Page 178 - Composition in Convergence The Impact of the New Media on Writing Assessment

ACCESS BEFORE ASSESSMENT 145

sive shift in the culture of higher education. Selfe's learning environ-
ment (1999) asks all of us in Composition to reimagine the teaching
of writing, the assessment process, and the place of both in the uni-
versity structure given the philosophical climate of fast capitalism
found at most institution. However, this transformation must
extend beyond the writing program.
Although it is important for agents of cultural change to come
first from writing programs if the field of Composition Studies is to
defend student access to both writing instruction and accurate as-
sessment procedures that include real writing using computer tech-
nology in the university hierarchy, these individuals cannot respond
to the problems in the usual ways. This is a crucial point, because
computer technology has shown composition studies that the con-
texts in which we have "done" schooling in the past have changed.
The computer has modified the relationships writing instructors
have with their students and with texts. Likewise, the computer has
altered the philosophies professors develop about learning, teaching,
and the level of activity needed in evaluating writing. These are the
areas compositionists have to build on more carefully and more
forcefully to show others across campus, particularly administra-
tors and legislators, why college writing instruction is still
meaningful in a market-driven university structure.

TRANSFORMING ACCESS IN COMPOSITION

To transform access across Composition's culture, it is crucial to
move to alternative ways for seeking change. Writing faculties
need to ask themselves, What are the preexisting attitudes, perspec-
tives, beliefs, and understandings the field has regarding the notion
of access? This includes not just access regarding how students and
faculty can engage with technology, but access related to whose
voice is heard in the writing classroom, in evaluation settings, and
in decisions where computers are chosen and assessment plans are
made? Then, these same instructors must ask themselves the same
things in relation to their own institutions. How do these dual his-
tories affect instructors' and writing program administrators' in-
terpretations of what takes place (or should take place) in the
classroom? How will these answers influence the outcomes of the
students' and instructors' learning and teaching experiences in the
first-year sequence? Equally important is the question, What types