Students with poor handwriting now have less fear about writing. Campbell involves her students in real-life writing opportunities. Several teachers I interviewed noted the effectiveness of writing in a social context and in establishing communities of writers. Stephanie McBride, the English department head at George School in Bucks County, uses the Daedalus Integrated Writing Environment with high school students across the curriculum. She demonstrated Interchange, the real-time conferencing component of the program, at a recent technology conference at Germantown Academy.
Interchange allows users to hold online discussions with groups of any size.
It creates private conferencing areas that are easy to set up and manage. McBride said activities of that sort build collegiality and create a sustained focus. Because they have an immediate audience, the level of student writing is elevated, she said. Students know they are being judged by what they write. Ceramics students used it in a conference to critique a pot.