News | Online Education

Technology shaping writing practices in higher education

by admin on 2/13/2012 • Category: Online Education

The prevalence of digital technology has affected every aspect of higher education. From changing the way that faculty teaches to impacting how students learn, technology and modern media continue to transform traditional notions of education. One area that has perhaps seen the largest change is that of writing. According to an article published in The New York Times, the internet can, and should, change the way that college courses evaluate students' writing abilities.

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Matt Richtel wrote that term papers remain one of the most antiquated examples of how students are taught to write in higher education. Richtel says that more modern methods of evaluating a student's aptitude are just as valid as traditional approaches such as term papers. He cited the example of Cathy Davidson, a professor at Duke University who requires students in her class to write regular blogs about literature, in addition to essays, in order to teach writing in a more contemporary manner.

"Across the country, blog writing has become a basic requirement in everything from MBA to literature courses," Richtel wrote. "On its face, who could disagree with the transformation? Why not replace a staid writing exercise with a medium that gives the writer the immediacy of an audience, a feeling of relevancy, instant feedback from classmates or readers, and a practical connection to contemporary communications? Pointedly, why punish with a paper when a blog is, relatively, fun?"

Some educators argue that while blogs encourage creative thinking, freedom of expression and the formulation of opinions relating to current affairs, term papers remain a valid means of teaching students to think analytically. Mark Roberts, a former college educator and senior advisor and theologian in residence of Foundations for Laity Renewal, wrote in the blog Patheos that blogs and term papers can coexist in higher education.

Alan Jacobs, the Clyde S. Kilby Professor of English at Wheaton College, wrote in a recent edition of The Atlantic that faculty are as keen to move to more contemporary methods of evaluating student writing as freshmen are. Jacobs said that in his classes, blogs are featured more prominently than research papers due to the changing ways in which students learn, their relevance to modern media and the fact that term papers, although one way to accomplish the goal of assessing students' written ability, may not be the best approach.

Back to ED MAP News