Because Digital Writing Matters : Improving Student Writing in Online and Multimedia Environments

The connectivity of the internet and the latest digital technologies have opened vast new opportunities, formats, and audiences for writing. Digital writing involves more than just word processing an essay or punching out an e-mail message; students can blog, text message, chat online, or create narratives for multi-media productions.

Based on case studies, interviews with educational professionals, and a decade's worth of research, Because Digital Writing Matters offers proven strategies to equip students with the communications skills that will enable them to thrive in our information-rich, high-speed, high-tech culture. The book also

Introduces the idea of digital writing as a mode of thinking, applicable to all grades and disciplines

Examines current trends, best practices, research, and issues in the teaching of digital writing

Offers practical solutions and models for planning, implementing, and assessing digital writing initiatives and writing programs

Because Digital Writing Matters reveals what teachers, administrators, and parents can do to meet the writing challenge in our nation's schools.

"Coming not a moment too soon, Because Digital Writing Matters is required reading for every educator and concerned citizen in our society." -Patricia Lambert Stock, professor emerita, Michigan State University, and visiting professor, The University of Maryland, College Park

"An important and useful book—a much-needed guide to the teaching of digital writing, with examples of teachers' exemplary practice." -Charles Moran, professor emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

The NATIONAL WRITING PROJECT (NWP), founded in 1974, is a nationwide network of educators, working together to improve the teaching of writing in the nation's schools and in other settings. The revised edition of their bestselling book, Because Writing Matters, is also available from Jossey-Bass. For more information on NWP, visit www.nwp.org.

How to effectively apply digital writing skills in the classroom, from the prestigious National Writing Project

A debate has arisen on how and whether digital writing should be taught and what skills should be expected of students.

Dànielle Nicole DeVoss is an associate professor and director of the Professional Writing Program at Michigan State University. Elyse Eidman-Aadahl directs National Programs and Site Development at the NWP at the University of California, Berkeley. Troy Hicks is an assistant professor of English at Central Michigan University, where he also directs the Chippewa River Writing Project.