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ERIC Number: ED283863
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1986-Aug-1
Pages: 195
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Productivity Program: The Use of Technology to Improve Writing Skills Projects, 1985-86 School Year. Statewide Evaluation Report.
Shaver, James P.
The Writing-Aid and Author's Helper (WANDAH) computer writing system, funded by the Utah State Office of Education Productivity Program, was used successfully in the Logan High School in the 1984-85 school year. Seven additional project were funded to replicate the Logan project throughout Utah during 1985-86. The main objective of the projects was to improve students' writing skills by increasing the amount of writing which students did and the amount of individualized writing aid they received. In each project lab, there were only 12 to 20 computers, not enough to accommodate a total class of students, primarily 11th and 12th graders. This report presents the results of a statewide level evaluation of the WANDAH Project. At each project, students, teachers, and principals were interviewed. Quantative data on students' writing performance and attitudes were collected through pre- and posttests. Results showed that WANDAH projects made significant contributions to educational productivity (greater goal achievement without decreasing student teacher ratios). The quantity of writing instruction and the amount of student writing increased. The quality of students' writing and their attitudes towards writing on the computer improved as well. Appendices include: (1) 1985-86 WANDAH productivity projects and the schedule of site visits; (2) preliminary reports, project guidelines and statewide executive summary; (3) site visit and testing letters; (4) site visit interview guidelines; (5) posttest writing prompts and instructions; (6) revision tally sheet and scoring instructions and attitude surveys; (7) holistic scoring procedures and guidelines; (8) descriptions of the dependent measures; (9) pretest and posttest means and standard deviations; (10) analyses of adjusted and unadjusted posttest means; and (11) analyses sent to third-party evaluators. Three tables are included. (JAZ)
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Utah State Office of Education, Salt Lake City.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A