- Preface
- I. A new era
- • Globalization, the first sign of change
- • English - the new planetary language
- • A change in the scale of education
- II. Education and its context
- • Education and business
- • Education and the state
- III. The digital habit
- • The new digital culture
- • Digital projects
- • Time for assimilation
- IV. The extended school
- • Education at a critical moment
- • A definition of the extended school
- • Yesterday: concentrated knowledge
- • Today: knowledge disseminated
- • Tomorrow: knowledge connected
- V. New tools and old
- • Chalk and blackboard
- • The spinning globe
- • Microscopic life
- • Desk and work
- • The computer garden
- • Slides and liquid Crystal
- • Projectors and projections
- • Dry and digital copies
- VI. Digital transition
- • Continuing education
- • Cultural exchange
- • The mental switch
- • Critical thought
- • Internal communication
- • Educational frontier posts
- • Technological updating
- • Creativity and deregulation
- VII. Means and ends
- • Values for today and for always
- • Technocentrality and consumerism
- • Software in the public domain
- VIII. The digital library
- • Atoms versus bits
- • The dual book
- • Digital quality
- • Reading and writing
- • Text and hypertext
- • Consult and navigate
- IX. The home computer
- • A new piece of furniture or a new instrument?
- • Playthings and electronic toys
- • Robots for assembly
- • The silent printer
- • The community network
- X. New instruments of thought
- • Word processors, a new way of writing
- • A friendly mouse
- • More portable learning
- • Designing with computers
- • The golden link in communications: the modem
- • Electronic mail always arrives at its destination
- • Fax, a threatened species
- • WWW: three magic letters
- • Reliable and accessible data bases
- • Tables, abacus and spreadsheet
- • The Scanner, a bridge between two worlds
- • New interfaces and old keyboards
- • Presentation aids
- • So-called multimedia
- • Digital cameras without film
- • Digital videos in schools
- • Music for all
- XI. Presence and remote presence
- • Features of distance education
- • The three generations
- • Synchronous and asynchronous moments
- • Spaces for meeting
- • Classrooms open to the world
- • The advantages
- • New educational niches
- • A new type of teacher and student
- XII. Talents and handicaps
- • The right to communication
- • The obstacle of the keyboard
- • The obstacle of the screen
- • The expression of individual talent
- Conclusions
X. NEW INSTRUMENTS OF THOUGHT
Word processors, a new way of writing
Text processing has evolved considerably since the first rudimentary and expensive versions, and are now true publishing aids within everyone's reach. Gutenberg said that with his few lead letters he had created an army to conquer the world. What then would he say of these digital machines! However, if the renaissance printing press defeated illiteracy, the new digital printing systems could create a new generation of illiterates if left in the hands of adult experts. As we have said, children will learn to write directly on computers, without first learning using pencil and paper. They will guide us in acquiring new work habits.
Nobody disputes the advantages afforded by computers in writing and composing text in terms of speed and flexibility for text editing, never mind the extraordinary quality of the final printed job or presentation. However these technical advantages are only the wrapping of the transforming process that has taken place in the minds of the text authors themselves. In effect, word processors help us to think differently, our thoughts are organized in a different manner as our written output "floats" on the screen (having not been printed or crystallized) and can be transformed before our eyes. This feedback is essential to the creative process and for learning to write in the early years of school life.
In this regard we highlight the importance of the easy copy/paste process that enables us to travel through the text at speed, transforming our screens in a manner similar to a craftsman who polishes his work without fear of error, assembling and disassembling phrases and ideas as often as necessary. The dictionaries, style correctors and thesauruses incorporated within processors are also very important. Thanks to these tools, we can constantly enrich our written work, gaining greater confidence to conclude our work.
We should also mention desktop publishers which are like high-powered word processors. These enable the editing of the most complex pages of newspapers, leaflets, books, magazines, etc. Possibly in the future these publishers will merge with word processors in a single instrument with multiple functions. Another family of processors or page creators are those that combine text, video and animation or virtual reality for presentation on networks (Webs), screens or Internet pages. Experience with these instruments is still very recent but indications are that this will be an important family of tools in the future. Prompt implementation of these tools in digital education will create new generations of students with fewer limitations on the expression of their ideas and their communication.
The word processor is also a great ally when we must work as a group, in particular when we want to present the same document as a team. For text co-authors who need to permanently interact to polish, improve and enrich each of their paragraphs one of the most valuable tools are the so-called "annotations". These are comments which instead of being in the margin of the page are inserted in the text itself without altering it and which can be used to guide the author in improving his work. When there are several authors of a single work it is advisable for each to respect "to the letter" the work of colleagues. This tool is essentially non-invasive, enabling the correction, criticism or clarification of the original text while respecting the ideas of each participant. Finally, the text processor linked to a good electronic mail system also enables an idea to travel, be transformed and enriched without limits in a clear, friendly and rapid way over the network. This book was written and corrected in this way between Buenos Aires and San Isidro, especially at weekends.
There can be no doubt that the word processor has become an irreplaceable tool of digital education and has already created a level of quality in intellectual production. It is surprising that schools still continue to assign priority to hand-writing and calligraphy. As we said earlier, few are willing to admit that children learn faster and better with a computer than with a pencil and notebook. Tradition weighs heavily and denies the evidence.
