The Digital Poetry Machine Supporting Lower Secondary Students’ Poetry Writing

In this study we investigate whether a digital tool supports lower secondary school students in poetry writing and influences on students’ perceptions of poetry. It is essential to find new means to develop students’ weakening writing competencies with digital tools and methods. This study analyzed students' perceptions of poems before and after writing poems with a co-creative tool called the Poetry Machine and the log data of poems written with it. We found that draft poems offered by the tool supported the students. Interestingly, this support received a higher evaluation by male students compared with the assessment by female students. The participants' perceptions of poetry writing changed positively during the period when using the tool and most of them considered writing with it to be easy and fun. Our findings suggest that digital tools have the potential to change positively perceptions about challenging literary forms, such as poetry, and especially to support male students in writing. Digital tools, such as the Poetry Machine, offer opportunities to motivate students in online learning. However, the young students need support both in face-to-face and online learning environments.