Annotation. Presents both the philosophical and theoretical background for research in computer-assisted composition and a review and synthesis of the efficacy research in this area. The focus is on effective writing instruction for elementary, secondary, and special needs students. A paper edition is available (0336-X, $14.95). Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

A collection of instructional stories, research, and classroom applications for teachers who use computers in their writing instruction.

This book grew out of the Fourth Conference on Computers and the Writing Process, held at the University of Sussex in March 1991. The conference brought together a wide variety of people interested in most aspects of computers and the writing process including, computers and writing education, computer supported fiction, computers and technical writing, evaluation of computer-based writing, and hypertext. Fifteen papers were selected from the twenty-five delivered at the conference. The authors were asked to develop them into articles, incorporating any insights they had gained from their conference presentations. This book offers a survey of the wide area of Computers and Writing, and describes current work in the design and use of computer-based tools for writing. University of Sussex M.S. October, 1991 Note from Publisher This collection of articles is being published simultaneously as a special issue, Volume 21(1-3), of Instructional Science - An International Journal of Learning and Cognition. Instructional Science 21: 1-4 (1992) 1 © Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht Introduction MIKE SHARPLES School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BNl 9QH, United Kingdom.

Patrik O'Brian Holt Heriot-Watt University After speech, writing is the most common form of human communication and represents the cornerstone of our ability to preserve and record information. Writing, by its very definition, requires artifacts in the form of tools to write with and a medium to write on. Through history these artifacts have ranged from sticks and clay tablets, feather and leather, crude pens and paper, sophisticated pens and paper, typewriters and paper; and electronic devices with or without paper. The development of writing tools has straightforward objectives, to make writing easier and more effective and assist in distributing written communication fast and efficiently. Both the crudest and most sophisticated forms of writing tools act as mediators of human written communication for the purpose of producing, distributing and conserving written language. In the modern world the computer is arguably the most sophisticated form of mediation, the implications of which are not yet fully understood. The use of computers (a writing artifact which mediates communication) for the production and editing of text is almost as old as computers themselves. Early computers involved the use of crude text editors and a writer had to insert commands resembling a programming language to format and print a document. For example to underline a word the writer had to do the following, This is an example of how to .ul underline a single word. in order to produce: This is an example of how to underline a single word.

Highlighting and illustrating several important and interesting theoretical trends that have emerged in the continuing development of instructional technology, this book's organizational framework is based on the notion of two opposing camps. One evolves out of the intelligent tutoring movement, which employs artificial-intelligence technologies in the service of student modeling and precision diagnosis, and the other emerges from a constructivist/developmental perspective that promotes exploration and social interaction, but tends to reject the methods and goals of the student modelers. While the notion of opposing camps tends to create an artificial rift between groups of researchers, it represents a conceptual distinction that is inherently more interesting and informative than the relatively meaningless divide often drawn between "intelligent" and "unintelligent" instructional systems. An evident trend is that researchers in both "camps" view their computer learning environments as "cognitive tools" that can enhance learning, performance, and understanding. Cognitive tools are objects provided by the instructional environment that allow students to incorporate new auxiliary methods or symbols into their social problem solving which otherwise would be unavailable. A final section of the book represents researchers who are assimilating and accommodating the wisdom and creativity of their neighbors from both camps, perhaps forming the look of technology for the future. When the idea of model tracing in a computer-based environment is combined with appreciation for creative mind-extension cognitive tools and for how a community of learners can facilitate learning, a camp is created where AI technologists and social constructivist learning theorists can feel equally at home.

Originally published in 1994. Until this book was published, the application of computers to educational practice has received little input from psychological theory. Computers and the Collaborative Experience of Learning locates this topic within the contemporary movement of socio-cultural theory, drawing on the writing of Vygotsky and others. Charles Crook reviews psychological approaches to cognition and learning, in so far as they implicitly direct strategy in respect of computer-based learning. He also takes a novel stance in considering how new technology can enhance rather than undermine the social experience of learning and instruction, and can allow teachers to achieve more in the classroom. He argues that computers can provide the conditions for effective collaboration and enhance the social dimension of education. With its unique blend of theory and practice, from the primary school to university settings, Computers and the Collaborative Experience of Learning will be of interest to educational psychologists, as well as psychologists studying group processes, cognition and development.

The definitive reference in the field, this volume synthesizes current knowledge on writing development and instruction at all grade levels. Prominent scholars examine numerous facets of writing from sociocultural, cognitive, linguistic, neuroscience, and new literacy/technological perspectives. The volume reviews the evidence base for widely used instructional approaches, including those targeting particular components of writing. Issues in teaching specific populations--including students with disabilities and English learners--are addressed. Innovative research methods and analytic tools are clearly explained, and key directions for future investigation identified. New to This Edition *Chapters on genre instruction, evaluation and revision, argumentative writing, computer-based instruction, and professional development. *Chapters on new literacies, out-of-school writing, translation, and self-regulation. *Many new topics and authors, including more international perspectives. *Multiple chapters connect research findings to the Common Core writing standards. See also the editors' Best Practices in Writing Instruction, Second Edition, an accessible course text and practitioner's guide.

This book is a history composed of histories. Its particular focus is the way in which computers entered and changed the field of composition studies, a field that defines itself both as a research community and as a community of teachers. This may have a somewhat sinister suggestion that technology alone has agency, but this history (made of histories) is not principally about computers. It is about people-the teachers and scholars who have adapted the computer to their personal and professional purposes. From the authors' perspectives, change in technology drives changes in the ways we live and work, and we, agents to a degree in control of our own lives, use technology to achieve our human purposes. REVIEW: . . . This book reminds those of us now using computers to teach writing where we have been, and it brings those who are just entering the field up to date. More important, it will inform administrators, curriculum specialists, and others responsible for implementing the future uses of technology in writing instruction. - Computers and Composition