Amazing Writing Machine: Desktop publishing software program that enables students from first through fifth grade to narrate stories to peers and adults by integrating graphics into their text.

Audience-driven writing: student writing focused on accommodating the final product to a specific audience, beyond the classroom.

Desktop publishing (DTP): Software type which enables users to produce text formatted for publication directly from a desktop computer.

E-mail: Communication form based on the exchange of computer stored messages via telecommunication over the Internet.

Expanded audience: Growth in the scope and nature of audiences for student writing that is facilitated by technology and that adds school peers and students around the globe to the traditional audience of teachers, peers, and family.

Hyperlinks: Connections which allow users to jump from one location to another within or between documents.

Hyperstudio: Software program, commonly used in schools, which allows students to create multimedia documents. Student documents can include text, graphics, sound, and motion video.

Microsoft PowerPoint: Presentation software with which students can make a series of slides including text, graphics, sound, and/or video to accompany their presentations.

Multimedia composing: Production process during which students collect, generate, store, and manipulate images, sounds, video, and text to create computer documents that combine these features.

Presentation applications: Software designed to create word and picture sequences which enhance presentation of information.

Presenting phase: Stage of the writing process in which students focus on how best to present their work to the intended audience.

Product-driven writing: student writing focused on creating a final product which satisfy a set of product-associated criteria, rather than explicit or implicit teacher expectations.

Publishing phase: Stage of the writing process in which students focus on how and where to display their work in a meaningful manner for themselves and their intended audience.