Workshop G: Recharting the Landscape of Writing Instruction: The Influence of Information Technology on our Goals and Curricula

Mike Palmquist, Colorado State University

Session Description: In 1983, Joyce Kinkead and Jan Ugan cautioned us about writing instructors’ growing enchantment with the possibilities afforded by new computers. “We should seriously consider our goals and objectives of writing instruction and then see how the computer can be used to attain some of these goals,” they wrote. “In other words, our curriculum should not change simply because of the new toy.” For decades, many of us have accepted this argument as a foundation for our approach to the use of technology in writing instruction. In this talk, I consider the value of this approach, in terms of both its strong role in grounding student writing within the rhetorical situations they face and its utility in avoiding instrumental approaches to the use of technology in instruction. I also examine its role, however, in limiting our understanding of rhetorical and in understanding the relationships between the media we use to share our ideas with and influence readers. I argue for a balanced approach that respects the goals of teachers and students while considering the material effects of writing technologies on the rhetorical situations in which we find ourselves.