Recently I followed a discussion amongst educators that was focused on typing speeds and if their is a value to higher words per minute. Other topics started to reveal themselves in the discussion that related to improving the writing process.

The first point that was discussed was if any current profession requires people to type the written word of another person. It appears that in the current work force most authors write as they type the words into the computer. This means that one only needs to be able to type as fast as they can formulate their ideas. The process of developing ones thought into a sentence and inputing the new sentence into the computer cannot be done at a hight rate of speed. This does require knowledge of the keyboard and where to find each letter. In other words basic keyboarding skills not a fast typing speed is required to be successful in the 21st century workforce.

The second point discussed regarded editing on the computer verses printing out a copy. Most of the educators in this discussion felt that they needed to print a paper copy to do a good job of editing. This is where the generational differences of people shows. Most digital immigrants and some Millennials do prefer to edit from a paper version. However the Generation Z children who are now in our schools do not prefer the printed word for editing. Actually research has demonstrated that writing on a computer from the original draft all the way through the editing process to the final draft has increased the writing skills of students. This makes sense if you think about it. As you write and you misspell a word you know immediately so you can stop and fix it. Every time you need to edit or rearrange a sentence you can cut and paste the words to the new location. You can highlight and delete a part you no longer want instead of erasing each word. During the editing process you can have the computer read your words out loud hearing what you actually wrote. You can continue to rework each sentence or paragraph until it sounds good. Finally when you are done editing you are done as you no longer have to start writing the “final copy”.

One more point I would like to offer about writing. We all know that if a person writes more they will improve as a writer. With that goal in mind here is a fact to be aware of. In 2007 a Net Generation Survey* of 7,705 college students in the United States informed us that 28% author a blog and 44% read blogs. These students are a part of the Millennial generation. The next generation of students are part of the Gen Z who are now sometimes called Generation C because they are even more connected to others through the use of technological tools.  Since I am reaching you through the use of a blog I would like to challenge you to see if you are impacting students’ writing skills. If you are a parent are you helping your children to read and participate in blogging? If you are an educator have you had your students blog about their learning in your classroom? If you are an educational leader have you had your faculty blog about what is going on in their classrooms? We all can impact students’ writing skills. With the proper emphasis on using the technological tools available our students will be more skilled at writing than previous generations. This will serve them well in the 21st century workforce.

*Leading 21st Century Schools by Lynne Schrum and Barbara B. Levin page 33