Students should have previous experience with peer editing. Students should have previous experience in completing a task within a specified time period. Each student in a group needs to be able to work with a group with a minimum of behavior problems. Students without this ability may need to be given an assignment that may be done in a group of 1. Students should be familiar with the program Claris works.
Social studies is a one-period class, so students have limited use of the computer.
If students have use of a computer lab or of a machine in another class, they should save their articles to a disk and then transfer it to the template in the room and format it then. Student groups of 4 will rotate through the computers, but they must have their draft article ready to be typed, with all corrections made to the original draft before starting their computer time. When an inputting team is at the computer, they will spend approximately 15 minutes each entering text. The student not typing will assist by reading to the typist, helping with spelling, checking the work, and explaining procedures. The assisting student should not be permitted to touch the keyboard or mouse while assisting.