquing of student papers, blogs encourage thoughtful responses from students, provide practice in written communication, and give voice to student who may be reluctant to participate in classroom discussion.