Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify student ideas about the effect of computers on writing. Neural network analysis was employed to analyze 30 essays on this topic by community college students. The analysis showed co-occurring sets of words that could be classified into six idea clusters: evolutionary, futuristic, resource, cognitive process, teaching, and traditional. Each cluster suggests general ideas that pervade the essays; the resource cluster, for example, refers to spell checking, electronic dictionary use, and saving to diskette. The clusters of meaning confirm hypotheses that students simultaneously admire and fear the use of computers for writing.

Citation

Hubbard, D. & Walberg, H.J. (1997). Student views of computer-composition effects on writing. Computers and Composition, 14(1), 59-71. Elsevier Ltd. Retrieved January 24, 2021 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/83293/.

Keywords

• clusters
• cognitive process
• Community college
• Community Colleges
• Computer Assisted Instruction
• content analysis
• Evolutionary
• futuristic
• mechanical
• student attitudes
• student perceptions
• Two Year Colleges
• Writing Attitudes
• Writing Research