From generations to generations writing has evolved out as a fundamental tool for communication (Krystyn et al., 2013). It has been used by people to express out their feelings, what they believe, what the resultant effect of a certain phenomenon is and what should be done in response to the phenomena. Over the course of history, the way people write has changed significantly, but regardless of this, the goal has not. The goal of writing thus can be summed up to convey information to other individuals. This papers will explore both the positive and negative impact of digital media on student’s writing (Krystyn et al., 2013).
Digital media has had a number of positive effects on students’ communication through writing. This form of media provides a lot of platforms where students can now easily look for more resources that the traditional methods did not avail (Krystyn et al., 2013). This entails the situation where when a student has an assignment, his approach would be to visit the library and spend a considerable amount of time looking for resources. These resources entailed journals and books. Although the process proved to be significant since the student could be exposed to a considerable handful information, it was not ideal since the student suffers from the boring approach of flipping through huge volumes of papers one after the other and often scheming through the pages looking for information. Digital media eliminates this difficulty faster and more easily as it provides the space where can access a range of information that can help improve their content overall improving their writing.
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On a different scale, digital media provides an avenue for increasing students’ awareness of mistakes (OECD, 2010). Using the traditional means to deliver quality work is a challenge as errors would always appear even when the person delivering the work would put all efforts to ensure that their work was up to standards. With digital media, the paranoia that always precedes the need for delivering quality is a blessing somehow. This is because there is room for correcting the errors via the range of tools provided by computers that help ensures that students deliver quality work. When writing, for example in Microsoft word, in case there are spelling errors, punctuations or wrong use of phrases, the wrong part is always underlined in red or blue. This then signals to the student that there is an error in his writing hence need for reviewing. Thus, the student can head to the document right click and make the necessary changes. The need to deliver quality work from content written by students is not limited to Microsoft Word but other software, for example, Grammarly or turn-it-in (OECD, 2010).
Digital tools are far much beneficial to students writing in that they can deliver fast work (Teena & Wood, 2008). Before the advent of technology, students work entailed a tedious research process where students would be required to carry out research. These involved going to the library, doing field interviews, consulting personalities and professionals regarding a certain topic or issue at hand. But with the arrival of technology, students need to log on to their computers, search on a specific topic, find out what is involved and if not they can leave out that topic and find another topic that will be helpful to their research. This is a positive trend as students can have access to a pool of resources at a grasp hence fast delivery of their work (Teena & Wood, 2008).
Digital media provides the student with a platform that they can help improve their writing skills. For example, there are social media sites where students interact with one another and communicate on an interval basis. On these sites, students are able to compare themselves to other competent academic writers. If one writer is sloppy, then it does not mean that he or she should be sloppy too. In such a circumstance, the student can develop their writing skills through identifying the opportunity and turning it into gold through writing well. Through the conversation that goes on frequently on a digital platform, it provides an opportunity for them to differentiate themselves from other writers. According to Krystyn et al., social media sites creates a conducive environment for progressive partial production (2013). Students can create for example blogs where they can articulate their issues day by day overall improving their writing skills.
Through the digital media, students are reminded that change is constant. Thus, they should take advantage of this opportunity to improve their writing skills. Although most teachers site that technology is shifting the way students write their work due to the influence of social media platforms, for example, twitter, where the required minimum character is 140. This is not the case as digital media reflects concerns from the past. Just as the Socrates were concerned about the invention of writing that it would make people forgetful, people are now worried that digital media will affect the way student write (OECD, 2010). In such a case, the evolution of words and the new meaning developed has helped to enhance how students express themselves fluently in varying contexts and this helps them deliver quality writing.
Besides the countless benefits digital media has brought about as far as students’ writing is concerned, there is the negative impact of digital media on students’ writing. With the growth of the global economy, competition in almost every field is on the rise. Students are finding new ways to ensure that they stay relevant and not to be phased out by competition. However, we ca not turn a blind eye to the fact that there has been a decline in students writing skills. This is evident in how students now lack originality. Digital media provide a map where a student can find a quick solution to their academic research problems (Pytach, 2013). For example, when they are given assignments most of the students will often consult the internet where they will find a lot of data regarding their topic. For lazy students who cannot even conceptualize what is required, they will immediately take what they have seen on the internet and immediately type what is required. As such, these students will not have the arena where they can identify the missing links and tap on their potential skills when it comes to writing (Pytach, 2013).
Additionally, It is not all rosy in the use of digital media in writing. This is because students mix up formal and informal writing in the assignments. Teachers and tutors are a concerned lot on how writing today is not to the required academic standards. Social media sites, for example, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter do not restrict its users to the use of formal language. Students are allowed to mix up their languages and even slang when they communicate. As a result, this phenomenon has been replicated to a situation where students now have transferred informal writing to their classroom or rather academic communication. Qualities of informal writing include contractions, vague language, lack of coherence, generalizations, incomplete sentences, grammatical errors, spelling errors and incomplete sentences (Bronowicki, 2014). Teachers site that students are now mixing informal language and style in academic writing. For example, they use short words such as “l8r” in a sentence to mean later.
Furthermore, digital media has affected students’ mental pro-activeness. Students writing skills are not challenged as students believe that technology helps them in grammatical and spelling errors (Hattie & Anderman, 2013). Although this is true as it has helped improve students’ ability to deliver quality work concerning their writing; this has also affected them when it comes to written language, especially in examinations. In addition to this, digital media has made it almost impossible for teachers to emphasize the importance of sophisticated professional and quality writing. This unfortunate distortion by the use of digital aids has disrupted how students learn and conceptualize writing their original academic work (Hattie & Anderman, 2013
According to Teena & Wood (2008), digital media affects students to the level that they find it a challenge when they are required to complete lengthy academic writing assignments. These types of assignments require patience and input of a considerable amount of thinking, conceptualization and time. Due to the nature of digital media in providing concise information, the student finds it a challenge when they are required to complete their more demanding assignment without the aid of digital media. With the digital age students, nearly everything is instant, when required to deliver work with long word structures, students find it a challenge to sit and focus. This nature is carried forward when they are required to proofread their work and end up delivering low standard work (Hattie & Anderman, 2013
In conclusion, digital media has had positive and negative impacts on students’ writing. In every manner that that digital media has contributed towards developing and improving students writing skills, it is hard to guarantee quality and required standards as far as students’ writing demands. Students need to be well aware of both of these benefits and demerits to help them make informed choices as they embrace digital media in their academic writing.
References
Bronowicki, K.A. (2014) Technology’s Adverse Effects on Students’ Writing: An Emphasis on Formal Writing is needed in an Academic Curriculum . Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1399&context=ehd_theses
Hattie, J. & Anderman, E.M. (2013) International Guide to Student Achievement . Routledge
Kristyn, P. et al. (2013) The Impact of Digital Tools on Student Writing and How Writing is Taught in Schools. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/07/16/the-impact- of-digital-tools-on-student-writing-and-how-writing-is-taught-in-schools/
OECD. (2010) Educational Research and innovation are the New Millennium Learners Making the Grade? Technology Use and Educational Performance in PISA 2006 . OECD Publishing
Pytash, K.E. (2013) Exploring Technology for Writing and Writing Instructions. IGI Global
Teena, W. & Wood, E. (2008) Children’s Learning in a Digital World . John Wiley & Sons
