The Development of Early Computer-Assisted Writing Instruction (1960–1978): The Double Logic of Media and Tools

This essay traces a distinction between computer-mediated writing environments that are tools for correcting student prose and those that are media for communication. This distinction has its roots in the influence of behavioral science on teaching machines and computer-aided writing instruction during the 1960s and 1970s. By looking at the development of the time-shared, interactive, computer-controlled, information television (TICCIT) and...