Keyboarding (typing) is a ubiquitous skill for most UK students, and most coursework essays must be word processed. However, few examinations, other than for students with disabilities, permit the use of a word processor. It is not known how students would respond given a free choice between handwriting and word processing in an essay examination.…

Everyone knows that lack of internet access can reinforce the social and economic disadvantages already facing some older people. Recognising the divisive nature of digital exclusion, the government has invested 2.8 million British Pounds in Get Digital, a project that will enable sheltered housing residents to develop computer and internet…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of City & Guilds' development of simulation-based assessments for its ICT user qualification. These simulations are authentic scenario-based replicas of word processing and spreadsheet software, which present a series of tasks that the test-taker completes as if they were using…

Background: It is well established that handwriting fluency constrains writing quality by limiting resources for higher order processes such as planning and reviewing. According to the "simple view of writing" then slow keyboarding speed should hinder the quality of keyboarded essay compositions in the same way that slow handwriting…

The marks awarded to 130 second year undergraduate word processed essays were assessed in relation to their use of different typographic features. By and large most of these features had little effect on the essay grades. However, essays printed in 12-point type gained significantly higher marks (mean = 56.8) than essays printed in 10-point type…

Questionnaires were sent to professional authors to determine the impact of technological tools on their writing and on publishing. Although authors have embraced technology more enthusiastically than publishers, analyses of their responses indicate they are not advanced users. The changing nature of publication and pertinent legal and financial…

The aim of this field study was to assess the impact of word processors on teaching business and secretarial subjects in higher education, by determining the extent to which they are already used, and investigating the availability of equipment for teaching purposes. An additional aim was to learn the extent and methods of staff training. (Author)

Review of research on students' use of word processing for text generation and revision and its impact on text quality suggests that enthusiasm about its benefits may be misplaced. Enabling students to model structural features of sophisticated texts may help with complex writing tasks and change conceptions of writing. (SK)

Explores the educational applications and potential of using multilingual word-processing in primary schools and offers solutions to technical difficulties. It provides tips on software selection, training, and introducing the program to parents and pupils. (GR)

Projected interpretation could play a much larger part as a service at multilingual conferences and as a teaching strategy if the switch is made from overhead projectors to word processors with accompanying monitor. (LMO)

Notes that joint composition at the computer is common in United Kingdom primary schools. Finds that even children as young as seven years can jointly plan a story at the computer. Uses examples of pupils' discourse while composing to illustrate the processes by which they produced written text. (RS)

Studies with 8 children in the United Kingdom and 30 in Finland show that verbal interactions of children doing collaborative writing with a computer are highly task-related and characterized by exchange of information, questioning, judging, organizing, and composing. Exploratory and argumentational use of language was found to be low. (SLD)

Describes briefly recent applications of electronics to information processing and information transfer such as facsimile transmission, videodisc and videotape systems, teletext and videotext, word processing, online information retrieval, and document delivery systems. Discusses their relevance to the Universal Availability of Publications (UAP).…

Reviews the development of computing in the arts in the United Kingdom as a case study, and discusses some of the implications of the recent increase in the use of computers in the humanities in colleges and universities. (Author/MBR)

Examines ways primary-aged children in the United Kingdom and Finland socially construct writing while using computers. Finds children's talk to be highly task-related and to concern mostly composing, not ways in which to use the computer. Suggests that ways in which children interact and write while using computers are embedded in wider…