Page 101 - Composition in Convergence The Impact of New Media On

70 CHAPTER 3

critique. Therefore, options for assessing internetworked writing
assignments need to be in place to avoid potential problems.
These ownership issues have profound implications not only
for how writing instructors present material but for how they
discuss and assess the e-texts that students produce for a class.
Just who owns the words written in an e-text produced for a col-
lege writing course—the student or the writing instructor? One
reaction says, "Well, of course, the students do!" Staunchly pro-
assessment folks might counter with whether student ownership
of the text is a concern in assessment. It is a concern, particularly
in light of the growing legal support for the author's rights in
cyberspace. Yet, it is understandable how the pro-assessment re-
action stems from the ways in which composition studies have
traditionally defined assessment, as evaluating a student's writ-
ing an object of study as the culminating educational experience
and not as a genuine document.
This position must change in light of Composition's move toward
internetworked writing in the classroom. Textual ownership issues in
cyberspace are messy and complex. Adding the component of the uni-
versity and its equipment to the mix further muddies the ownership
discussion. Patel (1996) stated that if, for instance, students are using
campus networks to do their class web work or list postings, they are
exempted from claiming intellectual property privileges on their
work. The legal argument here is based on the point that students are
not employees of the college or university and so are not afforded the
same rights as faculty members who are expected to publish or de-
velop creative work (Patel, 1996). According to Patel's 1996 article in
the Indiana Law Journal, it is regularly thought that a student whose
work is developed under university auspices "should be viewed as part
of the educational experience because that work is typically conducted
in pursuit of degree certification requirements" (p. 503). Following
that interpretation, the pro-assessment position makes sense: Openly
assessing a student's work in an online class should be considered part
of the educational experience, particularly if the class is part of the de-
gree requirements for graduation. However, under general patent,
copyright, and contract law, students have greater intellectual prop-
erty rights than Patel (1996) suggested they do given their current
university status (Newell, 1986; Schlacter, 1997). This is especially
true if students complete their assignments using web hosting sites
like Geocities or Angeln're, public domain sites not affiliated with uni-