Students' views on technology and writing: The power of personal history

As scholars, writers, and teachers, I believe that we should try harder to understand students' perspectives on the use of computers in their academic work. This article begins to provide a sense of students' perspectives on questions of technology, thus presenting a fuller picture of the context within which we teach. Drawing on a variety of methods, including a survey and the writings of a small group of students enrolled in a Writing and Technology course, this article expresses some of these stories generally hidden from an instructor's perspective and reveals that, despite what the media might tell us, students are not as prepared to utilize technology as we might assume. Furthermore, the student narratives suggest that English departments and writing programs can play an important role in assisting students who are unfamiliar with computer technologies, helping them to gain the computer literacy they need to succeed at the university.