Technology Supported Writing Interventions George R. Peterson-Karlan, Ph.D. Professor of Special Education Special Education Assistive Technology (SEAT Center) Illinois State University

The Importance of Writing Writing well is not just an option for young people – it is a necessity. Along with reading comprehension, writing is a predictor of academic success and a basic requirement for participation in civic and life and a global economy…Because the definition of literacy includes both reading and writing skills, poor writing proficiency should be recognized as part of this national literacy crisis. (Graham & Perin, 2007)

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, 2002), among students 51-58% are at a basic level of writing –Below the desired proficient level 16-22% are below the basic level of writing –Struggling writers (NAEP, 2002) –Low achieving writers by (Graham and Perin, 2007), Writing Matters – But Achievement Lags

5 Struggling Writers… Lack a clear understanding of the purpose Fail to have a plan for a composition Lack strategies or procedures for generating and organizing ideas Over rely on narrative or descriptive text structures – knowledge telling

6 Struggling Writers… Make more mechanical errors, with spelling errors the most frequent Make more syntax errors Show less word & sentence fluency Correct only mechanical errors, but do poorly in identifying these errors Do not have or sustain a plan for revising

The research-based models and methods for teaching good writing are known –Planning & Organizing –Translating & Transcribing –Editing, Reviewing & Revising Good writing instruction is not being used! The Good News! And the Bad News!!

1.Increase time students spend writing, (2) 2.Improve assessment of writing, 3.Apply emerging writing technologies 4.Provide of professional development for all teachers Four Challenges to Improved Writing Instruction

The Role of Technology Writing has moved from a paper-and-pen to a technologically-driven activity. Technologies a are recognized as having the potential both to support writing and the teaching of writing and to provide new venues for writing itself. (National Commission of Writing, 2003; National Writing Project, 2006; National Council of Teachers of English, 2004)

The Role of Technology Technology Supported Writing –Use of technologies which support all phases of writing – planning, drafting, editing & revising Technology Enabled Writing –Use of technology to obtain information, share, and collaborate, even remotely Multimedia Writing –Use of new genres and multimedia forms

Technologies in Education Information and Communication Technologies –Digital technology, communication tools and/or networks used to access, manage, integrate, evaluate and create information in order to function in a knowledge society

Technologies in Education Instructional Technologies –Used to increase students performance through adding skills to the students own skill base Compensatory Technologies –Provide a means to complete a task such that, without the technology, a student would not be able to complete the task at the expected level of performance –Increase performance without necessarily increasing the skill base of the student

Technology to Support Writing Our purpose – To examine evidence- based technologies that have been shown to support writing Technologies include both –Information & communication technologies –Compensatory technologies

Prewriting Planning & Organization

Technology for Planning & Organization… Supports the student in Determining the purpose or goal Identifying a topic and intended audience Generating ideas Organizing ideas –Into text appropriate structures

Evidence supports use of technology that provides Reminders of –CONTENT: What information or elements must be present (e.g., goal, topic, text elements, ideas, details, etc) Assistance with –PROCEDURES: How to generate, select and/or organize information or elements

Tool features should include… Explicit plan components Content prompts Procedural prompts Visual-Graphic Mapping

Summary recommendations Use planning and organization technology as an adjunct to, or in tandem with, process-based instruction in writing Match students strengths and weaknesses with tools by their planning and organization features Use electronic outlining tools and draft templates, that are genre-specific, contain embedded content prompts and procedure cues. Directly instruct the student in how to use the tool and how to apply the tool to their writing tasks.

Text Production Preparing the Initial Draft Composition The Importance of Writing

Technology for Text Production Supports the student in Legible print production Transcription speed Transcription accuracy Length of the composition Quality of the composition

Is faster better? The goal of writing support: Increase the productivity of the writer Productivity in AT has been defined as Quantity + Quality Time

Productivity increases When in the same time or more time, –Legibility, spelling accuracy, capitalization, punctuation increases –The variety of words increases –The number of words or sentences written increases –The number or quality of ideas, details, text elements improves

Evidence supports use of technology that provides Reduced transcription demand Assistance with transcription accuracy

Tool features should include Keyboard-based tools –Desktop or Laptop Computers –Portable keyboarding devices Word processing software

Tool features should include Word Prediction –Frequency –Recency –Grammatically-based prediction –Association –Automatic spacing –Automatic capitalization

Summary recommendations 1.Use word processors to improve transcription accuracy (legibility) and length, especially with students with high initial error rates 2.Provide keyboarding training to produce functional levels of keyboarding speed and accuracy 3.Consider the use of word prediction having text-to-speech output for those with persistent spelling difficulties. 4.Provide instruction in the use of word prediction and expect student success, to improve with continued use. 5.Expect transcription accuracy and composition length but not necessarily transcription speed to be better when word prediction is used

What about speech recognition? Speech recognition (SR), or voice recognition, technology involves a speech- to-text system that –Interprets spoken language and directly produces transcribed text, –Permits the user to edit transcribed text –Control operating system functions SR systems typically require the user to initially train the software

What about speech recognition? SR technology has evolved faster than applied research on its effectiveness with struggling writers The research base is very small with school-aged children so the results are only suggestive, not conclusive

What about speech recognition? Teaching use of SR Struggling writers across grade levels can train the SR systems to an acceptable level of transcription accuracy Standard SR training procedures will need to be modified as will expected training times –Text-to-speech output increases training success Struggling writers across grade levels can attain competence in use of SR editing and correction procedures

What about speech recognition? When struggling writers use SR to transcribe Transcription accuracy and speed increases with continued use of SR Compositional length is longer Compositional quality is improved –Word fluency –Sentence length

Summary recommendations Consider the use of speech recognition with students with the most severe spelling deficits Use text-to-speech output with those students having persistent reading deficits Provide sufficient systematic instruction using strategies adapted to the learner Expect transcription accuracy to improve quickly, but not transcription speed

Revising Improving the Composition

Two complementary processes Editing –Detecting and correcting of errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar Revising –Improving the organization of ideas, supporting details, clarity of the composition –Makes the writing more interesting and understandable to the reader

Technology for Editing & Revising Supports the student in Detecting & correcting errors Managing the revision process –Providing prompts about revision goals –Providing procedural supports Reviewing sentences for meaning Reviewing passages and paragraphs –For content elements –For detail, interest, clarity and logic –Making revisions

Evidence supports technology that provides Detection and correction of errors of convention –Spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar Text-to-speech text review Electronic revision guides –With Procedural Prompts

Tool Features should include For Editing –Word prediction Capitalization, punctuation supports Context-sensitive grammar supports –Spell check with… Flexible spelling detection Homophone detection Speech Output

Tool features should include For Revising –Voice output screen review –Revising guides

Summary recommendations Use spell checkers in conjunction with instruction in a proofreading strategy. Teach students to strategically use a spell checker Use a spell checker with text-to-speech output Select spell checkers that have flexible spelling or phonemic spell check

Summary recommendations Use a word processor with text-to-speech output in conjunction with instruction in revising. Use electronic revision guides providing procedural facilitation. Expect improvements in mechanical accuracy and composition quality

Final Words… It has been argued that writing quality is the overriding outcome of interest (Graham & Perin, 2007) But writing quality may be more appropriately viewed as the priority summative outcome To develop writing quality, struggling writers need to learn discrete planning, transcription, editing, and revising strategies and skills Teachers will need to monitor progress in formative skills in order to use technology effectively –Amount, speed, accuracy, fluency, complexity, and organization of writing

Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd) Works with state and local education agencies to develop systems to integrate instructional technology to meet the needs of all students Provides support through innovative online professional development, research, technical assistance (TA), and extensive web-based resources, tools

Distance Technical Assistance at Learn Center: Features more than 700 resources tailored for teachers, administrators, technology coordinators, and PD coordinators Learn Center Act Center: Features the EdTech Locator and 9 PD programs and models from our partners Act Center Research Center: Features more than 20 Research in Brief articles on 5 different topics and 5 research publications Research Center My Center: Allows registered users to bookmark resources and build custom toolkits for colleagues My Center

Helpful Links TechMatrix: Find tools that help create accessible instructional materials TechMatrix TechMatrix Webinar: Learn how to use the TechMatrix TechMatrix Webinar EdTech Locator: Evaluate where you stand in the technology integration continuum EdTech Locator Differentiating Instruction Through Technology: Take this free, online professional development course Differentiating Instruction Through Technology