Anson: Writing in a Culture of Technology

It was interesting for me to compare Anson's article on implementing technology ino the classroom with the article I found by Webb, which discusses almost the exact same concept, except TWELVE YEARS LATER. The main difference is that Anson's article is mostly theoretical, things he believes will happen in the years to come based on our rapidly developing era of technology.

Maybe it's just me, but I've always been a little wary on becoming too dependent on technology. Anson's ideas of individualized learning, though seemingly ideal for a person attempting to foster his or her own writing style, somehow just doesn't appeal to me. Of course, after meeting face-to-face with other students and a professor in all of my writing classes, I go home and apply what I've learned to my own style and ideas, so the independent writing process is still in place (and I believe writing alone IS one of the most important aspects of learning about one's own thought process). However, losing that group discussion and interaction, the ability to comepare oneself with the works of other students and learn from their ideas (and even their mistakes), well, I just don't think we'd be doing ourselves any favors, and in the end, technology is really only about efficiency rather than improvement.

I can't remember if it was Anson or Webb who claimed this, but yes, I do agree that accessible technology makes people want to write more often, but that does not necessarily mean it makes us write better. In fact, thanks to Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites, our grammar has gone to shit, and we have trouble having thoughts that are any more than 160 characters. Call me old fashioned, but I think that, as valuable as technology is in terms of researching, convenience of emails, and having a template on which to organize one's thoughts, there is no replacement for face-to-face interaction. Technology should remain a back-up, not a substitute, for dicect contact, both student-to-student, and student-to-teacher.