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Computers and the sharing of information that they offer
has penetrated almost every aspect of American life. Although most of us compose documents on word processors and databases, instructors
and professional writers often oppose technological innovations that rely heavily on computer interactions. However,
electronic illiteracy is one of the many idiosyncrasies that are no longer permissable in the humanities. Pulitzer
Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer, Richard Ford, palpably fears that; "underlying our anxiety about over-prizing
and undervaluing our present is that in this high-velocity atmosphere we'll suffer vital qualities of our character to become
obsolete: our capacity to deliberate, to be patient, to forgive, to remain, to observe, to empathize, to gauge cause and effect,
to ignore death in respect for life; in sum, to recognize good in all its complicated, unexpected forms. We fear we'll have
no use for these qualities in a world where fully functioning citizenship seems chiefly to require access to the Internet"(Richard
Ford: Our Moments Have All Been Seized).
As instructors we must be able to implement computers and
creative writing in the classroom because of the theoretical and practical advantages. Creative writing and computer interactions
allow students to free themselves from the anxieties and inhibitions about composing a literary composition. According
to Thom Conroy's, Writing Possibilities: E-Mail and the Creative Writing Classroom, "In the
face of the prevailing anxiety among instructors in the humanities, I want to suggest that the use of computers in the creative
writing classroom is not only unavoidable, but theoretically and practically beneficial to creative writing students and teachers
alike. As instructors of creative writing, we need to ask what can computers do for us that traditional classroom practice
cannot? How can what we already do be improved by the introduction of computers? Let me say that I am the first
to acknowledge that much of what we do in the creative writing classroom cannot be improved upon by computers without fundamentally
altering the definition of what we do. There are theoretical and practical advantages, however, to be gained when we
supplement traditional creative writing classroom activities with computers, particularly with e-mail and listservs" (Thom
Conroy: Writing Possibilities: E-Mail and the Creative Writing Classroom).
Creative writing and commputers in the classroom allows students
to temporarily ignore the rules that govern strict, conventional writing. Sarah Łuczaj proclaims that, "when
writing the first draft all conventions of punctation, spelling and grammar may be cheerfully ignored. Words can be chosen
on any basis at all. Traditionally writing is approached externally, from the form to the content (eg, "using the following
expressions/linking words......"). Whereas poetry is, of course, governed by its own logic, and maybe by strict external rules,
the original impulse must be internal, and if it is not preserved the poem will be a lifeless artefact of what could
have been better written in prose. It can be a revolutionary experience for a student to stop using the rational part of their
brain in order to produce written English, and start using the intuitive part" (Sarah Łuczaj: Creative Writing In
The Classroom).
The Heritage Analysis
This analysis considered the effect of computers in the classroom
on academic achievement by analyzing six factors: frequent in-class computer use by trained teachers, race and ethnicity,
parents' educational attainment, number of reading materials in the home, free or reduced-price lunch participation, and gender.
The effect of each factor can be isolated using
regression analysis. The Heritage model employs a jackknifed ordinary least squares model and examines the effects of each
factor on the NAEP 1998 reading test's nationwide sample of public school children in the fourth and eighth grades. (See picture
below, taken directly from Kirk A Johnson, Ph.D: Do Computers in the Classroom Boost Academic Achievement?)
Results of the Analysis
The six factors were entered into a statistical model that was then
applied to the NAEP's 1998 nationwide sample of public school children who took the reading test. Chart 1 and Chart 2 show the percent change in 4th and 8th grade reading scores attributable
to the factors in the model, compared with a base case. Here, the base case is defined as a child with the following characteristics:
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White;
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Female;
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Non-poor (that is, not participating in the free and reduced-price
lunch program);
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Parents who did not attend college;
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Has two out of the four possible reading materials in the home; and
- Did not have weekly computer instruction by a teacher who is at least
moderately well-prepared in using computers for reading education.
A white female child who is not poor, whose parents did not
attend college, who has two out of the four possible reading materials in the home, and who does not have weekly computer
instruction by a prepared teacher would score 233.3 points on the 1998 NAEP (out of a maximum of 500) in the 4th grade or
258.6 points in the 8th grade. If she were poor, black, or Hispanic, her score would drop, on average; if her home had more
than two reading materials, or if her parents had taken any college-level courses, her score would increase.
For both 4th and 8th grades, the variable for computer instruction
and teacher preparation is not statistically significant, meaning that the effect of the variable is not statistically different
from zero. These results mean that the variable for computer instruction shows no effect on the academic achievement of the
students.
Thus, the Heritage model predicts that students with at least weekly
computer instruction by well-prepared teachers do not perform any better on the NAEP reading test than do students who have
less or no computer instruction. These findings are consistent for both 4th and 8th graders. In fact, if the variable were
significant, it would indicate that those students who were frequently taught using computers would do slightly worse on the
NAEP than those who were not. Both Chart 1 and Chart 2 show that there is a negative percent change in the NAEP reading score
for the computer variable. Such a result might indicate that children are not learning critical higher-order thinking skills
that achievement exams like the NAEP aim to test. Further, these results are consistent with Wenglinsky's analysis of 1996
NAEP math data.
At the same time, variables such as race, income, home environment,
and parents' college attendance are all significant factors in explaining differences in reading test scores.
Both 4th and 8th grade girls score slightly higher than do boys on
the NAEP reading exam, a fact that bolsters recent evidence on gender differences in academic achievement. American Enterprise
Institute W. H. Brady Fellow Christina Hoff Sommers notes that girls on average "get better grades, are more engaged academically,
and are now the majority sex in higher education." The results here support the contention that schools are not shortchanging
girls.(Taken directly from Kirk A Johnson, Ph.D: Do Computers in the Classroom Boost Academic Achievement?)
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Conclusion
As this analysis shows, the use of computers in the classroom may
not play a significant role in explaining reading ability. Thus, dedicating large amounts of federal tax dollars to the purchase
of computer hardware, software, and teacher training could crowd out other worthwhile education expenditures on, for example,
new textbooks, music programs, vocational education, and the arts. This report does not suggest that there is no place for
computers in the classroom. It does, however, demonstrate that computers may not have the effect on academic achievement in
reading that some might expect, even when they are used by well-trained instructors. Nevertheless, we must take into consideration
that this study was taken back in 1998 and the demand for computers has significantly increased since then. Given computer
and creative writing resources, students earn invaluable cooperative and interactive skills that will improve their confidence;
and connsequently ensure them a thorough command of the English language.
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