Children's Writing Processes When Using Computers: Insights Based on Combining Analyses of Product and Process

Children and young people are increasingly performing a variety of writing tasks using computers, with word processing programs thus becoming their natural writing environment. The development of keystroke logging programs enables us to track the process of writing, without changing the writing environment for the writers. In the myMoment schools project, children in primary school grades one to five were provided with a web-based interactive writing environment, which they could use to read and write stories and comments. The parallel study on myMoment suggests that interviews and analyses of writing processes can provide detailed information about the effect that writing environment and instructions have on writing. An individual case study illustrates the potential that triangulating product and process analyses can offer in the teaching of literacy skills at elementary school level.