Page 139 - Composition in Convergence The Impact of the New Media on Writing Assessment

106 CHAPTER 4

The planning of the TOPIC/ICON program reflects the deep as-
sessment model presented earlier in this chapter in several signifi-
cant ways. First, the program collects data from numerous
sources and places the information in databases or archives that
allow stakeholders easy access. Second, the databases and ar-
chives establish a strong audit trail for administrators and in-
structors. Third, the writing program administrator is able to
conduct member checks through the program administrator's
functions. Fourth, the TOPIC/ICON planners attempt to avoid
epoche through the establishment of working groups that read
student papers. Additionally, TOPIC/ICON values not only the
pedagogical needs of students in a computer-enhanced writing
class but also the instrumental and affective needs of both stu-
dents and instructors in the assessment process.
This last point is evidenced most clearly when one reviews the
criticisms posted to the public. From the students' perspective,
their concerns were similar to those in any first-year writing
class: papers too long for instructors to grade, classes that did not
seem rigorous enough, and instructors not prepared enough in
using the technology (www.english.ttu.edu:5555/manual). The
instructors' issues were the same as many humanities professors
who are teaching elsewhere. Technology dehumanizes the class
experience. Students seem ill-prepared to work with the TOPIC
system. Grading papers takes forever. If the reader did not realize
she was reading about a course that is a hybrid of computer and
F2F contexts, she would have thought the end-of-term comments
came from a completely classroom-centered situation with some
computer component attached. Therefore, it seems that in the
TOPIC/ICON system, merging these two technologies does not
drastically alter students' or instructors' perceptions of the work
load attached to first-year composition. What the comments do
suggest strongly, though, is that students and faculty need time
to familiarize themselves with any new technology if the system
is to be truly successful.
Like the OLR, the TOPIC/ICON approach is the next wave in
large-scale university writing assessment that does not rely on ei-
ther a one-shot electronically scored essay or an e-portfolio for deep
assessment. Both the OLR and TOPIC/ICON programs put forward
an exciting next step in the development of deep assessment strate-
gies that recognize shared responsibilities in the networked writing