Dutch students completing their final exams. Photo Roel Rozenburg
A Dutch linguist has written a computer programme that is teaching children how to write texts at more than a hundred schools.
The programme, called TiO (Developing Language Education) offers students suggestions on how to improve their work while they are typing. TiO can detect errors and offers advice on how to correct them. The tips and tricks offered by the programme cover many aspects of writing, varying from style to the manner in which an argument is presented. TiO may suggest restructuring text for instance, or rooting out some weasel words. It may also propose adding an opposing point of view or warn the writer he or she has used an oft-misspelt verb.
The actual correction of mistakes is left up to the student. According to Ad Bok (67), the Dutch linguist who wrote the software, TiO allows students to learn organically, the same way toddlers learn how to speak: osmosis. TiO constantly exposes students to all aspects of good writing, teaching them how to apply themselves.
TiO comes at a time that independent learning is eyed with suspicion in the Netherlands. After a botched introduction of far-reaching education reforms focused on student-driven education in the 1990s, novelties that allow students to learn on their own are increasingly drawing fire.
In the two years since it was introduced, more than 100 schools have adopted the programme, including some primary schools and even a number of institutions dedicated to tertiary education. An additional 40 schools have expressed an interest in procuring the programme, Bok said.
The success of his programme shows what a sorry state the Dutch educational system is currently in, according to Bok. “The world outside of the classroom has become a lot more attractive since I went to school. But the educational system is still the same: one guy in front of a class with 30 children in it. I hear a lot of teachers saying they are having problems selling it to their students,” Bok said.
Not everyone shares Bok’s enthusiasm about TiO. Eight schools this year quit using the programme. Dockingacollege, a high-school in Dokkum, is one of them. The teacher responsible for the programme left and the software was abandoned. According to Margriet Leeuw, a managing director at Dockingacollege, TiO can only function if one teacher embraces and propagates the new method. “All other teachers thought the programme didn’t fit their teaching methods,” de Leeuw said. She feels the educational system is not ready for TiO yet.
Amos van Gelderen, a researcher studying language education at the University of Amsterdam, values the practical emphasis of TiO. She also expressed doubts about the recommendations for improvement the programme offered. “Too put it bluntly: the programme is shooting blanks. A teacher who is reading over a student’s shoulder can give advice. A computer cannot,” Van Gelderen said.
Ad Bok does not agree. “The programme has 400 tools at its disposal to improve the text. A teacher can never offer similar support, because he has to look after 200 students on average.” One of its great benefits is it takes some of the workload of teachers' shoulders, said Bok.
Dutch linguist and writer René Appel feels the programme does well in teaching students to constantly correct their text, but also fears that the constant reminders TiO offers might end up annoying children rather than teaching them “The programme breaks with all the current trends prevalent among young people,” Appel said. “Spelling and punctuation are considered unimportant in text messages and on MSN.”
The software has also led to new ways of cheating. A method for hacking the programme is readily available online through a Dutch social networking site frequented by high school students. Students have succeeded in pasting text into the application. Something Bok tried to prevent in his design of the programme. Still, this development does little to worry him. “Did you think there was no cheating in the old system?” Bok said. “Let the smart kids be smart."
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