Adolescents spend nearly six hours a day online, with most of those hours focused on blogging. Whether they are writing on MySpace, Xanga, Bebo, LiveJournal, or some other site, these youngsters invest time and energy creating new or different social identities. Beyond the mainstream media hype about the dangers of adolescents and blogs, we find that these young people are developing 21st century literacies_especially in information and visual literacy. Using Blogs to Enhance Literacy examines this phenomenon and how it affects adolescents from offering easy avenues for bullying to bridging the digital divide. In this book, Diane Penrod addresses the social, developmental, and pedagogical issues surrounding the use of blogs and the implications that blogging has for current and future students.

Composition in Convergence: The Impact of New Media on Writing Assessment considers how technological forms--such as computers and online courses--transform the assessment of writing, in addition to text classroom activity. Much has been written on how technology has affected writing, but assessment has had little attention. In this book, author Diane Penrod examines how, on the one hand, computer technology and interactive material create a disruption of conventional literacy practices (reading, writing, interpreting, and critique), while, on the other hand, the influence of computers allows teachers to propose and develop new models for thinking and writing to engage students in real-world settings. This text is intended for scholars and educators in writing and composition, educational assessment, writing and technology, computers and composition, and electronic literacy. In addition, it is appropriate for graduate students planning to teach and assess electronic writing or teach in online environments.

Composition in Convergence: The Impact of New Media on Writing Assessment considers how technological forms--such as computers and online courses--transform the assessment of writing, in addition to text classroom activity. Much has been written on how technology has affected writing, but assessment has had little attention. In this book, author Diane Penrod examines how, on the one hand, computer technology and interactive material create a disruption of conventional literacy practices (reading, writing, interpreting, and critique), while, on the other hand, the influence of computers allows teachers to propose and develop new models for thinking and writing to engage students in real-world settings. This text is intended for scholars and educators in writing and composition, educational assessment, writing and technology, computers and composition, and electronic literacy. In addition, it is appropriate for graduate students planning to teach and assess electronic writing or teach in online environments.