Smart Kids Software, Educational Software



The Center for Online Writing Instruction and Exchange

Writing Rules! meets two purposes:
•	provides direct instruction in writing mechanics
•	makes it easier for teachers to assign writing, review it and generally encourage writing development (all without paper or email)

A comprehensive learning environment employs two themes, one for younger students and one for middle school to adult. Each theme or course provides detailed instruction in all the basics of writing. More themes and courses are planned for the future.

		The Workbook provides instruction in punctuation, verb tenses, noun forms, pronoun forms and more. Each lesson clearly identifies how each rule improves communication. Each new rule is rehearsed using interactive editing challenges. All student work and results are automatically recorded.

		The Rulebook presents searchable grammatical conventions and examples. The Journal provides structured online writing assignments from the teacher, a mentor, the user, or Writing Rules! itself. The Showcase lets users share their proudest works with others.

	A powerful instructional management system empowers teachers to create writing assignments, assign them as appropriate, review student writing and easily interact with their students.

		Say goodbye to brief cases full of essays and inboxes full of emails to process.

		Say hello to convenient learning management accessible anywhere any time.

Everything is online! No application downloads! Compatible with all popular browsers on all operating systems.

For a video introduction to Writing Rules!, click the Preview button.


Benefits

Writing Rules! directly meets the following educational requirements:

•	Supports state and provincial language curriculum objectives
	Structured lessons address all the major writing principles required from elementary school through university level competence.
•	Makes it interesting and exciting to learn to write
	One theme uses a story approach that appeals to younger children. A second theme presents writing skills in greater depth with a more direct instructional approach suitable for middle school students to adult. All themes use videos that create interest, show the reasons behind writing principles, and convey new concepts effectively.
•	Ensures maximum transfer from instruction to practice
	New skills are rehearsed by having students edit writing challenges just like they do in real writing. No multiple choice questions. This ensures students internalize writing mechanics so they are more likely to be practiced in their regular work.
•	Makes the job of teaching writing easier
	Writing Rules! relieves teachers of record keeping tasks, lets them easily assign writing exercises, allows them to mark work efficiently, and facilitates constructive exchanges with students. No more briefcases full of essays to mark. No more emails to process. All exchanges are made online.
•	Empowers teachers
	Teachers can easily create writing assignments for their students and determine what elements their students experience. Teachers can share writing assignments to build an exciting and comprehensive content pool ready for use any time.
•	Empowers students
	The ultimate goal of writing instruction is to enable students to effectively communicate. In Writing Rules! students can write, experiment and create using the skills they acquire directly from Writing Rules! and from the invaluable comments they receive from teachers and peers.
•	Scales to fit any size of instructional population
	Whether you have ten students or ten thousand, Writing Rules! has the structure and management features that allow any complexity of instructional system from the home-schooling family through to districts, colleges, universities and states.
•	Accessible from anywhere
	All users have access and login capability from wherever they learn or manage instruction.
•	Maximum performance with minimum slowdown
	Writing Rules! has been engineered to comply with Web 2.0 guidelines, to require no plug-in installations, and to execute all functions as efficiently as possible with minimal interruption and delay.
•	Supported with offline resources
	Writing Rules! presents online videos to introduce each topic. The videos are also available on DVD so teachers can use them as classroom instruction tools when computer access is limited or additional instruction time permits.
•	Open to customer direction
	Writing Rules! has already changed and improved dramatically since it was first shown to selected audiences. We have many more ideas to implement and we welcome your own recommendations and contributions.


Video Preview

Writing Rules! has two instructional themes. Captain Capitals teaches writing skills using a story-based approach that appeals to younger students. Learn the Rules takes a more direct approach that appeals to middle school students through adults. The previews below are offered to students as their introduction to Writing Rules!



The downloadable videos require QuickTime Player .


Awards and Reviews

	Over the coming months, we look forward to posting reviews and awards. In the meantime...

	Review Writing Rules! yourself by clicking the FREE Trial button.

	Let us know if you represent a publication or review council. We will be happy to provide a full tour and review subscription.

	Let us know when you have comments, questions, concerns or suggestions for our development team.


System Compatibility and Requirements

	Writing Rules! is entirely online so it operates using the Internet browser of your choice. Writing Rules! is specifically tested to comply with Macintosh and Windows computers operating the latest versions of:
	• Internet Explorer
	• Mozilla Firefox
	• Safari

	Writing Rules! requires no downloads but must have the following features enabled on browsers:
	• Java (for interactive functionality)
	• Cookies (for temporary session management)
	• Flash (for movies)

	Writing Rules! is engineered to minimize band-width requirements and maximize performance. Like all online applications, a high-speed Internet connection will provide the most satisfying experience.

	Each Workbook lesson presents a video to convey the lesson content. Each movie is less than 7MB in size and has been optimized to require the least bandwidth to operate. Flash is required to operate the movies.

	DVD versions of the Writing Rules! videos may be purchased so teachers can review them with students as a group without reviewing them online. Teacher can also view the movies online with students on a whiteboard or presentation screen.


Enterprise Use

Fits Any Size and Complexity of Organization
	Writing Rules has a hierarchical management system that permits the subscription administrator to allocate sub-domains to managers who in turn can create managers and give them sub-domains.

	This hierarchical structure permits even the largest enterprise to initiate a single subscription and organize managers and users to match the structure of the organization. This includes universities, colleges, instructional co-operatives, virtual schools and virtual universities.

Subscriptions Can Be Co-operatively Shared
	Any group may open a subscription and use it co-operatively among group members. For example, virtual home school co-operatives can share subscriptions and incorporate members as they wish. The only requirement is that a single person or entity must be designated the administrator who pays for the subscription. Subscribers may not sell, lease or rent access to others except as part of the normal course of their business such as a college tuition fee or course fee.

Student Lists Can Be Imported
	Writing Rules! imports student names, classes and passwords from files uploaded in standard non-proprietary formats. This is to make setup as easy as possible. Other importing and exporting functions will be added in time.

Create Content and Share Resources
	Writing Rules! allows teachers to create writing assignments such as story starters and research topics. Within an enterprise, assignments can be categorized and pooled so the whole enterprise shares the resources.

Enterprises Can Host Writing Rules!
	Larger enterprises can contract to host the Writing Rules! center within the enterprise. Bytes of Learning has created a versioning system that keeps multiple remote Writing Rules! sites updated automatically.

Discuss Your Needs With Us
	Please contact us to discuss your needs. We will be happy to suggest how your organization may structure the subscription domain or contract for local hosting. We are also happy to hear about any capabilities that may need to be added to Writing Rules!


Solutions, Subscriptions and Prices

	About Writing Rules! Subscriptions
	A subscription to Writing Rules! may be purchased by any individual or any group or organization whether legally incorporated or not. The only condition is that one person or entity must assume administrative responsibility for subscription payments and domain management. Subscription users may be located anywhere so the organization can be completely virtual. Subscribers may not sell, lease or rent access to others except as part of the normal course of their business such as a college tuition fee or course fee.

	Writing Rules! is structured to accommodate any size of enrollment from very small groups to very large enterprises. See Enterprise Use for more discussion about integration and options for larger enterprises.

	All subscriptions are priced and limited by the number of student users. For example, a district that has a 1500-user subscription may create up to 1,500 student accounts plus any number of teacher or manager accounts with any number of sub-groups and sub-domains. Administrator, teacher and manager accounts are not counted for subscription pricing purposes.

	All subscriptions are priced and limited by the semester or by the year. Multi-semester and multi-year subscriptions are available. When a subscription expires, teachers may log in and review student work for a grace period but students may not log in. Administrators must renew the subscription in order to regain full use. On request, a subscription may remain dormant for a period of time until renewal monies become available.

	Subscriptions expire conveniently. For instance, a one-year subscription initiated in March 2008 expires June 30 2009. The additional time is granted so the subscription is not terminated earlier than a school year normally ends. A semester subscription actually lasts 5 months even though the expected usage is 4 months. Custom subscription expirations are available.

	A group subscription can start with as few as 8 student users. The next increment is 35 users. Thereafter, group sizes can be requested to the nearest 5-, 10- or 25- user blocks depending on the size of the subscription. We can provide a quotation for any number of users and period you require.

	An existing subscription can be expanded any time by purchasing additional student user accounts.

	When a subscription is renewed, existing student accounts can be continued through the new term or they may be deleted to add new user accounts. The creation or use of one student account within the subscription period counts as one user account, which may not be reused or recycled.

	The Writing Rules! center is hosted by Bytes of Learning. Larger enterprises may host the Writing Rules! center on their own servers subject to mutually agreeable contracting costs. A versioning service is being implemented to keep remote servers updated.

	We are here to listen and help any time. To determine the best subscription for your needs or discuss any possible situation not identified here, always contact us and confirm by requesting a quote.

The Center for Online Writing Instruction and Exchange

Benefits

Video Preview

Awards and Reviews

System Compatibility and Requirements

Enterprise Use

Fits Any Size and Complexity of Organization

Subscriptions Can Be Co-operatively Shared

Student Lists Can Be Imported

Create Content and Share Resources

Enterprises Can Host Writing Rules!

Discuss Your Needs With Us

Solutions, Subscriptions and Prices

About Writing Rules! Subscriptions

The Center for
Online Writing Instruction and Exchange