Pedagogy and Professional Development

Using technology to integrate writing into the fashion and apparel merchandising curriculum

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Abstract

It has been found that incoming college freshman have inadequate writing skills that can lead students to experience anxiety when given formal writing assignments (Martinez, Kock, & Cass, 2011). Further, many careers in the textile and apparel industry require writing skills to prepare promotional materials and for technical communication. Therefore, to prepare fashion and apparel merchandising students for the future, purposeful informal writing assignments were added to four fashion classes throughout the semester. Since today's college students are comfortable with technology and prefer to learn in experiential and real-world settings, the writing assignments were technology based using Spiral, Poll Everywhere, Google Forms, and the learning management system Blackboard. For educators, these tools provided an efficient way to incorporate daily writing for formative assessment and to implement in-class activities and discussion. For students, using technology kept the classroom fun and engaging and encouraged participation in an updated learning environment.

How to Cite:

Spurgeon, E. & Abner, M., (2017) “Using technology to integrate writing into the fashion and apparel merchandising curriculum”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 74(1).