Chapter 4: Software Use and Suggestions (Word Processors)

Due to their prevalence, and often misuse, word processing programs get their own separate post!

Early Age Word Processor Writing

Starting students early is a great idea! This means that they are introduced to the software early in school and don't have to get better acquainted with it later. More importantly, this gives those students whose families may not be able to afford having technology readily available at home the ability to practice with these programs, and helps to keep them from falling behind their peers in skill. There are some problems with starting students on this software early though, as I will address later in this post...

Teaching Typing?

Personally, as someone who never took a "typing class" and who taught himself to type through practice, I feel that having a whole section of the day dedicated to a typing class seems to be a bit much when that time could be used for other activities (which can even involve typing, allowing for more practice). Students will eventually learn their own method to type that is most comfortable to them through exploration of their methods as they type assignments. Young students in particular have proven themselves to be fast learners in cases like this!

Handwriting? What is Handwriting?

Practice in handwriting feels like it has all but disappeared nowadays. Students have handwriting tht is often bordering or past the point of illegibility, and at the high school level it can be very difficult to change that. This becomes a very real problem for high school teachers as they need their students' handwriting to at least be legible. I know no one (particularly my professors so far) wants to talk about meeting state test requirements, and I agree that student education is a thousand times more important than those tests, but the fact remains that if I want my students to be successful, I need to not only educate them in my subject and help prepare them for life, but I also need to do my best to prepare them for state exams. If a student's handwriting is near-impossible to read, it won't matter whether their answers to the questions are right or not, they will likely be marked wrong. It is because of this, as well as the ever-dwindling uses for handwriting out in the "real world" that I hope that practice on normal handwriting doesn't disappear just yet; there are still a great many uses for it, and I worry that its instruction will be lost before those uses fade for most of our modern-day students.

Tests Given Computer-Only

This is an interesting prospect. For the above reasons, I think I would be hesitant to give only computer based tests, but it could be quite beneficial to do some on the computer and others as written exams. This benefits in allowing students to see that tests are not always given in the same format, and also are a good way to help them improve their typing without adding extra activities to the class.

Possible Ways to Integrate into the Chemistry Classroom

The one most significant way I can think of to integrate word processing into the chemistry class is through labs. Students could be tasked to write up the procedure for the lab themselves using a word processor, then the lab report could be added as another typing activity. This keeps all of the work for lab neat and organized, while also requiring students to actually read the lab procedure beforehand in order to write it. This can bring a significant benefit to chemistry lab, as students are usually requested to read the lab beforehand, but few actually do (honors and AP students are no exception).

Reminder for Every and Any Age that Spell Checking is NOT a Substitute for Proof-Reading

This is something that students really should be reminded every grade level... multiple times even. Many seem to figure that the spell check is a magical cure-all. In fact, the spell check in word programs is far from it -- it often does not recognize improper grammar, and as the book mentions, will sometimes even change perfectly good spelling and grammar into something wrong.

the spell check on thus blog does ton even sea the problems with the sentence i type know? do yo sea.

Kudos to anyone who has the time and patience to find everything wrong with my "sentence" above, but the fact remains that it is the perfect example of why the spell check function is not a substitute for proof reading -- there isn't even a red line in it as I type this, nor any highlights when I click the Check Spelling button; basic spell check thinks that those sentences are totally appropriate.


References:
Roblyer, M. D. (2016). Integrating educational technology into teaching (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.