Digital Writing – Introduction
We use the term digital writing to describe all those ways that are used to produce words and symbols onscreen, including text-messaging, emailing, instant-messaging and blogging as well as the production of texts through word processing, publishing or presentational packages. As with other aspects of ICT, levels of familiarity and confidence with different types of digital writing vary widely amongst our trainee students. Most are very familiar with the role of particular forms of digital writing, for example word processing and presentational packages, in formal educational settings and for many, digital writing provides essential means for communication in day-to-day life (for example: text-messaging). However, this situation is changing. Already, digital writing is heavily used by young people of all ages in their lives outside the classroom and children in nurseries demonstrate familiarity with such forms of communication as essential features of their everyday lives (see Marsh (2003) & Merchant (2005) for commentary on this).
As teacher educators it is therefore essential that we ensure that all our students appreciate the implications of such changes and are able to integrate digital writing in meaningful ways within the teaching of English and across the curriculum.Digital writing involves changes in approaches to producing texts and in the texts produced. As Kress (1998) has emphasized, for some time the facility to incorporate images and change the style and presentation of print has brought about changes in the ways in which texts convey meaning. Digital writing extends the modes of communication, enabling the writer to incorporate sounds, animation, links to other texts etc. In developing students’ use of digital writing in their teaching, we feel it is important to draw attention to its potential to provide exciting and challenging possibilities for meaning making and creativity
ICT also offers exciting opportunities, audiences and purposes for communication beyond the classroom. However, through school placement, students gain varied impressions of the purpose and status of digital writing. In some settings, they see the production of a wide variety of forms of digital texts as an essential and motivating aspect of the curriculum. In other situations they may see digital writing used simply as a tool for the presentation of hand drafted pieces of work. In developing students’ use of digital writing in their teaching, we feel it is important to emphasise its value across the curriculum in extending the range of purposes and audiences and thus providing motivating opportunities for writing.
Many students are uncertain about the relevance of some forms of digital communication to classroom teaching of English, for example email, online chat, texting and blogging. Experience of media coverage and negative attitudes in schools bring about concerns relating to the responsibilities of teachers to uphold traditional use of grammar, spelling etc. As teacher educators, we feel that it is important that we challenge such attitudes and encourage students to appreciate the opportunity to explore variety in the nature of written texts as a means to raising children’s awareness of the significance of audience and purpose on choice of language in any context. We also aim to encourage students to recognize the potential for innovation offered by such media (for more on this see Werry, 1996; Merchant 2001; Crystal 2001) and to recognize this as a current reflection of the ever changing nature of nature of language. In our work with students we therefore aim to develop awareness of the following:
- the changing nature of writing – a recognition of differences between paper and screen based texts and their production
- the potential of digital writing to motivate and support children’s writing
 
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