Page 172 - Composition in Convergence The Impact of the New Media on Writing Assessment

HOT AMD COOL TECHNOLOGIES 139

ETS, Vantage, WebCT, NiceNet, Blackboard, and others, and it be-
comes understandable why many faculty feel constrained in blend-
ing these two technologies in the networked classroom.
However, when enough familiarity with hot and cool technolo-
gies is built up within a program, a campus, or a cultural system like
Composition, then the law of suppressed radical potential no longer
applies and the changes brought about by convergence multi-
ply—quickly. Some may ask how long this familiarity-building pro-
cess takes. Unfortunately, this is a highly localized evolution. The
worst-case scenario for building bridges of familiarity in a culture
comes from Johann Gutenberg, whose printing press needed 150
years before it churned out what we recognize as being a book or a
periodical (Fidler, 1997, p. 16). That is five times the 30-year rule
outlined by Paul Saffo.
One hopes that most faculty members and administrators grasp
these ideas in a much shorter time than did Gutenberg's followers. In
3 years, I relearned that linking writing assessment technologies
with computer-based composition can lead to some very powerful
student learning about language and rhetoric. In 6 years, I learned
how to train my grading hand from overwriting student work. I am
hopeful that younger faculty members, especially those in graduate
school now, will emerge with well-trained grading hands and minds.
Based on what I discovered in Room 25 it is not unreasonable to
think that within the next 5 to 10 years in Composition, authentic
and deep writing assessment connected to computer-enhanced writ-
ing classes will be commonplace. As more writing instructors be-
come familiar with and comfortable with computer and assessment
technologies, and younger faculty members who have been steeped
in visual rhetoric and technorhetoric throughout their lives join de-
partments, perhaps the law of suppressed radical potential will dis-
appear. Then, instead of having two separate hot and cool
technologies, or one very lukewarm one, Composition's practitio-
ners will have a stronger understanding of how to blend these tech-
nologies in meaningful ways. In those days that lie ahead, today's
desire paths will become the well-worn, established avenues for
writing instruction.