How to Improve Your Students Writing Skills with Technology

Writing is a critical skill for all generations. However, as technology advances and shifts much of the writing we do from physical pencil and paper to digital formats, such as typing and texting, the writing skills of recent generations are impacted.. While this shift allows individuals to write faster and distribute on a larger scale, it also changes the way in which students write, often negatively. To prepare students to write competitively, we must implement technology that ensures they have the tools they need to excel. Here at SchoolMart, we have outlined categories of technology tools that you can adopt into your classroom to improve your students’ writing skills. 

Technology Tools

Grammar and Spell Check
One of the most crucial parts of writing that continues to advance is the way that technology can catch grammatical errors. Whether it is spell check, grammar check, or even checking for plagiarism, helpful applications can check for fundamental errors. Consider sharing tools like Grammarly, Quetext, and Thesaurus.com with your students.

Writing and Collaboration
When editors revise their books or teams work on sales presentations together, most of the writing is done collectively. Understandably, collaborative writing should be offered to students in the classroom, so they can brainstorm new ideas and receive more feedback to better their writing. Instead of passing drafts back and forth or scribbling over printed paper, students can communicate to collaborators with virtual notes, comments, and suggested changes. Tools like Google Docs and EverNote provide students with the ability to collaborate on documents or notebooks with their fellow classmates to broaden their ideas and improve their skills. 

Grading and Feedback
After students have submitted their writing, it is important to provide goal-oriented feedback and grading to ensure their skills improve. The quicker they receive their grade or feedback the faster they can learn from their mistakes and take action before they move onto a different topic. Not only can teachers provide valuable grading, but their peers can also provide valuable feedback. Marco Learning and Peergrade are two tools you can use to ensure students get feedback and grades delivered in a timely manner so they can learn from their past mistakes.

Adopting the Technology Regularly

Once you have chosen which tools will be a good fit for your classroom,  it’s crucial to then take initiative to make them stick into your classroom routine. Be sure to keep the following tips in mind. 

Allow Time To Adjust
Once you have implemented new tools into the classroom be sure to give yourself and your students time to adjust. After some trial time, if the tool still seems to be falling short of your use, develop a sense for when it is necessary to remove it from your lesson plans. 

Request Feedback
As the teacher, you are now making new technological decisions, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask for student, parent, and teacher feedback. You can use surveys or letters to understand what they like or dislike about a specific tool and whether it’s valuable compared to other options. 

Have a Backup Plan
No digital writing tool is perfect. Some cause miscommunications within the classroom or begin to develop bugs that make the platform more difficult rather than helpful. Don’t let these inconveniences stop you from implementing other technologies in the classroom, but be sure to have a backup plan so your class can still run smoothly. 

Contact SchoolMart Today

There is no question that writing technology has massively impacted education. That is why SchoolMart encourages educators to remain cautiously optimistic about the potential of writing technology in the classroom setting. To learn more about the great potential of writing technology tools and its role in improving students skills, contact an edtech professional today by visiting our website.