Page 160 - Composition in Convergence The Impact of the New Media on Writing Assessment

HOT AND COOL TECHNOLOGIES 127

classroom that account for disparities in students' learning. The
CUNY assessment troubles in 1998 reflect this concern at the college
level, for example. The SUNY assessment program passed in 2004
also underscores legislative backlash in higher education. In these in-
stances where political clout is wielded to ensure that accountability
is met, the law of suppressing radical potential can be enacted to
withhold funding or faculty lines, to reallocate faculty, or to deny
tenure or promotion to faculty who do not conform to political in-
fluence linked to either technological form. We only have to look
closely at how No Child Left Behind is applied to school districts to
see the problems higher education faces should similar accountabil-
ity legislation be proposed for college level learning. "Failing" K-12
schools under the No Child Left Behind Act can be taken over by the
government or its agent, students can transfer to other local schools
if room exists in the nearby school, or schools can close. Listing these
bleak options is not designed as an appeal to fear as to what might
happen should state and federal legislation related to accountability
extend to higher education. My purpose in showing the effects of No
Child Left Behind at the K-12 level is to offer a cautionary tale as to
what happens when there is a significant shift in the status quo re-
garding technology and society. It is clearly important for university
writing instructors to have an awareness of No Child Left Behind and
its effects, because our students are coming out of schools that must
follow the letter of the Act.

Current General Social Forces

Increasing popularity or public opinion supporting technological
transformation produces a social climate where changes are wel-
comed. However, if change disrupts the status quo — and generally, a
significant technological change is disruptive — then fiscal con-
straints, political enthusiasm, and social skepticism arise. This is eas-
ily observed in the popular media. Stories abound in the daily papers
and television reports regarding how computers enhance student
learning and how industry needs workers trained in computer use.
Even the online magazine Salon (1999) has displayed an interest in
the computer essay grading process, as did the defunct aca-
demic-based monthly, Lingua Franca (1999). Simultaneously, na-
tionally syndicated columnists and local or wire reporters disparage
the Internet and computer use (as in the "too much online computer