Page 53 - Composition in Convergence The Impact of New Media On

22 CHAPTER 1

smaller text pieces. Moreover, students who are unskilled or un-
comfortable with text manipulation (cut and paste) or mouse dex-
terity may also feel physically distant from the text, which can also
affect their writing (Haas, 1996). So, as Carol Sweedler Brown dis-
covered in 1991 with her work on typed versus handwritten as-
sessment essays, textual production looks much different to the
writer and the reader; compared with handwritten papers, com-
puter-processed texts are shorter and the graphic appearance of
computer text affects readers' decisions.
Consequently, in holistic assessment situations, whether con-
ducted under single essay or portfolio conditions, the student
writer must have an added dimension of knowledge in the writing
process when using a computer: He or she must have facility with
how computer technology works to present a clear, understandable
presentation as well as to construct a concise message. This knowl-
edge of how technology integrates with writing expands greatly
when students move away from word processing and toward mul-
timedia presentations like web sites, hypertexts, or MOOs. Even if
students compose something as simple as e-mail on the computer,
the writer's knowledge of technology and how it can affect the
writing process increases beyond simple word processing.
Leslie and Jett-Simpson (1997) suggested that topic knowledge is
important for student writers to demonstrate in an assessment. To a
degree this is also true in computer-based writing assignments.
However, what becomes more critical for students' topic knowledge
is how the writers can pace the flow of information for their audi-
ences as well as recognizing the ways in which students can create
messages of importance and interest for their audience. Additionally,
students demonstrating topic knowledge in networked writing
sometimes become mediated by the incorporation of an aesthetically
complex presentation of their work, such as producing multimedia
web sites or MOO structures. Often, though, writing in these newer
electronic environments depends on students drawing on collabora-
tive efforts to write a MOO or lines of HTML code. So, how writing
instructors define "topic knowledge" in assessment has to evolve
from an understanding of how collaboration enhances a writer's
grasping the topic as well as his or her performance. Thus, a shift in
writing assessment must happen because instructors have to move
from evaluating the finished product to evaluating what students do
along the way in completing a project.