Writing Trek Program

Name of Technology: Writing Trek

Category of AT: WRITING: spelling, conventions & word choice

Description of how the technology works: You must install the program onto a computer for children to access the software. Once installed, students can open it and choose one of six different locations to explore: Poetry Corner, Design Studio, Story Place, News Center, Research Hall, and Theatre. The whole idea is that writing is an adventure, and students venture from world to world with a click of the mouse and access information pertinent to the title of each place. For example in Poetry Corner, the students can play games (Punctuation Jukebox), access a writing handbook, and refer to a rhyming dictionary- all with the aid of colorful characters and interactive interfaces. These locations/activities are enhanced even more by the use of music, animation, and sound effects. There are also other games and activities such as Spelling Highway, a section on comics in the Design Studio, and even how to create your own script to create your own puppet show. Overall, it provides a variety of ways and a multitude of information for students to engage in writing practices and learning.

Universal Design Principle:
Representation of information: The rules, methods, and tools for writing are all included in this program- the information is all there, but just presented through a computer screen. The advantage to having this software is that information is interactive and engaging for students. It is certainly more fun to explore these worlds than it would be to sit in a classroom and give them a list of writing rules. It also provides them with practices and instant, individual feedback that would be time-consuming for a teacher. Punctuation Jukebox only plays a little tune if you choose the correct punctuation described in the question; if you get the wrong answer, it plays a sour note. The assessments are instant and the games are educational, but the content for learning better writing practices is the same as if you learned them in a lecture-type setting.

Target groups/Learning Goals: What's wonderful about this software is that everyone can benefit from it. It certainly offers basic information and simple games which are helpful when introducing new writing concepts to your class, but for students who know this content already, it provides writing tools such as rhyming dictionaries, which they can refer to as often as they would like.
I certainly believe that this could help students who have difficulty paying attention in class, as the software is attention-grabbing and interesting. For students who have difficulty listening to and interpreting information through lecture, Writing Trek provides the same information through several visually stimulating screens.

Reservations: Something I noticed almost immediately about the software is that the illustrations are a bit outdated. The programming and colors do not look modern and are certainly a little "bulkier" and a lot less sleek, as many websites today are more simple and sleek- like the layout of this blog for instance. I'm concerned that since the software is a bit older, students in future classes wouldn't respond to it as well as if it had a more contemporary look  to it. These days, when young children have constant access to facebook and video games with very advanced image quality, it might be something the children find old, boring, or even too outdated to be relevant to their current learning. Also, I assume that students having access to their own computer in a class is limited at best, so taking turns is definitely necessary. And of course, this software costs money and confidence in installation and handling technological difficulties on the part of the teacher if it malfunctions or freezes. Relying on this technology alone for writing education would be inconvenient if, say a power outage occurs and you have no back up plan.

Questions: Is there a more updated version of this software, with the same basic idea? Is there any way to monitor progress of each student so that results from games/quizzes are sent to the teacher afterwards? How much does this software cost and how many computers can you legally install it on?