Many students with learning disabilities (LD) and emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) struggle with the writing process. Technology has shown to be effective in supporting prewriting, drafting, revising, proofreading, and publishing of written products. This article explains the use of one technology-based graphic organizer with embedded…

Prompted by the federal No Child Left Behind law and state mandates for improved proficiency in writing and other skills, district leaders have intensified their focus on writing in elementary and middle schools. Many are integrating word-processing software and other technology tools into their curricula to strengthen the instructional and…

Discusses the collaboration of two first grade girls as they wrote three stories on a newly installed classroom computer. Finds that children bring a great deal of knowledge about the processes and conventions of writing and story construction into their composition. Notes that a single microcomputer can be put to valuable use without complicated…

Describes a sociology course in which the word processor was used as an aid for teaching writing. States that the personal computer could have its greatest pedagogical impact as a device to improve students writing. Concludes that word processors have been shown to be effective tools for encouraging students to write and improve required papers.…

Describes Project Write which uses a hierarchy of critical thinking skills in the formation of concepts and theories. Describes how students use computers to brainstorm, categorize, verify, sequence story details, and create a main idea and conclusion for their expository writing. (RS)

To improve the quality of instruction in composition classes at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, a project incorporating the use of word processors was instituted. The project began in the summer session of 1984 with a regular section of beginning English. Although some students experienced difficulty in learning to use the word processors,…

Asserts that the advantages of word processing for business writing classes are clear. Even though a teacher confronts giving up some lecture or discussion time, the hour spent in the lab frees students from tedious recopying, provides the teacher with professional-looking papers, and permits time for more writing assignments. (RAE)

Describes clientele who could benefit from software being developed at University of Iowa for writing effective prose; what these authoring tools do and how they work; and design standards likely to produce a successful product. The software's design scheme, general design principles and objectives, and educational potential are discussed. (MBR)

Describes a pilot program that used computers to help teach creative writing to children in New York's South Bronx. (CRH)

Suggests that writing is a rhythmic activity. Claims that the combined effect of rapidly switching between composing and revising is to set up complex cycles of engagement and reflection that may disrupt the flow of composition. Describes "Writer's Assistant," a writing environment designed to study computer support for writing processes. Proposes…

Organization and word processing software programs empower students with disabilities to become more independent in their writing. In this article, the authors describe techniques for incorporating organizational programs and word processing features into the writing process. Beneficial features include word prediction, voice output, spell…

This article describes features found in computer-supported writing applications, such as speech synthesis, word prediction, and grammar correction, which can support writers who have writing disabilities. The article suggests possible uses during various phases of the writing process, and provides a matrix identifying features contained in a…

Many academics continue to approach the multi-path and multi-voiced capacity of the Internet's networked nodal structure as if it were a book with pages and paragraphs and sentences that flow together in one direction to make a whole. A different approach to that of traditional writing, is required to make effective use of the distinctive…

An instructor of a composition and computers writing course (designed for economically and culturally disadvantaged students) at the State University of New York at Buffalo, developed electronic conferences which combine the capabilities of the computer with the conference approach. The instructor reads students' papers while sitting at the…

Generally, there are three kinds of software that could be used in college writing courses: word processing programs, interactive questionnaires, and text parsers. Although the benefits of these programs are well known, they still pose some problems. Word processors, for example, have been designed to "process" existing text; few have…