Hypertext Technology and the Changing Face of Writing Pedagogy

Cassandra Shott

May 15, 2005

Final

ENG-110 Dr. Hall.

            Technology has become an integral part of today’s society. Children today are growing up online and the pen is quickly being replaced by the keyboard. To some this is a great tragedy, to others a new frontier. This is certainly an exciting time to enter into a pedagogical conversation. One of the technologies that I have found most interesting is hypertext. Hypertext is roughly defined as “the electronic linking of text that we often find on the Internet” (Patterson 74). Every time you log on to the Internet you view hypertext. While viewing websites and documents on the Internet, occasionally words will be in a different color. The viewer can click on these words and they will lead to a new page containing more information on that word, or some other topic relating to the document. As more and more classrooms have access to computers and the Internet, hypertext is becoming a part of children’s learning experience. My question is how does the use of hypertext technology in the classroom effect current writing pedagogy?

Significance

            We have come to a point in time where literacy is being redefined. It has only occurred twice before in our history. First when humans began to write their oral traditions down on clay or paper. Next when Gutenberg developed the printing press and books became available to the masses. Here we are now at a time when information is a keystroke away and stories need no longer proceed from start to finish. The significance of exploring this new literacy cannot be underestimated, for it is today’s teachers-in-training who will use this technology in the classroom.

This new electronic literacy is very widely defined. According to Keith Topping, “electronic literacy refers to literacy activities … which are delivered, supported, accessed, or assessed through computers or other electronic means rather then on paper” (4). With a definition this broad, one can see that a great many of our daily activities involve electronic literacy. Electronic literacy demands a different approach from the reader and writer. Hypertext is a facet of new technology that has the capability to radically alter writing pedagogy. This means that teachers will have to consider new ways of teaching which factor in hypermedia. Rather then the narrow definition of reading and writing as a linear process, hypertext allows children to play with text and learn to read and write in a non-sequential format.

It is very important to study this emerging area of pedagogy because we can no longer escape the influence of the Internet and the technology it brings. As children are exposed to near instantaneous information and dynamic texts online, the key will be to discover how we as teachers can use this new technology to our advantage. It is our purpose as educators to provide children with “an education which will develop their full potential as language users to a level of critical literacy” (Mayher 45). To fulfill this obligation, it is our duty to understand current technologies and give children the skills that they need to be successful adults in a technologically advanced world. 

Research

            I expected to find little on the subject of hypermedia in the classroom, but much to my surprise, educational journals were brimming with new studies and practical applications for hypermedia. The affects of hypertext use in the classroom have been very positive for the most part. It takes a very innovative teacher to utilize hypertext and make the experience worthwhile to the students. Nancy Patterson is an eighth grade teacher who utilizes hypertext in her writing classes. She found that hypertext “helps [students] move beyond their traditional concepts of textuality” (para. 2). This also means that as teachers we need to begin to move beyond our own traditional concepts. As children we are taught that a story has sequential parts; a beginning, middle and end. These parts always come in this order and they do not change depending on the reader of the text. Hypertext rejects this finite definition of text. In hypertext a reader chooses how the text should be read according to their interest. There is often an introductory page, but from there one can go in any number of directions and it “does not typically have a beginning, middle, and end” (“Hypertext” 77). The idea of reading and creating stories which do not follow a linear pattern is somewhat confusing to many people who have been taught that text has a strict structure. This nonlinear nature of hypertext makes for some very interesting variations on the traditional story book.

Patterson encourages children to think outside of the linear box. She introduces hypertext to her students through a series of assignments which also incorporate traditional eighth grade language arts content. Patterson has her students create various projects utilizing hypertext. These projects require students to view text differently and “wrestle with their existing definition of text” (“Weaving” para. 32). She discovered that students most had a problem with hypertext’s “lack of linearity” (“Weaving” para. 30). In her studies she also found that given enough exposure, nearly all students got past this and developed a “sense of power over the text” (“Weaving” para. 5), which I feel is important for successful writers. Hypertext is yet one more format for writing. It deserves a place next to poetry or narrative. I think that is gives students a new way to organize their thinking and communicate their feelings more effectively. We can only help students by giving them more options, and hypertext is one of these options.

            One of the major effects that hypertext use was found to have on student learning was in the realm of student engagement. Hypertext is by definition interactive and encourages students to become more involved than with traditional books. They are constantly choosing what to read next and clicking to get there. Nancy Patterson found that students “participate or transact with hypertext in a way that is generally not possible with print media” (“Hypertext” 75). From this new transaction many have found that children are very excited about using hypertext. Web publishing is another perk of using hypertext and Patterson found that her students “know their work will be published and they are very motivated to make their [work] worthy of public viewing” (“Weaving” para. 36). Web publishing gives children an authentic reason to write and this is often inspiring to students. Cameron Richards also suggests that new technologies including hypertext have a “potential to encourage a more active voice in students who may feel intimidated in face-to-face classroom situations” (66). This new voice for many students would be powerful in the classroom. Active and engaged students are what schools have been struggling to develop for decades.

        The significance of voice in writing cannot be overstated, especially when discussing children. At 23 years old I often go back and read things I wrote as a small child and wonder where along the line I lost my voice. Stephanie Harvey notes that “young children are particularly adept at writing in their own voice” (159). I know that as a child I was great at this too. I could write for hours and even going back to read it as an adult it makes me smile. The voice I had was carefree and charming, so where did it go and how did I let it slip? I personally believe that my voice was taken from me by teachers who felt that they knew better than I what I should sound like. They had a form for writing and were determined to make my voice fit within that form. I enjoy the freedom and difference of hypertext because it tramples its way across all of the essay formats of my youth. I have worked in Kindergarten for several years and never once met a child who told a story or thought in five paragraphs. On the other hand, I do hear from children every day who jump from section to section in their narratives, linking one idea to another through seemingly unrelated channels. They fuse a wide variety of experiences together and are constantly manipulating their own reality. Hypertext is much more conducive to this method of organizing thought and communication. By offering children a new format for communicating we are giving them a wider range of voice to choose from.

            Another affect that hypertext has had on learning is that it forces teachers to consider new ways of teaching composition. However, this does not mean that teachers need to learn a completely new set of skills. Many of the necessary skills are in use in classrooms today; they just need to be adapted for use in hypertext. Katherine Kellen discovered that “to read hypertext requires concentration; to write it requires mastery of organization” (123). These are both skills which are readily taught in the classroom today, hypertext has the promise of giving children an authentic way to hone these skills. Topping suggests that “the traditional emphasis on detailed knowledge and retention will be replaced by more emphasis on transferable skills in selecting, processing, transforming, evaluating, and add to information” (15). This is a very exciting statement in my opinion. It falls in line with what we are being taught in this class about the nature of learning.

            A big challenge for teachers will come in the form of teaching children to compose on screen. Rather then having children turn in ream after ream of paper, students may only hand in a disk. How will this affect the way that students obtain feedback? Russell conducted a study of hypertext in the classroom and found that “there was little evidence that students were concerned with changes to the normal practice of handing in written or printed materials… but teachers found this fundamental change…difficult to come to terms with” (sec. 3.3). Many teachers are rooted in their old habits and changing these will put them in disequilibrium. Some will adapt, and some may not. For new teachers and teacher candidates, hypertext could be a new and promising addition to the classroom. Another challenge to current pedagogy is in the nature of teaching the writing process. Carol Pope acknowledges that “seeing a student’s writing drafts in process will be harder because they will embed and internalize their own recursive writing process” (92). Whether this will have negative or positive impacts has yet to be seen. Students may need to learn a completely distinct process for working with hypertext.

In my experiences as a student, the more paper that you went through, the happier the teacher seemed to be. As I moved through school and became more and more used to using the computer, the more and more my revision took place as I went along. I redo paragraphs before I have finished a draft, sometimes adding things in the beginning while I am only halfway through. I do not even work beginning to end anymore, something that would be near impossible to do using paper and a pencil. It may be difficult for teachers to adjust to having their students make revisions on screen, but there are many great programs today that make this process much easier. Teacher’s can choose to leave their feedback electronically as well by using comment tags and highlighting options. We live in a day and age where it is possible to make classrooms almost paperless. I do not feel that this would compromise the writing process for students; it is more of a problem for teacher’s to deal with then anything. Many teachers did not grow up in the computer age with spell check at their beck and call. Change may be difficult, but it is inevitable, we can either fight it or make it work for all parties involved.

            The drawbacks of a hypertext pedagogy are twofold. Prior computer knowledge weighs heavily on the comfort of students using hypertext. Calcaterra, et. al. conducted a study on thinking styles and the use of hypertext. They found that “high levels of computer expertise were positively related to orientation ability and the preference toward the survey strategy,” both vital when using hypertext (454). Children who have not had much computer experience will be at a disadvantage. However, exposing children early and often to computers may negate this effect. I was exposed to computers starting at a very young age. My elementary school had a large computer lab and we were introduced to the programs in Kindergarten. My parents believed that computers were going to be very important to students and they invested in a computer when I was in the first grade. I always done my schoolwork on the computer and it feels completely natural. This emphasis on computer skills has served me well. I believe that it is very important to have teachers that are technologically aware so that they can help students to get the most out of their available resources.

The second drawback to hypertext is along gender lines. A study by Large, et. al. of sixth graders and their web browsing abilities found “that groups of boys are more active on the web than girls” (441). This activity means that boys may have more exposure to hypertext. This exposure leads to comfort with the media. A study among college students using hypertext found that men “fared better with hypertext assignments” while women “continually voic[ed] their belief that they were afraid of computers and their command of them [was] hopeless” (Harris, et.al. 54). This is an extension of the stereotype that women are not as good as men at math and science. Schools have been battling this for years and we must continue. Computers and the Internet are an important part of society and both girls and boys must meet the challenges they bring to reap the rewards they hold.

Possible Solutions

            There can be no doubt that hypertext technology affects children. It seems to me that whether this affect is positive or negative depends greatly upon how the technology is utilized in the classroom. A very important fact to me was that much of the resistance to new technology comes from the teachers rather then the students. I think that teachers and future teachers need to rise to the challenge that students are putting before us. Hypertext is a reality and a necessity of their world; we need to make sure that they are equipped with the skills they need to navigate these waters. Before we can teach the skills we need to develop them in ourselves. Taking a computer class or two never hurt anyone and it will help to make teachers more aware of the changing face of literacy. I believe that the solutions to the questions I have proposed in this essay lie in the classrooms of future teachers such as me. I envision classrooms that embrace technology with open arms, rather then teachers who do not take full advantage of the exciting new futures that technology may hold.

            I think the real solution, if any conclusion is to be made, lies in hypertext itself. Hypertext provides us with completely new methods of discourse, it is unlike any traditional format for writing. I believe that hypertext itself is a solution. There is so much talk about building a community of writers and encouraging dialogue. Hypertext facilitates dialogue because of its open format. With hypertext and web publishing even the youngest students can engage in a dialogue with people across the nation or around the world, they can share work with each other or even work cooperatively to create something. Douglas Eyman has studied the use of hypertext in this way and found that it “establishes a community built of and accepting of the multiple voices which constitute it” (“hetero.html” para. 1). This is a powerful motive for working toward a hypertext writing pedagogy. Working in hypertext promotes heteroglossia, which “validates the diversity of values and voices that are produced by the variety of individual students” (Eyman “bakhtin.html” para. 2). I feel that voice is imperative. Children need to learn how to work together and respect the voices of their classmates, hypertext facilitates this.

            It is nearly impossible to discuss hypertext without utilizing it in some way. Print based journals that include discussions of hypertext usually fall short of their mark. Hypertext based journals, such as KAIROS, paint a much more complete picture of the uses of hypertext and provide a more relevant environment for discussion. I feel that hypertext is both an end and a means. The only solution that I can provide after my research is that we must continue to explore the options that hypertext provides and continue to research its effects in the classroom. The field is still fresh and in need of interested researchers with ideas for utilizing new technologies. I plan on continuing my research in this area and trying out hypertext for myself. In my experience, the best way to learn about hypertext is to get a free website and try it for yourself.

Questions

            My research has opened many more doors for me. The idea of using hypertext in the classroom is newly emerging and the research itself is just starting to blossom. The one question which is in the forefront for me is that of how to provide access for students from low income families. Daniel Wagner speaks of a “digital divide” which is springing up in our nation (14). He has found that “Americans with less education – those who might benefit the most from the Internet’s education value – are falling further behind in digital access” (14). This is a big problem, especially for small and rural school districts, such as the one I work in. There are families in our town which do not have electricity or running water in their homes, how can we provide then with equal access to computers and Internet technology?

My second questions deals with further applications for hypertext technology in the classroom. All of the articles I came across utilized hypertext in annotating poetry or writing a biography. What about its applications for creative writing? I have seen what can be created with hypertext and it lends itself to creative writing. My best guess is that it would be up to the creative teacher to discover new applications. There are really good programs out there for young children, the best of which is Storyspace, in my opinion. It makes it easy for children to draw connections between the different pages of their hypertext and creates a working map for them. It is very interactive and simple to use with its graphic interface. After researching hypertext in the classroom, I decided to try it out myself to see how different it really is and how we can use it in our classrooms. This semester I was assigned a creative writing piece, which I am doing on my decision to become a teacher. My format is hypertext. So far the project is coming along quite well, I think that it would be great to use in a classroom. The organization of the piece is very close to any other essay I have written. The differences come as a second step, which is deciding which words or phrases are the most important in your piece. This is much more difficult than it sounds, but a great exercise for students in my opinion. It forces you to choose your words carefully for meaning and how they link to the rest of your piece. To me it is a juxtaposition of narrative and poetry. We are only at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the applications of hypertext in the writing classroom.

Self Analysis

            Over the course of this assignment, I saw many connections between my process and the process that Stephanie Harvey describes in Non Fiction Matters. I began my process with a very general idea of what I was interested in. I was not really passionate for any particular topic at the start of my inquiry. I had come across several articles on using technology in the classroom and it was interesting to me. I branched out from here, finding more resources and getting a general idea of what research was out there. I was operating under Harvey’s idea that “the more information I collect, the greater my desire to find out about the idea” (32). In the course of my research I came across the discussion of hypertext. I have taken many computer classes and I really enjoy both reading and writing in hypertext. When I discovered that many teachers were beginning to use this in their classrooms, the idea ignited something inside of me.

 I realized that hypertext in the classroom would be a much narrower field of inquiry and that I may have more success in researching he topic if I narrowed it down to this. There was still plenty of research available in the field and plenty to discuss. Harvey points out that “the more kids know about a subject, the easier it is to pare it down to a manageable state” (41). This was definitely true for me during this project. I found that with my broad base in distance learning and the amount that I had researched on technology in the classroom I was more able to whittle my question down to the more manageable topic I have currently. The ask the question of how technology influences writing pedagogy would have led to a paper so long that it would be of little use. Focusing on hypertext allowed me to go more in depth and explore the subject fully rather then giving a broad overview.

Many of the articles that I found online discussing hypertext and technology in the classroom were either accounts of an actual teacher using it in their classroom, or a study of children in the classroom. This was important research for me and it meant a whole lot more than if I had read other people’s second hand accounts. Many of the articles had quotes directly from the children involved in the experiments and class projects. These first hand accounts and the opinions of the children had great resonance for me.

I found myself using all of Harvey’s comprehension strategies that she proposes for children. I think that these strategies help all learners, regardless of age. “Synthesizing information” (72) was the most helpful for me in this assignment. I pulled information for a great number of sources and I often had to sit back and give myself a chance to figure out how these sources fit together. My background knowledge also served me quite well while researching this question. I understand computers, computerized education, and hypertext. If I had not had prior knowledge of these topics the research sources I discovered would have been much more difficult to comprehend than they were.

Conclusion

            My research has led me to the conclusion that hypertext is here to stay. I realized that the real question is not will we use hypertext, but instead how will we use hypertext? My self analysis has helped me to discover that no matter how much schooling you have or how old you are, the process of inquiry remains the same.

Works Cited

Calcaterra, Andrea, et al. “Cognitive style, hypermedia navigation, and learning”.

Computers and Education. 44. 2005 : 441-57.

Douglas Eyman. “Hypertext And/As Collaboration in the Computer-Facilitated Writing

            Classroom.” KAIROS 1.2 (1996): N. pag. May 15, 2005        <http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/>.

Harris, Pamela, et al. “Confronting Hypertext: Exploring Divergent Responses to Digital

Coursework”. The Internet and Higher Education. 1.1. 1998 : 45-57.

Kellen, Katherine Nowak. “Expanding Our Reach: Writing HTML Commands to Create

Student Hypertext Writing Projects”. English Journal. January 2002 : 122-24.

Large, Andrew, et al. “Gender difference in collaborative Web searching behavior: an

elementary school study”. Information Processing and Management. 38. 2002 : 427-43.

Mayher, John S. Uncommon Sense. Portsmouth, NH : Boyton/Cook Publishers, Inc,

1990.

Patterson, Nancy. “Hypertext and the Changing Roles of Readers”. English Journal. Nov.

2000 : 74-80.

---. “Weaving Middle School Webs: Hypertext in the Language Arts Classroom”.         KAIROS 5.1 (2000): N. pag. February 2005 <http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/>.

Pope, C. & Golub, J. “Preparing Tomorrow’s English Language Arts Teacher’s Today:

Principles and Practices fro Infusing Technology”. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 1. 2000 : 89-97.

Richards, Cameron. “Hypermedia, Internet Communication, and the Challenge of

Redefining Literacy in the Electronic Age”. Language Learning and Technology.

4.2. 2000 : 59-77.

Russell, G. “Elements and Implications of a Hypertext Pedagogy”. Computers &

Education. 31. March 1998 : 185-93.

Topping, Keith J. “Electronic literacy in school and home: A look into the future”.

Reading Online. 1998 : 28 pages. N. pag.

Wagner, Daniel A. “Literacy, Technological Literacy, and the Digital Divide”.

TechKnowLogia. May/June 2000 : 14-16.

Dr. Hall’s Comments

Cassie,

 This is great.  I like getting each draft
                                    as a separate attachment.

 Some thoughts on
                                    developing your final draft for the Teaching Portfolio:

 Keep in mind that your goal is to examine a wide range of “voices” in the
                                    

“conversation”
                                    about your research question, and to sort out which views seem

 persuasive to you—and WHY.  Revisit
                                    your initial question:  is it one about 

which you’ve been able to find a broad assortment of relevant
                                    scholarly articles?

 Consider whether you need further information in order to present a thorough 

treatment of the issue you’ve researched.

Next, consider what your essay has ADDED NEW to the conversation:  what 

additional insights, comparisons, critiques, reflections can you offer?  

What related questions have arisen for you as a result of conducting this 

research, and, if you were to pursue this issue
                                    further, how might you go about 

learning more? 

Finally, examine your reading, writing, and research
                                    processes for this 

assignment:  In what ways does your inquiry process reflect—or not reflect—

the principles of nonfiction inquiry described
                                    in Harvey’s Nonfiction Matters.

Double-check your use of MLA-style documentation for accuracy.

 Proofread & edit with care.  Try reading
                                    a printed copy aloud.

 --M. Hall

Changes That I Made

            I proofread and polished the entire essay. I also added some more research that I have found, including the use of hypertext in collaboration and my personal reflections on hypertext as a solution to other issues. I feel that there is so much more research to be done in this field and that researchers are currently only standing on the tip of the iceberg.