Michael Day's Comments

See Michael Day's comments, posted by Kathy. Use collapse comments to negotiate comments.

Suggested Section

Computer Literacy

Multiple problems arise from constructing any set of prescribed first-year outcomes relating to technology. Two problems are foremost:

(1) Schools and students who have access to technology are more likely to have the prescribed knowledge or skills than students who have limited access to technology. By imposing a set of outcomes related to technology, we are making school harder for those who are lower in the socioeconomic spectrum of society and consequently have less access to technology.

(2) Teachers may be encouraging a non-critical approach to incorporating technology into writing classes.

Teachers need to avoid using technology for its own sake (and for the sake of those who sell it); on the other hand, students who have a critical awareness of technology and how to use it when writing are more employable than students who do not. Within those parameters, we propose the following set of outcomes:

By the end of first-year composition, students should have a critical understanding of digital literacy, including:

· using the computer for drafting, revising, responding, and editing.

· employing research strategies using electronic databases

· conducting web-based research and evaluating online sources

· understanding the difference in rhetorical strategies used in writing traditional and hyper-text prose/graphics.

[Comments from last year's WPA meeting will be in comments.]