Online Access from Anywhere Goals of the Initial WriteSite Project	WriteSite History The WriteSite project was first created by Nick Viani several years ago when he was employed at the IT Department of the Southern Oregon ESD. The project was intended to explore options for a web-based writing curriculum. Efforts have been made in recent years to stress the computer-assisted MANAGEMENT of writing, with less emphasis placed on instructional strategies employed to teach the craft of writing. While computers have supported student writing for many years, data storage has traditionally been on floppy disks or school servers. In addition, peer-review activities have remained relatively unaffected by technology. With 95% of public schools (and 72% of classrooms) connected to the Internet, strategies for teaching writing are changing. This web-based tool provides authors easy access to their writing from anywhere—via the Internet. Student drafts, revisions, and portfolios are conveniently stored on and accessed from a database located on the OETC server. From a teacher's perspective, student access to writing terminals is a major concern when faced with the current student-to-computer ratio in most schools (around 10:1 nationally with multimedia features; 5:1 for conventional machines). Online Access from Anywhere With WriteSite, students may participate in the writing process from any Internet connection: on a classroom computer, on any machine in a school's computer lab or school library, at the public library, at home or a friend's house, or from a partnered classroom or school, regardless of geographical location. Student authors have marveled at the opportunity for their grandparents to read (and respond to) their writing from out of state—thanks to the Internet! By the end of 2003, there were more than 60 teachers using the Southern Oregon ESD version of WriteSite throughout the state, and their successes have been documented in several articles available at the Southern Oregon WriteSite home page. In 2003, Nick Viani began working with OETC to lay the groundwork for OETC to "adopt" a version of WriteSite and begin providing subscription and service to educators throughout the Northwest. In April of 2004, the first "public" version (Version 2.0) of WriteSite went live on ws.oetc.org. OETC unveiled Version 3.0 just in time for students to return to school for the 2004-2005 school year. Goals of the Initial WriteSite Project In addition to setting up something that allows global access by both students, teachers, and family, Southern Oregon ESD IT staff members wanted to establish a web-based writing management system that provides additional benefits such as: No special software is required other than your browser Foreign language editions will soon be added Platform-specific word processors are a non-issue—authors enter their data directly into a text frame located on the web, or Authors may use any word processor on any platform (email programs work also) and copy/paste into a text frame located on the web, or Authors may transfer text directly from inexpensive portable word processors (e.g. AlphaSmart 3000) into the online text frame No longer must files be saved in a particular format or attached to email (eliminating the possibility of losing them or having a file deemed unreadable by the recipient) All responses to authors' writing are compiled on a single web page, suitable for printing to facilitate revision elsewhere

WriteSite History

The WriteSite project was first created by Nick Viani several years ago when he was employed at the IT Department of the Southern Oregon ESD. The project was intended to explore options for a web-based writing curriculum. Efforts have been made in recent years to stress the computer-assisted MANAGEMENT of writing, with less emphasis placed on instructional strategies employed to teach the craft of writing.

While computers have supported student writing for many years, data storage has traditionally been on floppy disks or school servers. In addition, peer-review activities have remained relatively unaffected by technology. With 95% of public schools (and 72% of classrooms) connected to the Internet, strategies for teaching writing are changing.

This web-based tool provides authors easy access to their writing from anywhere—via the Internet. Student drafts, revisions, and portfolios are conveniently stored on and accessed from a database located on the OETC server.

From a teacher's perspective, student access to writing terminals is a major concern when faced with the current student-to-computer ratio in most schools (around 10:1 nationally with multimedia features; 5:1 for conventional machines).

Online Access from Anywhere

With WriteSite, students may participate in the writing process from any Internet connection: on a classroom computer, on any machine in a school's computer lab or school library, at the public library, at home or a friend's house, or from a partnered classroom or school, regardless of geographical location. Student authors have marveled at the opportunity for their grandparents to read (and respond to) their writing from out of state—thanks to the Internet!

By the end of 2003, there were more than 60 teachers using the Southern Oregon ESD version of WriteSite throughout the state, and their successes have been documented in several articles available at the Southern Oregon WriteSite home page. In 2003, Nick Viani began working with OETC to lay the groundwork for OETC to "adopt" a version of WriteSite and begin providing subscription and service to educators throughout the Northwest. In April of 2004, the first "public" version (Version 2.0) of WriteSite went live on ws.oetc.org. OETC unveiled Version 3.0 just in time for students to return to school for the 2004-2005 school year.

Goals of the Initial WriteSite Project

In addition to setting up something that allows global access by both students, teachers, and family, Southern Oregon ESD IT staff members wanted to establish a web-based writing management system that provides additional benefits such as:

No special software is required other than your browser
Foreign language editions will soon be added
Platform-specific word processors are a non-issue—authors enter their data directly into a text frame located on the web, or
Authors may use any word processor on any platform (email programs work also) and copy/paste into a text frame located on the web, or
Authors may transfer text directly from inexpensive portable word processors (e.g. AlphaSmart 3000) into the online text frame
No longer must files be saved in a particular format or attached to email (eliminating the possibility of losing them or having a file deemed unreadable by the recipient)
All responses to authors' writing are compiled on a single web page, suitable for printing to facilitate revision elsewhere

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