The Impact of Digital Tools on Student Writing

There are pros and cons to using digital tools in the writing process. According to a Pew Research Internet Project, some of the advantages are that they "encourage student creativity and personal expression" as well as "allow students to share their work with a wider and more varied audience." Some disadvantages that are cited are the "blurring [...] lines between formal and informal writing," and their propensity to "take shortcuts [... and] write too fast and be careless."

My anecdotal experience supports this research. The experience is both personal and professional. For a long time, I always wrote my first drafts out by hand. There is some evidence to suggest that writers may be more creative in writing by hand because it slows down the process, allowing the writer to think longer. Additionally, when using a word processor to compose, it may be easy to lose the "flow" of writing because of the distraction of editing while composing. This has both pros and cons. I sometimes get stopped on the computer because I am too focused on fixing errors while I write. On the other hand, it seems I am more able to work on errors at a mirco-level-- revising individual sentences much more heavily as I type than I might if I were just transcribing as I type.

The most successful method of writing that I use to address any step in the process (prewriting, drafting, or revising) is writing by hand. I find that I am forced to slow down the process and do more thinking when I am writing by hand than when I am composing on the computer. I can apply this method at any stage. For example, if I am blocked before beginning, I will free write or use another prewriting activity to develop my writing. If I get stuck during the writing phase--even when I have been composing on the computer--I will print out what I have so far and start making additions by hand. If I get all the way through the process on a computer, I always print out a copy to edit by hand. There seems to me a disconnect between the screen and my brain when it comes to proofreading. If I only proof on the screen, I always miss something.

One comment I frequently make to my students is that I believe that when we compose on the computer, what we are writing looks final, even when it is not. In other words, something typed appears to be polished even when it is not. I think that adds pressure to the writer to produce a perfect product the first time around. For that reason, I encourage my students to write their first drafts in a kind of stream-of-consciousness so that they can get their ideas out and then go back for revisions. That's the other reason I like to compose by hand. My draft looks like a draft. I know it's not perfect. When I see a student's handwritten draft without even a single word crossed out, I am always suspicious.

I know my students are almost completely composing on word processors and I think that writing teachers can capitalize on this by encouraging it, but also encouraging, even requiring, students to put some ideas down on paper before they begin to compose.