Stephanie Willett-Smith (1993) designed a study of a group of fourth graders at the Curry School of Education where the children wrote open letters to Jefferson On-line (letters are answered by network staff). Willett-Smith wanted to see if publishing the students' letters would have an effect on the quality and correctness (grammar and spelling) of the their writing. She used analyses of direct observation of behaviors, student interviews and assessment of the letters to arrive at her conclusions. She noted in her behavioral observations that “students were very excited about having their work put on-line for other students across the state to read” (p. 19). In her interviews with students, she quoted student comments such as, “something real
