Markin+and+Keytext

We know of two great ways to use technology **to give feedback on student writing** that have been submitted in digital form The biggest difference between this choice and that of MS Word is that Markin gives students their files html form, meaning the students open your comments with their web browser. These programs take more time to set up but offer the following advantages
 * 1) ===MS Word===
 * __Using Insert/Comment,__ you can highlight a part of student writing, or select an insertion point in it, and write a comment. When the student views the draft, your comments will appear as either inside balloons in the right margin, connected by their "strings" or in pop-ups that appear when the student rolls his/her mouse over text that is highlighted. The difference between these two is whether the student is viewing the paper in Normal or Print Layout View, which can be selected under the View menu. //If kids can't see the comments, have them go to the View menu and see that "Comments" or "Markup" is checked.//
 * __Using Autocorrect__//,//you can "program" Word to insert text of any length each time you type a particular combination of keys; for instance, you might use "cs" (without the quotation marks) to insert an explanation about the comma splice, or, as Tom does, prepare coded responses to problems kids produce in the content of their writing.
 * 1) ===A Combination of [|Markin] and [|Keytext]===

1) an unlimited number of buttons which you can format for any purpose you like (they're separated by positive and negative). You can see the buttons so you don't have to remember what coding you created for your comments. 2) free-form comments just like those in Word; these are numbered so you can refer to them in your comments to kids.
 * MARKIN** ($39.60)
 * Markin uses two methods of making in-text comments:
 * Markin gives you space at the bottom of the document for your general comments to the kids; this is where I also plant my rubric so kids can see how I graded them on specific features of their writing.
 * Most importantly, you can create links to websites such as [|Capital Community College Foundation]'s grammar and writing site created by [|Dr. Charles Darling] (with a great [|Index]), which does a better job of explaining than most of us ever will. This way, if, when you mark a comma splice, a student doesn't know what you mean, s/he can zoom to a site's explanation, often with Powerpoint or other presentation, quizzes, etc.
 * Markin automatically collects statistics on the occurrences of both specific issues (ie., capitalization) and general, by categories you set up, such a Grammar. I set up Markin to reflect the SACRED FOG rubric.

This is a robust [|macro] program that allows you **unlimited ability to store text** for insertion as comments, or anything you don't want to have to type a more than twice; for instance, I use it to insert a simple or complex version of the SACRED FOG rubric, or, when writing student comments, to set up the template that describes the state of the course generally and then creates headers for specific comments on the student's work.
 * KEYTEXT** ($29.95)

The great strength of a macro program is its ability to **perform repetitive keystrokes** such as saving, opening and closing files; for instance, when working on kids' papers, I found myself repeating up to thirty keystrokes to export my comments from Markin, open and format the next kid's essay. With Keytext, I can do the same thing with three or four. It takes some time, again, to set these up, but the relief in using them makes that time well spent for me.

Keytext has a huge number of features, too, such as alarms, insertion of the present date and time -- many features I haven't even tried.

If you do buy these programs, I am more than happy to send you my files so you have a good head start on using them. And, of course, you can tweak my set up any way you wish.

Features of my Markin files Features of my Keytext files