Unlike a few years back, the modern student has access to a variety of writing technology tools that streamline the writing process, making it simpler for the student to achieve quality papers. However, like many tools, there exists a heated debate on the effect of writing technology on writing experiences.
For some, writing tools deny students the benefits of the writing process while others hold the opinion that writing tools help the learner to produce better outcomes in each writing assignment. In this article, we will analyze the information on writing and technology to help you determine the impact of writing tools on study and to help you harness the benefits of these tools.
How does the writing process help students
Simply put, the writing process refers to various steps taken when going about your papers. The common steps for writing include prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. These steps allow the writer to gauge the feasibility of a topic and to come up with logical arguments on the topic.
Unfortunately, many learners consider the writing process as a hectic process meant to expose students to tons of stress. However, this writing approach bears a significant number of benefits for students including:
- Writing helps learners to develop their critical thinking by analyzing various ideas at their disposal and using these ideas to come up with a coherent argument.
- The focus and time spent on writing help students to better familiarize themselves with course content, helping improve comprehension.
- Writing highlights the weaknesses students have in a topic, helping them to revise further on the identified weak areas.
- The steps in writing help the writer to organize their arguments, avoiding any conflicting ideas that would derail the writer from their key arguments.
Although these steps may seem simple for smaller essays, they may prove daunting when writing larger papers, causing students to experience a series of headaches. For this, we recommend using various tools for writing and employing a quick writing strategy.
Writing technology tools for elementary students
Writing tools are a great addition to the arsenal of students who are mastering their writing steps and those suffering various writing challenges. However, the myriad of writing tools can impair your selection of the necessary tools, causing you to miss out on a vital writing aid or accumulate unnecessary tools that further complicate the writing process.
Some of the key writing tools for writing include:
- Writing A-Z – this K-5 tool offers a vast range of resources, guided exercises, and engaging activities that capture a learner’s attention, helping foster a better teaching-learning experience.
- Quill – it is an equally great tool that offers a ton of tools to facilitate learning and revision. This tool also contains a proofreader and plagiarism checker, helping students to improve their writing by correcting various writing mistakes within their papers in real-time.
Assistive technology for writing
Assistive writing tools are of great benefit to students that struggle with writing their papers. These tools can help students organize their thoughts and develop their writing without limitations from their writing challenges.
Some of the most helpful low-tech assistive technology for writing include:
- Handwriting tools such as a pencil grip and a slant board give a learner more leverage for writing.
- Speech-to-text tools for students facing difficulties with writing.
- Text-to-speech tools that read text aloud, help a learner spot various mistakes in their work and also improve their dictation.
- Spelling and grammar checkers help students correct phonetic and grammar mistakes in their written assignments.
- Thesaurus to help students look up the meaning of words and to get visual and audio aids that help students to better understand the covered ideas.
- Mind mapping and outlining tools help students organize their ideas for a coherent essay.
