Teaching invention strategies on the computer offers solutions to the problems of selection and presence by providing a variety of invention strategy alternatives. These strategies inform the teacher of the rhetorical task at hand and allow communication to exist at all stages of writing. A writer using a computer and a pool of heuristic applications has available a range of strategies appropriate to both different rhetorical situations and to various moments within the writing process. The computer can help the writer to become more aware of options by prompting with a series of randomly selected heuristics, allowing the teacher to intervene earlier and more effectively in the writing process than is typically the case. An assignment programmed into the computer enables the writer to begin the heuristic activity immediately and the teacher to be present, influencing how student writers first represent the writing problem to themselves. The computer allows teachers to offer a variety of heuristic strategies and to be present to the writer at the time when most needed--during the composing process itself. The computer changes the way teacher and student approach writing by representing it as invention centered and process oriented. Twenty-four references are listed. (Author/JD)