In Troy Hicks book “Crafting Digital Writing, Composing Texts Across Media and Genres”(2013), digital writing is defined as “writing that is produced using various electronic media and shared online. (p. 4) 21st century students tend to use digital devices more as a method of gaming and entertainment rather than a tool for education. As educators Hicks (2013) states, “we need to ask ourselves how we can use technology to teach, not should we use technology”. (p. 2) Students still need to be taught the fundamentals of how to correctly write. Once these fundamentals are mastered, the presentation of the ideas and research can be transformed from paper and pencil to a digital platform. This is where the role of the media specialist can help assist the classroom teachers. As a media specialist, I have an opportunity to share with students multiple formats where they can share their ideas online.
Digital writing is still a process that requires careful planning and instruction. Students will still need to know how to craft their thoughts and put them into words. An advantage of digital writing is collaboration. According to Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, director of national programs and site development for the National Writing Project, “digital writing allows students to collaborate, and there is a variety of ways students can collaborate. They can create a text jointly, through shared documents or wikis, or they can take turns posting on a collective blog.” The idea of students working together to share/form their ideas in a digital format is something many educators will need to work on finding what works in the classroom and for the individual needs of students. The earlier a student learns to collaborate, the better prepared they will be for the work-world.
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According to Liana Heitin (2011), “digital writing is almost always meant to be written for an audience”. Most of the time, when a student is writing to express their own thoughts and ideas, it is written as a journal piece or for their own viewing. For students, sharing their ideas on the web can be viewed as something fun and exciting. The ease of accessing and creating a website, blog or wiki allows even the youngest elementary student a chance of becoming a digital writer. I still consider myself to be fairly young, even if I am kidding myself, but the idea of creating the blog for this class is something that is a little nerve wrecking. The idea of someone other than myself or an instructor reading and commenting on my ideas is a little bit daunting. When elementary students have the opportunity to craft their writing digitally in an effective way, the challenge of becoming a digital writer is relative easy. This will hopefully bridge the transition from student to career as they learn to use digital writing in their field of choice.
According to Hicks, digital writing is a “creative way for students to present their text” (p. 60). Students will still need to know how to write and compose their thought and ideas, however the use of digital writing allows the 21st century student an opportunity to use digital tools in ways other than for entertainment. As educators, we have a chance to make writing fun again.
Hicks, Troy (2013). Crafting digital writing: Composing texts across media and genres. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Heitin, Liana. (2011). Writing re-launched: Teaching with digital tools. Education Week: Teacher PD Sourcebook. Retrieved September 22, 2016. http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2011/04/04/02digital.h04.html
