With access to a computer, laser printer, and a desktop publishing program such as Adobe PageMaker, undergraduate students can now produce and distribute a magazine or newsletter with more ease than ever before.
Most students greet such class projects with real enthusiasm.
However, many writing instructors worry that they're neglecting the teaching of critical thinking and writing if they devote a significant portion of a course to the journalism-style production of a magazine or newspaper. In fact, we may not have to make that choice. The process of using technology to write and edit a publication enhances students' writing skills by requiring visual as well as verbal thinking. The Image Is Not Evil Traditionally, we have believed thought and language to be the same. Conversely, tradition has held that perception, or the visual realm, is a passive or primitive response to the physical world.