Dornsife's presentation noted the swift pace of change in the field of compters and writing. Going beyond the term "early adoptors," Dornsife offered a new taxonomy for discussing instructors' relationships to change. Dornsife's terms, Traditional, Transitional, and Anticipatory, are grounded in the way the instructor views the relationship between technology and genre.
Traditional teachers see genres as transcending technology. So as time goes on, the forms of writing won't change, but computers may aid in the production of texts.
Transitional teachers are those who see computers as introducing hybrid forms of writing. For example, the traditional research essay may now include some multimedia aspects, such as sound or perhaps a brief webpage.
The Anticipatory teacher sees the computer as giving rise to new forms of writing, such as the webpage, independent of or prior to any print assignment.