Has the Pervasive Use of Word Processing Helped Our Graduates Learn to Develop Complex Arguments?
Steve Ehrmann I like to seed ideas that might be good dissertation studies. Here’s one I’ve been mentioning for years. So far as I know, no one has done it yet. The following passage is taken from my 1995 Change article, “Asking the Right Questions: What Research Tells Us About Technology and Higher Learning.” “Back in 1987 Raymond J. Lewis and I were looking for faculty members who had at least two years of teaching in an environment where students had unfettered access to personal computing. “One place we visited was Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where the current seniors had four years of easy access to Macintosh computers. I talked to faculty members from eight departments, asking what they liked about teaching in this environment. “Surprisingly, there was one thing that all of them had noticed. As two of them put it, ‘I’m no longer embarrassed to ask the student to do it over again.’ Because computer- based documents and projects are mechanically easier to revise, their studen
Related Questions
- Does technical writing really develop skills beyond those that students would learn anyway through the traditional study of literature and literary interpretation?
- Want to learn word processing, spreadsheets, or slide show presentation software?
- Are there already word lists in Comprehencia for me to learn?
