Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

1064

Date

2014

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Instr and Curr Leadership

Concentration

Reading

Committee Chair

Rebecca Anderson

Committee Member

E. Sutton Flynt

Committee Member

Laurie MacGillivray

Committee Member

Helen Perkins

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the digital-related writing practices of one classroom of fifth-grade boys in a private school who had embraced a 1:1 laptop model in every classroom for over 12 years. As a response to discussions concerning the role of writing and technology in education, especially as states across the United States had been preparing for computerized writing assessment through measures such as the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), this study asked what influenced the digital writing practices and products of students with experience in digital writing technologies. Additionally, as girls have outperformed boys on traditional literacy achievement measures, the study asked what influences in the digital writing environment impacted the boys' development of their identity as writers. The study found a multiplicity of influences on students' digital writing practices, products, and confidence in participating in the classroom; more specifically, the researcher concluded that peer interactions were a particularly salient finding across the data. Discussions were provided with a proposed model for social intergration in digital writing environments. Future recommendations to research were suggested to extend the limited scope of the research to a variety of contexts. In particular, future research was suggested to explore a variety of student-centered and teacher-centered approaches for understanding the role of social support in digital writing environments such as the influence of peer feedback for improving digital writing products in various educational contexts and the impact of teacher training for facilitating quality peer responses for improving digital writing.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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