Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
reading is the content, with students less likely to maintain sustained focus with
online material (Weigel &Gardner, 2009). One history teacher proposes that reading
in chunks online makes students less comfortable reading long texts. Another impor-
tant difference lies in the more dynamic, interactive and multimodal forms reading
online assumes. A student, for instance, can find a complete edition of Toqueville's
two-volume
Democracy in America
online, follow links embedded in the text to
related content sites, view a video on the topic, and then discuss what he discovered
with his friends.
With respect to pleasure reading, most youth are reading information online in
various formats. Rather than topics, explains a theater educator, students today pre-
fer multiple modalities and media. Another possibility for the decline, proposed by
a veteran English teacher, is that there are so many other activities for a student to
pursue in his free time.
With respect to academic reading, it may well be that students in the past were
not thrilled with their assignments, either, but felt obliged to complete the reading.
Students in the last 50 years, however, have had access to study guides such as the
Cliff Notes brand, which provides quick, abbreviated overviews of popular school
texts such as
Romeo and Juliet
,
Moby-Dick
,or
Beowulf
, as well as many contem-
porary titles. Today, an online search using any of the popular search engines will
not only provide the student with materials related to his/her topic but also pro-
vide ready-made copy that can be easily cut and pasted into a written homework
assignment.
Perhaps the biggest change in using a word processing program on the computer
is the ability to revise easily; as mentioned earlier, this innovation has liberated
the practice of paper writing from its ink-smeared drafts, scribbles, and illegi-
ble handwritten past. Interestingly, a history teacher says that students now want
to edit perpetually and have difficulty determining when a paper is sufficiently
complete.
6
Another unexpected ramification of computer-based writing, accord-
ing to several other educators we interviewed, is that students do not proof or
edit as much as before. Reasons for this range from students considering proof-
reading an “arduous task,” suffering from too many responsibilities to fulfill or
are lazy, or presenting papers which look “polished” thanks to clean computer
printouts.
With respect to students' paper content and organization, we heard mixed opin-
ions. One educator of almost 50 years claims that student writing done on a
computer is not as organized and coherent as those written by hand. A number of
NDM-related causes are directly attributable to demonstrable declines in the quality
of student writing. A few educators remark that they can tell when student work is
written while students are multitasking, particularly when interrupted while instant
6
Reasons for this desire to edit continually are unclear, though from the interview they appear to
stem in part from changing standards, (perceived) higher expectations, less risk-taking, and a focus
on grades.
