101. TEACHING WRITING WITH WORD PROCESSORS.
- Author
-
Little, Craig B.
- Subjects
WORD processing ,ELECTRONIC data processing ,COMPUTERIZED typesetting ,SOCIOLOGY ,WRITING ,ABILITY - Abstract
The author's college, like many others these days, has instituted a program that emphasizes writing across the curriculum. That approach includes the requirement that students take at least two courses designated "Writing Intensive (WI)" before graduation. Sociology courses, especially upper-level electives, are well suited to include extensive writing assignments, and my department regularly teaches several sections labeled "WI." Last semester, while teaching a WI course, the author made a personal discovery about the utility of word processing to help students learn to write better more easily. Last semester, several students asked the author early in the course if they could use word processors to write their exams. The author allowed, and about one-quarter of the students turned in their first exams word processed. As in the past, their grades, like those of the rest of the class, were not very good. Virtually all the "word processor" students, however, did rewrites, regardless of their initial grades, in keeping with past experience, only a few of the other students did so. Furthermore, three of the WI students rewrote the first exam two more times, two raised their grades from a first-try "D + " to a last-draft "A -." This pattern continued throughout the course, with the result that the WI students were meeting with me more frequently about their essays, writing and rewriting more, and improving at an astonishing rate.
- Published
- 1988
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