Final Paper

Writing Through College: Composing Writing in the Life of a College Student



Where to begin?

As time goes by technology is becoming more and more prevalent in our everyday lives. We are incorporating this technology into things such as having tickets on our phones as opposed to the paper printouts, or being able to send emails directly from our phones. Why not incorporate this wave of technology use into our world of academics? Rebecca M Sullivan shows just how the use of the technology in a classroom can benefit a student's writing. The technology that she focuses on is the iPad. Because in my own college experiences I have had my iPad there to use as a tool for my writing process, I was curious to see how Sullivan's article would apply. How does my own experience compare to the experience of students in a classroom? Well, I have found similarities and differences along the way but it seems that I experience some of the same benefits along with the distractions that occur with the students in the secondary learning level classroom.

What did Sullivan have to say?

The most important thing that I noticed about Rebecca M Sullivan's article, The Tablet Inscribed: Inclusive Writing Instruction with the iPad, is that this article was written very recently; it was published in January of 2013. The iPad is a very new technology and the recency of the article is something that shows the iPad is introducing a new form of writing in a more modern classroom. Rebecca M Sullivan shows the integration of technology of the iPad into the secondary learning level classroom in order to compose writing with the tablet technology. Sullivan mentions that there have been debates as to whether or not technology was a good thing to integrate into the classroom setting because of the distractions that it may bring to the learning process. In the classes where the iPad has already been integrated they have added and deleted different applications that would be helpful to the class and a distraction to the class respectively. For example, the Music, Calendar and App Store applications were removed from the iPads because these were felt to be intended for the single-user as opposed to the sharing use in a secondary level classroom. As an instructor herself, Sullivan faces the potential problem of distraction by providing covers for the iPads and gives a clear instruction during her classes when the cover on the iPad is to be closed in order to provide her, the instructor, with the students' full attention.

When the students are working they are writing more efficiently and at a higher level of quality work when they are composing their work on an iPad. The students are able to track their writing process more easily on the iPad that they use on a more frequent basis in their class. Also, the use of discussion is a major part in the writing process and the use of the iPad allows for an easier connection with others to initiate this discussion. Things that initiate this discussion that is used in the study is a Google Doc. The entire class can now view, edit and give feedback to a paper that is posted. The iPad also allows for an easy connection to online databases and a variety of other resources that are literally in the hands of the students while they are writing. The ease of accessibility is what leads to the better quality of paper.

The student's writing in a classroom setting is improved by the use of an iPad. It was my goal to see if any of the occurrences that happened in the study that Sullivan refers to would take place in my own experiences.

How does this college student work?

I have been keeping track of the my use of the iPad over the course of nine weeks and I have seen just what I have used it for. My iPad is something that I use for all of my school work. I compose each of my papers, no matter the length, on my iPad. I order to type up my paper I have a Documents application which is available in the apple App Store as a free application. The touch screen is convenient for me and when I type I hold the iPad horizontally so the the keyboard is wide enough for my hands to touch the 'keys' with ease. When I compose my writing I typically am not at a desk, I carry my iPad around with me in my bag wherever I go. I will sit in my room on the floor or in my bed in order to write a paper if I am at home or I will compose papers in my car between classes. In all of the places that I use my iPad for academic writing there is no music or any other outside source of any kind around to serve as a distraction, no food or drinks, nothing. Typically when I am in my car on campus I do not have access to an Internet connection which allows me to focus on my work as opposed to navigating away from my paper. When I am at home I will even turn off my wifi connection to my iPad in order to avoid outside distractions. I have seen that I typically navigate away from my paper when I am using a source that is on the Internet. I will go between the two applications of Documents, where I compose my paper, and Safari, the Internet server that is on the iPad. When the Safari is open and running I have a tendency to travel to other websites and lose focus on my paper.

Although I may lose focus on what I am doing within the different applications, when I use the iPad I focus on it solely. This undivided focus is a benefit to my writing because it allows me to focus on the topic of my paper and allows me to produce a better quality of work. When I only keep the applications open that pertain to the work that I am doing it makes it a lot easier for me to focus. In the course of taking notes on myself, I also noted that I have taken a screen shot, or a picture of any image that is on the iPad screen that gets saved to the photo application, of the Internet windows that I am using so that I can use them at a later time. These screen shots allow me to access the information from a website without needing access to the Internet. This helps with my wondering when I am doing a paper. When I am not connected to the Internet it also allows me to better my focus because I am not receiving any text messages to my iPad that would tempt me to answer them. In my notes I found that I answer text messages quite often when they come to my iPad. Answering the text message pulls my focus away from the paper that I am writing and extends the amount of time that it takes me to complete an assignment, when I am working with a deadline this is not always the best thing.

From the data that I have collected on my own personal iPad habits and took notes on, I can see how Rebecca M Sullivan relates iPads to composing writing. Obviously the study is different because she focuses on the use of the iPad in a classroom and the classroom alone, while I travel with my iPad and use it in a variety of settings. Something else that plays a role in the differences is that the iPads that are used in the secondary learning classroom that Sullivan refers to have also been programmed specifically for a class; all of the distractions that I deal with on my iPad have been removed from the iPads that these students used. However, the benefits of using the iPad are something that I share with the students in Sullivan's classroom. I am able to connect with the Internet and databases for sources all from one device and I am able to connect with other people in order to gain more ideas in my writing, even though I admit that sometimes I sway off topic and get distracted. Overall, what I have seen is very similar to Sullivan's article although it talks about iPad use on a larger scale than just one person the uses are similar and the benefits correlate.

Wrapping it up
Overall I would say that the use of an iPad is something that academics should really be researching for the classrooms of not only the future but of the present. Children are being ale to use these great forms of technology to expand their writing abilities. Sullivan shows that the use of iPads in the classroom is a positive addition on a secondary education level. Through my own collection of data I would say that Sullivan's conclusions are accurate. Composing writing through technology of an iPad is something that benefits the student. As a college student without a lot of time to sit at a desk the convenience of the iPad is incredible. I think that I have shown that the use of technology should be incorporated into the academic lives of all students and that through this technology children's writing abilities and quality will only improve.