Outcomes Statement Proposal: A Technology Plank
The following text is a sample of language that might be added to the
Outcomes Statement should it be decided that the statement needs a "technology
outcome." If you wish to discuss this issue further, consider joining the
Outcomes discussion list. To find instructions for joining that discussion
list, return to the "Home" page by using the link in the frame to the left.
Computer Literacy
We are fully aware of the problems that arise from constructing any set
of
outcomes relating to technology. Two problems are foremost:
(1) Schools and students who have access to technology are more
likely to have
the knowledge or skills referred to in the outcomes than students who
have
limited access to technology. By imposing a set of outcomes related
to
technology, we are making school harder for those who are lower in the
socioeconomic spectrum of society.
(2) We may be encouraging a non-critical approach to incorporating
technology
into writing classes.
We want teachers to avoid using technology for its own sake (and for
the sake of
those who sell it); on the other hand, we know that students who have
a critical
awareness of technology and how to use it when writing are more employable
than
students who do not. With those parameters, we have agreed on the
following set
of outcomes:
By the end of first-year composition, students should
- have a critical understanding of the developing relationship between
technology and writing
- be familiar with the fundamental strategies of writing, revising,
and editing with a word processor program
- be familiar with research strategies using electronic databases
- have some familiarity with web-based research and the developing
importance of this kind of research
- be acquainted with the different rhetorical strategies involved in
writing traditional and hyper-text prose.
|