“Contrasts: Teaching and Learning about Writing in Traditional and Computer Classrooms” by Mike Palmquist, Kate Kiefer, James Hartvigsen, and Barbara Goodlew

[[Mike Palmquist]]

The authors of this articles highlighted the difference between writing in a traditional classroom versus a computer classroom by looking at these specific areas: “teaching strategies and class preparation; teacher attitudes about teaching in the two classroom settings; interactions among students and between teachers and students; students attitudes about writing, and student writing performance” (252). The seven themes they identified with in their studies were as followed: “ curricular issues; teachers roles; interaction among classmates between students and teachers; the classroom context; transfer of activities from the computer to the traditional classrooms; the introductions and use of technology in the computer classroom, and; student attitudes and writing performance” (255). With these themes, teachers noted that students tended to write more in the computer classroom and has less anxiety about using technology, while in the traditional classroom the students resisted writing because they found that drafting and reviewing seemed unnecessary because they were going to have to type it up later. Traditional classrooms were more teacher focused, because the teachers felt they had to constantly be giving instruction and leading the class through lectures, group discussions, and more; whereas, the computer classrooms were more student focused and the teachers served more as a role of a supporter by putting the responsibility on their students for their own learning. The hardest part for the teachers was to try to put the things they found effective in one class in the other. There were many difference to the interaction between students and teachers inside and outside of class in both cases, but students seem to talk more to each other about writing in the computer classroom.