ABSTRACT
About 10 years ago, we began to develop QUILL, a computer program whose purpose was to help upper elementary school students develop as writers. Our vision of QUILL was not one of a program that taught writing skills directly, but rather of one containing tools with which students and teachers could create a literacy environment in the classroom. By this we meant that QUILL would support collaboration; it would encourage writing for real audiences, with writing goals that came from the students; it would integrate reading and writing activities; it would foster a process for writing that included planning, critical thinking, and revising; and it would empower students so that they would understand the reasons for their learning and become actively engaged in furthering it.
