While 21st century students experience an unprecedented level of connectedness through
media, social networking, and accessible information, we as educators tend to alienate that student from their digital worldhood, requiring them to disconnect from that which captures their attention and instead to read, write, and research alone. This presentation explores how writing can be made more meaningful if and only if there is a real audience to connect the writer’s word to purpose. Even shy students want to be heard, and technology combined with strategic, student-centered pedagogy serves to make that possible in ways that are not only meaningful but fun. This presentations explores how platforms like Google docs, blogger, and online discussion forums can make writing more purposeful by connecting student voice to audiences beyond the confines of classrooms and campuses.
