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D Writing






What do Hyperstudio, SuperLink, Director, HTML, Flash, Netscape Composer, FrontPage, Dreamweaver, PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, and AppleWorks all have in common?

You might say that all are programs allowing the user to create Web pages incorporating text, multimedia, and links to the Internet. You might say that they are all programs you would like your students to be able to use. What you wouldn't say is that they are all easy to use, or that they are all likely to be used in all subjects by all teachers to increase written communication skills and promote writing across the curriculum. You certainly wouldn't say that they were tools all of your students had easy access to in school and at home. Wouldn't it be great to have a simple-to-use program one with a near-zero learning curve that was easily accessible by every teacher and student, both in school and at home? If your response to that is, " Dream on, " I urge you to " read on."

Having judged computer contests for 10 years and having viewed thousands of these projects, I can tell you that they can be a real hazard to your health. Just try reading one page of black text on a red background and you'll know what I mean. Anyone who has worked with students with any of the tools listed above has had similar experiences. In 1999, I was fortunate enough to be a reviewer for the U.S. Department of Education's Expert Technology Panel.

Then I came across the National Assessment of Educational Progress test results. The NAEP showed that writing expertise was extremely low among students nationwide. While 83 percent had at­tained basic proficiency, only 1 percent had advanced skills. Experts agreed all that was necessary to improve scores was to increase the amount of writing that takes place across the curriculum.

The key to success would be to focus on using hypertext narrative writing in all subjects.

Improving writing was certainly an important is­sue. Hypertext writing could be implemented within the frame­work of already-established writing programs that have proven success. Teachers already know (or should al­ready know) how to teach and assess quality writing. Thus, professional development should center on the use of a new tool.

Hypertext narrative writing is not a new concept. It predates the printing press. The first form of hypertext narrative probably appears in the Talmud, ancient Jewish scrolls of wisdom and commentary from scholars on subjects in the Torah. Scholars and rabbis would write their thoughts and theories in the margins and refer to other sections in the Talmud and the Torah.

As you are well aware, the concept is present in electronic encyclopedias, dictionaries, Web sites, choose-your-own-adventure books, and many other formats. Technology allows hypertext narrative to move beyond text and incorporate multimedia and links to the Internet, making it truly three-dimensional.

After spending a year searching the Internet and every computer vendor I could visit at conferences and shows, it became clear that the software I en­visioned to help improve writing and communication in the classroom didn't exist. My vision for the software was straight forward. It had to be devoid of bells, whistles, and other distractions that take the focus off of content and writing. It had to be easy to learn in order to avoid the technical barriers that inspire reluctance in teachers.

Beyond that, I wanted it to be a new kind of software that was so inexpensive, schools could provide it for their students and teachers to take home with no more thought than they give tosending home pencils and paper.

3DWriter allows the teacher to com­bine traditional writing assignments with the addition of hyperlinks for spe­cific purposes. The resulting document goes beyond the typical 2-dimensional linear structure of beginning, middle, and end. It allows the author to expand the audience or enrich the experience of a smaller audience by creating hy­perlinks that reach out to other sources. This introduces the third dimension, thus the term " 3DWriting."

People often ask, " I already have Word; why should I use 3DWriter" You don't use the space shuttle to go to the corner store for coffee, and you don't teach driver education in a Porsche. Why use expensive, feature-laden soft­ware when, for much less money, you can provide every student, teacher, and home in your community with a sim­ple piece of software that is designed to do one job: promote writing across the curriculum?

This is not specifically a substitute for other software. It is a completely new software concept. I call it " community ware." I want people to think of it in the same way they think of pencils and paper, as essential writing tools that every student needs and that every school supplies.

In today's world, the equivalent of pencil and paper is the word processor. It is simply wrong to expect schools, students, and parents to have to spend big bucks on expensive software in order to type basic curricular documents. Every student should have access to a word processor in school and at home. 3DWriter makes it possible for schools to supply a single common tool to every student, teacher, and home at a cost that is less than the expendable papers they currently send home with students. The power of 3DWriter lies in its simplicity. When I commissioned it, I told the programmers that I wanted a program that was so simple that anyone who knew basic word processing would experience an almost zero learning curve.

The reason for creating 3DWriter was to put a simple hypertext writing tool into the hands of any and every teacher who wanted it and to increase the amount of writing that takes place across the curriculum. Measured against those two goals, I would say that 3DWriter definitely works. I have already had more success using 3DWriter with students and teachers in 5 months than I have with other pro­grams in the past 5 years. More impor­tantly, I have been able to help teachers do something that I have never been able to do before: to strengthen home-school ties by making it possible for students to have the same technology tool at home that they use in class. Will it result in increased learning? If the NAEP and the experts are right that increased writing across the curriculum will result in higher scores, then using 3DWriter is an easy way of making that happen. Ultimately, the success of any software lies in the hands of the teachers and students who use it.

 

Ответьте на вопросы к тексту:

1. What does 3D Writer allow the teacher to do?

2. What is the equivalent of pencil and paper in today’s world?

3. Where does the first form of hypertext narrative appear?

4. What is NAEP?

5. Why should people use 3DWriter?

6. What was the reason for creating 3DWriter?

7. Why is 3DWriter considered to be a simple-to-use program?

Вариант 4






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