Chapter Twenty can be assigned after Chapters Seventeen, Eighteen and Nineteen in a series on Web development, or, since the chapter is more theoretical, it can be assigned during the semester in a class about computers and writing.
Chapter Twenty is another of the more theoretical sections of the book. It does provide information about technologies such as Common Gateway Interfaces (CGIs) and JavaScript, but is not meant to instruct students in the operations of these features. Instead, the information can be used as a way of foregrounding possibilities that more advanced students may want to explore. You can also use the chapter in a class that is focusing on computers and writing issues, assigning the chapter as a way of promoting discussion of the directions of communications technologies.
Depending on your own comfort level with technology, you may want to pursue the information about CGI and JavaScript programming yourself. Both of these technologies offer tremendous potential for making the work you do with technology more interactive and flexible. They do, however, require a fair amount of investment in time and energy. You can refer to the resources at the Connections Web site to point you toward more concrete information about learning these technologies.
You'll also want to consider the relative importance of using "high end" technology within the context of a well-conceived pedagogy. Rather than assigning an exercise as a way of learning JavaScript, consider whether JavaScript will enhance the projects you are planning on creating. If you want your class to create pop-up windows for annotations to an important text, then learning and showing them the JavaScripts that facilitate the pop-up windows makes sense; otherwise, it will most likely alienate many students and waste time.
Finally, consider Chapter Twenty as an outline of possibilities that will be more fully developed by the time the book reaches your students. Investigate the technologies that we discuss in the chapter to see how instructors have implemented them in different classes. It may be that the collaboration functions currently under development for most Web browsers will significantly shift the teaching possibilities facilitated by the Web, or that developments in graphical MU*s are beginning to offer more opportunities for new kinds of teaching and learning. As with everything discussed in the book, take some time to stay current with the ways that other teachers are using the technology and borrow from or modify the existing methods to best suit your own pedagogical needs.