Since its release in late 2022, ChatGPT and subsequent generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools have raised a wide variety of questions and concerns for the field of technical communication: How will these tools be incorporated into professional settings? How might we appropriately integrate these tools into our research and teaching? In…

Examines the effects of word processing on writing quality and the amount of text produced by basic writers. Finds that students using computers wrote more, but that there was no difference in quality between those who used a word processor and those who did not. (MS)

Discusses how computer technology has brought with it a rethinking about how writing happens. Notes that research indicates that computers have a positive impact on student writing. Lists 15 web sites that may help teachers and students with the task of writing. (SG)

A 3-year project examined the cognitive effects of word processing on writing processes and products. In particular, the project examined effects on writers' planning, reviewing, and revising in a series of six assessment studies. Among the most important results of the project were that writers using word processing alone--both student writers…

Argues for the value of technology, particularly computers, in the educational setting. Questions whether computers actually help improve student writing skills. Concludes that these questions are fraught with difficulties but that much further research should lead to clearer answers. (HB)

This paper discusses "Notes," a hypertext application program which was designed and implemented to investigate the effects of computers on the writing process generally, and in particular to experiment with tools to support the decisions writers make while acquiring and structuring knowledge taken from source texts. The paper outlines…

Finds that, overall, a group of the lowest-achieving Year 7 boys benefited from using computers, and that this benefit derived from the support it provided them in their writing and its motivating appeal. Finds also that being in "the computer literacy class" also helped to overcome some of the stigma associated with being in the lowest…

There is no single program for improving student writing, but there are common elements of programs that help kids learn to write well. Likewise, there is no professional development program that provides all the skills and knowledge a teacher will need to improve student writing--and, ultimately, student learning--but there are common elements…

This paper examines what has been learned from research about the complex connections between literacy, technology, and learning. The beginnings of research in this area coincided with the introduction of personal computers (PCs) into educational settings in the late 1970s. For the first decade, researchers asked the kinds of questions best…

A study examined the extent to which computers affect the writing process. In order to test several hypotheses about writing with a computer 15 experienced writers wrote persuasive letters under four conditions--using pen and paper once and a computer the other three times. All of the subjects were experienced with computers having worked daily or…

A study was conducted to determine whether the use of word processing improves both the amount and the quality of revision done by high school students. Subjects were 24 ninth grade students enrolled in a special class for interested writers, and therefore probably better than average ninth grade writers. Twelve students were assigned to an…

A study investigated the effects of using a computer image projected on a large screen to teach revision to college students. Subjects, 19 students at DePauw University, enrolled in a writing intensive literature course in a Writing across the Curriculum program, were divided into test and control groups. It was hypothesized that the modeling of…

Describes a project which used basic writers in a pre-college English class to tutor deaf elementary school students. Focuses on the project's attempt to encourage discussions of writing on a local area computer network, as a means of developing deaf students' experience with informal and formal written English. (MM)

Examines a sample of conventionally composed and word-processing-assisted essays to assess the computer's effect on progress and competence by determining how students used the computer resources available to them to write their papers in both standard English classes and across the curriculum. (MS)

This report describes a program to increase intermediate students' interest in writing through the integration of technology. The targeted population consisted of fifth grade students at a medium sized elementary school in the suburb of a large midwestern city. The problem was the low level of student interest in classroom writing activities. The…