CopyWrite - Pen operated Handwriting Trainer

CopyWrite
How CopyWrite Works

Revelation Computing Pty Limited

Overview

CopyWrite works by replaying letters drawn by a teacher so a student can observe the correct stroke order and direction. At the same time, students can attempt to duplicate those letters themselves. At any time the teacher can replay the students writing - stroke by stroke - to assess their attempt.

Teacher's Area <> Student Area <> Keyboards <> Exercises <> Assessment <> Options

The Teacher's Area

The top area of the CopyWrite device screen is the teacher's area. It looks like a blackboard to distinguish it from the student's area below. On the teacher's area are written letters for the student to observe and copy. These letters are handwritten directly onto the screen with the stylus pen.

Whatever is written once to this area can be replayed, repeatedly by simply pressing the right arrow button located below the teacher's area at the right of the screen.

Up to seven letters (or several short words eg "the cat") can be written into the teacher's area and replayed for the student to watch.

By pressing on the keyboard button (located towards the left hand edge of the black button area) a small keyboard is presented in the lower area of the screen. This keyboard contains correct letter formations for your educational system that have been previously entered by an expert teacher.

The Student Area

The bottom area of the CopyWrite screen is designed for student letter entry. It has a white background to distinguish it from the black teacher's area. Whilst watching replays of the teacher's letters, students can write directly onto the screen in this area with the stylus pen. If a mistake is made, this entire area can be erased by using the white 'cross out' button to the left hand side of the central button area.The line spacing in the student area can be changed to match the student's writing ability.

Students can replay their writing by pressing the white 'right arrow' button to the left of the same central button area. This allows them to practice self-assessment by seeing if their writing actions match those of the teacher.

When a teacher replays student writing, a number of problems can immediately become apparent, such as:

Incorrect stroke direction (see example to the left)
Incorrect stroke order (see example to the right)
Excessive pencil lifts
Slow or jerky writing (replayed with student's actual timing)
Scribbling

If more than one exercise has been set, when the student moves on to the next writing exercise, their work is automatically stored.

The lower buttons on the Palm unit can be disabled to prevent accidental student usage.

Using Keyboards

Instead of writing letters in the teacher's area, a small keyboard can be accessed by pressing the 'keyboard' button in the central button area. This keyboard appears in the bottom of the screen. When clicked, letters appear in the teacher's area as if a teacher had written them. If the correct letters database is available and loaded into your CopyWrite device, these letters should correspond to your state handwriting system.

Typed letters are identical to handwritten letters and replay at a press of the black 'right arrow' button. Handwritten and typed letters can be mixed in the teacher's area.

Keyboards can be downloaded from this web site on the internet. If the correct lettering system for your school is not available, let us know. If you have created a set of keyboards for your school, please email them to us so we can place them on the web site for everyone to share. Keyboards can be modified or replaced using your CopyWrite device. See your CopyWrite Users' Guide for details.

Setting more then one Exercise

A single CopyWrite unit can store up to 20 exercises. A teacher enters one or more letters in the top section and selects 'Store Teacher' from the menu. The screen clears and another exercise can now be entered. In this way up to 20 exercises can be stored. To check the exercises, use the physical up and down arrow buttons located at the bottom centre of your Palm unit. Each student can use the same buttons to move up and down between the various exercises the teacher has set. Each time a student changes exercise, all their work is automatically stored for later assessment.

Assessing Student Writing

When all students have attempted all exercises, the teacher can select 'Assess students' from the menu. Selecting this option replaces the centre of the screen with two list of exercises and students. Using these lists, any student's response to any exercise can be instantly recalled to the lower screen.

Between the two lists is the white replay button. Once the correct student's exercise is showing on the screen, clicking the white replay button will perform a stroke-by-stroke replay of the student's writing for assessment.

Seeing the student's writing replayed, exactly as it was written can immediately indicate problems with: stroke order, stroke direction, writing speed, excessive pencil lifts or scribbling.

CopyWrite Setup and Menu

The CopyWrite Setup screen (left) allows adjustment of line spacing, replay speed and letter reveal strategy (all at once or one at a time). By selecting a defined class, student names for that class can be used to personalise the lessons. Most of the other options are self explanatory. Disable pushbuttons makes the Palm device 'almost' userproof for very small children. Left and right handed operation are both supported. The two large buttons at the bottom allow deletion of previously stored exercises.

The CopyWrite Options menu(right) gives the teacher access to a number of CopyWrite functions that are either infequently used or unlikely to be needed by students.