help

One of the more powerful features of the YWP digital writing classrooms is their ability to allow teachers to bring in refined search material for students to read and reflect upon. Here’s what a newsfeed from factcheck.org looks like on a typical site with a partial shot of the left sidebar where it can be accessed:

| Clone exercise | Adding users | Fixing Passwords | Adding user to group | Shout Box | Create a Wiki | Embed media from other Web apps |

You are going to have students who forget their passwords or who have difficulty logging in or who might be new to the school. It’s very easy to take care of all three issues.

Tagging is very important to help you and your class organize its work. Exercises should have a tag and students should make sure they use the proper tag for their work.

STUDENTS:

It is very easy to incorporate images into your blog, exercise or wiki.

You will see in the creation form a box above the "body" called Images. You have two options, to "Upload" which, by default, is highlighted and "Remote URL"

Creating a wiki is similar to creating a blog entry.  Just click the "Create A Wiki" link.

 A Wiki is a document that can be edited by multiple users. This is a great content type to use for a group project -- a book report being created by several students, or a group project of some sort.

However, a wiki cannot be edited by multiple users simultaneously.

YWP is working to improve this content type to make it look and act more like wikis created in pbwiki or mediawiki. We'll advise you when we've made changes.

A podcast is, simply, an audio story or essay. Click here for samples on youngwritersproject.org. 

One of the great features of this site is the ability to easily post audio with a blog entry, wiki or exercise to complement the writing. Sometimes just the act of recording a piece helps the student add great dimension to the writing -- or discover some flaws. Revise and record again!

Once you've created your recording, uploading it easy. You will see in your blog, exercise or wiki content type an upload box for "podcast;" click that, browse your desktop for the .mp3 file, click it and then click "upload." BINGO! it is now on your blog, all you now have to do is put in text, choose a tag (and a classroom if you're in more than one) and save. 

HOW TO CREATE A PODCAST -- CONTENT

Peer-to-peer feedback is an extremely important part of this Digital Writing Classroom project. Commenting helps students hear what their audience thinks of their work; in turn, they get to look at writing with an objective, constructive eye. They also learn how to receive criticism and to give it in a positive, constructive yet truthful way.

Each piece of writing on this site has a comment box at the bottom that allows other students, the teacher or a mentor (if one is assigned to the school) to post feedback. Students should preview their comments before submitting them to check for spelling and grammatical errors.

Why comment?

YWP surveys have shown that: