Chapter 6: Enabling Assessment over Time with Digital Writing Tools

I agree with Hicks that assessing students can be a difficult task when it comes to digital writing. He hit it dead on when explaining the differences between an effective writer and an ineffective writer. An effective writer, as Hicks states, is someone who pays attention to the audience their piece is directed towards. On the other hand, he describes an ineffective writer as someone who doesn't cater to the readers, taking all their work and organizing it the same way no matter what. Students need to be taught how to avoid the second writer mentioned, helping prepare them to release their work in a way that pulls the reader in and allows one to see the power and expression the writer wants the reader to feel. When teachers give their students assignments digitally, they have to make sure that they aren't giving them the exact structure in which they want the work to be completed. This allows students to learn how to access their creative mind. I believe that a problem many digital classes in school has is that they are too specific and ask students to complete things that become generic and don't allow individuality to bleed off the screen like it should be. I believe that there should be guidelines for assignments so students know what they are being assessed on, but they also need to be on their own a bit to decide who they are writing for (their audience) and, from their, decide on their OWN the best way to go about presenting it. My problem with a lot of assessments, even in college, is that teachers expect students to compose the same A level work between each student individually, ending up with 25 of the same projects. But, what is this teaching?

--Kaitlyn