Book review

In The Digital Writing Workshop, Troy Hicks introduces digital tools to the writing workshop pedagogy. The book begins by providing an overview of the workshop approach by revealing that many composionists have for the last thirty years welcomed the approach in teaching writing. But, based on authors’ experience as a teacher, his observations and conversations with fellow teachers, the workshop approach is ironically not present in many writing teachers’ repertoire. This subtle discrepancy between what is preached by practitioners in the field but not practiced in the classroom is what motivates Hicks to write his book. In justifying the need to connect the workshop approach with digital writing, Hicks says: “I intend to place digital writing tools in a context that those of us familiar with the writing workshop approach can understand and apply them to create better writers”(5). This book is a call to all writing instructors to re-imagine how teaching writing using the workshop format can be enhanced if digital writing tools like blogs, wikis, social networks, podcasts and digital stories were integrated in the teaching. In addition, because new literacies, emerging technologies and digital writing continue to complicate “the relationship between reader, writer and text”, this book becomes handy resource to guide teachers who wish to embrace digital writing workshop in their teaching.

In introducing digital writing workshop, Hicks begins by first acknowledging that a number of teachers in the field are actively embracing new technologies in their writing instruction. He however questions how meaningful the integration is in enhancing students’ learning experiences. What Hicks finds problematic is that, even as teachers continue to show a lot of enthusiasm in integrating new digital tools in their teaching, they unfortunately seem to be dragging the traditional mindset into the new literacies. Quoting scholars like Sara Kadjer, Hicks wonders whether doing something old with new technology helps in improving the reading and writing skills of our students. According to Hicks, what teachers are yet to understand is that, while new literacies and media rich environments are enabling in today’s digital age, they have critical implications for the writing workshop approach. Hicks appreciates existing literature in the field which explains how some of the digital tools work as well as provide different ways of engaging students in digital writing. However, according to Hicks, current literature does not provide a vision for what it means to teach in a digital writing workshop. The book is written to fill this void.

What is more appealing about Hicks methodology is that it does not propose drastic measures in integrating digital tools to the writing workshop. Instead, his approach is built on the core principles of writing workshop pedagogy which are centered on teaching the writer and not the writing. The principles, as indentified in the book, are: students choice about topic and genre, active revision with constant feedback between peer and teacher, use of author’s craft as basis for instruction, publication beyond the classroom, and broad visions of assessment that include both process and product. The chapters of the book are structured under these five principles where each is discussed in detail. Many teachers will find the last chapter most useful because Hicks provides step by step guide in form of questions on how the digital writing workshop can be implemented.

Chapter two of the book introduces some of the digital tools. A number of options on tools for gathering, tagging, saving and sharing a variety of information students find online are provided. Hicks recommends the use of Really Simple Syndication (RSS) because it is a tool that allows students to subscribe to web content so that all the information which is related to their research interest is gathered on their behalf. This is particularly useful because it helps students not to become overwhelmed by the massive information they encounter online. In addition, Hicks indentifies some social bookmarking tools like Diigo, Clipmarks and Delicious that are useful for tagging, saving and sharing the information. Hicks draws our attention to the need to use these tools to foster students’ choice and inquiry; a crucial component of the workshop approach. He thus posits, “choice, within reason, forms the foundation of a writing workshop; a firm belief that students can and will, with guidance, make appropriate choices as writers directs our thinking as teachers”( 15). The proposed tools are thus meant to help teachers guide students in making the best choices; to nurture them to become better writers. In chapter three, Hicks introduces other tools that teachers can use to confer with students. Such tools are wikis, blogs and collaborative word processors like google.docs. These tools can be used by students to collaborate with peers on projects, assist students in their revision as well give teachers an opportunity to offer formative evaluation during students’ writing process.

The approach Hicks takes in discussing the aforementioned tools adds strength to his book. He does not just “drop names” of the tools but shows the “what” “how” and “when” of the tools in a number of ways. One, he uses conversational tone in his writing. His language is concise, simple, and straightforward and this connects the reader to what he is telling them. This tone affords the book not to be just essayistic and but practical as well. Throughout the book he asks his readers to pause their reading for a moment, and practice using the tools. When he refers his readers to a particular tool or resource, he would for example say: “there are two websites that I suggest you visit before you read on, each of which will explain the concept at hand in a clear and practical manner…” (19). Besides, Hicks does not stop at proposing “what” tools— he explores the affordances and disffordances of each, giving teachers an opportunity to compare and make choices of which ones are likely to work in their localized circumstances. In addition, after recommending the exciting tools, he also draws teacher’s attention to the consequences of composing with each. For example, in chapter three he recommends that teachers complement their written feedback to students with audio feedback. Even while providing tools that can facilitate such a process, he cautions that “ an unscrupulous student could take your audio file and post publicly online or otherwise remix it and use it for nefarious purposes” (51). In “when” of the tools, he reminds teachers to consider material circumstances of institutions where they work and the institutional structures and policies that regulate the integration of technologies in their teaching.

In summary, many teachers wishing to integrate digital tools in teaching writing in K-12 classrooms and also at college level will need this book. The book will appeal to many because it is not only written from a personal experience but from a number of teachers experiences. Hicks shares what has worked in different classrooms and what has failed. The entire book is filled with screenshots of students’ works, sample assignments and projects descriptions, evaluation rubrics, and a detailed appendix with sample conceptual materials. The book has a companion website at digitalwritingworkshop.ning.com/ where teachers continue discussions about the digital tools at Hicks’ blog.

Like many digital writing books, the book’s proposed pedagogies faces the challenge of keeping up with emerging technologies and the rapidly changing digital landscape. However, at the moment, the book is needed because it challenges the proponents of process and workshop approaches to re-think how some of their pedagogical practices might still be subscribing to the product paradigm. In introducing digital tools to writing workshop pedagogy, Hicks provides a vision for where teaching of writing needs to be going.

Hicks, Troy. The Digital Writing Workshop. 1st ed. Heinemann, 2009. Print.