Author(s): Carmichael, Stephen, Peg Alden
Published: 2006 in Composition Studies
URL to article
Research Focus Area: Asset-based best practices for serving Black and Latinx teens
Abstract:
The responses that instructors write on student essays are a subject of much discussion in academic circles. The varied purposes for writing such comments, their short- and long-term efficacy. their tone and length, and their emotional impact on students as developing writers are all worthy and well-explored topics of inquiry, as a review of the relevant literature quickly demonstrates. Much less attention has been given to more concrete, yet equally important questions: How can an instructor’s written comments, whatever their nature, be most effectively communicated to students? How can we best expedite students” efforts to act on our suggestions for revision? And what methods for exchanging and managing documents best enable students and teachers to locate and work with the drafts that provide the forum for this discourse?
Research Question(s):
What are the distinct advantages of the easily mastered and widely available technologies of electronic commenting and electronic exchange of documents for students with Learning Disabilities and/or AD/HD?
Methods:
qualitative analysis
Setting:
students at Landmark College, all of whom have diagnoses of language- and/or attention-based disabilities
Key Findings:
The study identifies two advantageous processes for electronic commenting and electronic exchange of documents that have yet to be explored for students with Learning Disabilities or ADHD and their instructors. Process 1: Using the Reviewing Toolbar to Mark Student Work
- Microsoft Word’s Reviewing toolbar provides all of the features necessary to digitally represent what we used to do when marking papers by hand
- The authors consider the “Balloons” feature the best for commenting on students’ work. This option places the instructor’s comments in sequenced “balloons” in the right margin, a format easily recognized by anyone who is used to working with traditional handwritten comments
- Another useful markup feature in the Reviewing toolbar is the “Highlight” tool, which allows the user to select from a palette of fifteen colors for marking (without comment) words or passages in the student’s text or in the commenting balloons.
- This can be employed in useful ways. One might, for example, mark all instances of a particular error (run-on sentences, misspellings) in one color, adding a comment to the first instance with instructions to correct the rest.
- This process is advantageous to students with learning disabilities like dyslexia because it eliminates the challenge of attempting to decipher instructor handwriting squeezed in page margins. It is advantageous even for high-decoding ADD students because it eliminates the effort of decoding entirely, allowing more resources of concentration to be focused on resolving the problems the teacher attempted to convey.
- Electronic comments have the added advantage of being able to be read aloud by the computer, making them compatible with text-to-speech technologies used by increasing numbers of students with learning disabilities and ADD.
- Electronic comments can greatly streamline the student’s revision process, freeing up cognitive working space that would otherwise be devoted to nonessential tracking tasks imposed by the need to shuttle their visual and mental foci between the marked hard-copy draft and their computer screens.
- For instructors, the fluid nature of electronic comments allows the instructor to express ideas fully and explicitly, without the fear of running out of margin space.
- Electronic commenting processes save time for fast typists; those less dexterous have the option of using voice recognition software to dictate their remarks to the computer.
- Another notable advantage of comment balloons is the ability to post live links directly into assignments. Process 2: Electronic Exchanging of Work
- Electronic exchanging of work can take place via a shared folder approach, or by email, both of which are simple enough for students to learn to do easily if they do not know how already.
- Electronic exchanging of work can simplify document and file management in significant ways that benefit both students— particularly those with AD/HD —and their instructors.
- A fully electronic process eliminates the problem of lost papers.
- Electronic exchange of documents is the primary mode by which documents are exchanged for collaborative work in the larger world, so it is advantageous to bring the same processes into the classroom.
- It must be noted that the tendency toward disorganization can apply as much to students’ electronic desktops as it does to their literal desktops, which means that file management skills should be taught explicitly and then evaluated on a regular basis.
- Electronically-marked text presents more options for retrieval when students work away from their rooms, which is advantageous to the impulsive tendencies of students with AD/HD.
- Electronic exchange of documents makes it easier for instructors to compare a current set of revisions with a past one, making it particularly useful for assessing the thoroughness of revision of a student’s work.
- An electronic process can also simplify collecting and returning student work, eliminating the usual mishaps of printer troubles and student absences.
Implications:
Computers have inalterably changed the writing process. Teachers should make good use of these digital modes - specifically the processes of electronic commenting and electronic exchange of documents – to help students become more efficient and effective writers.
Limitations:
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