Can Computers Aid Instruction in Todays Writing Classroom?
by Richard Keiser A substantial number of us have been integrating computers into our CAP reading/writing courses, and the movement toward computer-aided instruction (CAI) has been bolstered by a valuable four-week workshop given last year by Anne-Marie Keenan and Chuck Herbert (the Pew Summer Institute on Using Computers to Teach Writing). During the four years that I have been using computers in my CAP classes, the effects of technology have been highly variable, depending upon the circumstances. As is true with any pedagogical method, practice often diverges from theory once a course is actually under way. I began integrating word-processing into my CAP class in 1994, when I resumed teaching at this College after a break in service. Initially I depended on the Learning Lab teachers to coordinate the sessions where the students learned word-processing. Then in fall 1997 I began using Microsoft Word as an integral part of an A-level link, with the class actually meeting in a computer
