eWriting: ESL Writing
Success
The ultimate goal of the three-year eWriting Grant
is to significantly improve the writing skills of ESL students by creating a
content-rich, instructionally sound, interactive online writing lab program in
six levels. Miami-Dade College (MDC) provides an ideal setting for developing
and implementing this program because of: 1) the nature of the student
population -12,000 students enroll in ESL classes each year, 2) the experience
and expertise of ESL faculty and staff in teaching and developing online
curriculum, 3) the technologies available at the college, 4) the substantial
support of College Training and Development (CT&D) and all other
departments involved in the project.
Although the project had a late start, the first year
progress is significant – most of the objectives stated in the project’s
strategic plan for year 1 were achieved and some surpassed through the
resourcefulness and dedication of project staff, writers’ teams, advisory board
members, college experts, trainers, and everyone contributing to the
development of the program.
Objective 1: Hire Project Manager and
Assistants. The appointment of a Project Manager was delayed by five months due
to unforeseen difficulties related to hiring procedures during that period. The
standard college recruiting and hiring practices related to this goal were
headed by the Project Director with the participation of the Associate Dean of
Learning Resources, and the appointed screening committees. The Project Manager
was hired on March 7, 2003, on a full-time basis.
There are four part time assistants and one
test-bank programmer working for the project. Apart from general duties, they
are responsible for: 1)Tracking and reporting budget and maintaining
documentation; 2) Piloting content materials and assisting faculty during
classroom piloting of content; 3) Entering statistical data which measures
student learning during initial piloting of materials; 4) Technology training,
online design and production of online project materials for computer literacy
skills; and 5) developing the online test bank for the project.
Objective 2: Identify faculty for
content development.
The goal was to appoint three teams of two ESL
full-time faculty members to develop the content for levels three, four, and
five of the six-level eWriting lab program by the end of year one. The teams were established and will complete
the materials by August 31, 2003.
Objective 3: Complete technology training
for writers and staff.
During the period August 2002 – July
2003, numerous training workshops were organized and sponsored by CT&D.
Some of them, such as the FIPSE Technology Focus Group and Design Your Own
Spring Break Workshop, were especially tailored to suit the needs of the
project Below are a few of the CT&D
training workshops at MDC, attended by FIPSE faculty and staff, and the
outcomes:
1. WebCT Online
Testing Workshop, Feb 26 – April 2, 2003. Participants learned to create online
database of questions, import questions from text file, create quizzes and
feedback, modify quizzes and review students’ submissions and reports. The
overall rating of the workshop was 82% positive, of which - 85% satisfaction
with instructor’s qualifications, 100% agreement with the relevance of course
material and 92% satisfaction with the outcome/final project of the workshop.
2. BlueGLAS
Training and Presentation, March 15-17,2003. The founder of BlueGLAS at
BlueShoe Technologies presented an in-depth training on the course development
software. MDC faculty from various campuses, project staff, advisory board
members, out-of-state language experts and university professors, lab managers
and assistants participated in the training.
In the evaluation of this workshop, satisfaction was over 85%.
3. Macromedia
Education Day, April 11, 2003. Information sessions and training in Macromedia
products: Studio MX, Dreamweaver MX, Macromedia Contribute, Macromedia Director
MX.
4.
FIPSE Focus Group Workshop, April 17, 2003. The event was
organized by the project staff, sponsored by CT&D, and attended by faculty
from various programs at the College, content developers, advisory board
members, and technology trainers. One workshop objective was to identify
possible applications of BlueGLAS, Wimba, Camtasia, Impatica, Impatica OnCue,
Toolbook, Flashlight and Hot Potatoes in the six level eWriting lab courses.
Participants worked together to develop correlation strategies matching the
online development tools with the content elements and activities of a Learning
Objective (LO). Learning styles were
also matched with these tools, and a rubric developed that will guide the
development of online content.
5.
Design
Your Own Spring Break Workshop, May 5-8, 2003.
Three content developers were selected to attend this four-day
workshop. They completed projects in
interactive online design of sample LOs for the eWriting project. The authors’
design suggestions will be used by the technology experts for the online design
of the LOs next year. The feedback surveys indicated a satisfaction rate of
over 95% for the workshop.
6.
Flashlight
Online Survey Development, May 13, 2003. The workshop was organized by
CT&D. This tool is being used to develop surveys to evaluate grant
activities.
Project staff and writers have attended many workshops and training sessions at the College during the first FIPSE year that have been beneficial to the project progress and dissemination, namely: Critical Challenges in Education: Online Copyright Issues Online; FrontPage Basics; Excel Basics; Odyssey Finance System Training, WebCT Tools Introduction; WebCT and Thomson Learning Focus Groups.
The Project Director attended 3 out-of-state conferences that were indispensable to the launch and development of the project: the Annual FIPSE Project Directors Meeting, the NFLC conference, and the Fifth Annual WebCT Conference.
Objective 4: Develop the content for three levels of the eWriting lab program. By August 2003, the teams will have completed the content development of levels three, four, and five. These intermediate levels will serve as models to the remaining levels. The following steps in the content development were outlined, refined, and adopted in the process of writing:
Step 1: Develop competencies for the eWriting lab. The Project Director with the help of the writers’ team outlined the competencies of the 6 level eWriting lab based on the college-wide grammar and writing competencies. A draft of computer literacy skills and competencies was also developed.
Step 2: Outline table of contents for the three levels. The Project Manager, the Project Director, and college experts on course design suggested a model for curriculum design. The course materials are organized in units according to the rhetorical focus, functional objective, and language structures. The college competencies, level of difficulty, and continuity between levels were basic considerations in designing the curriculum. The design was discussed, modified, and approved by the grant writers and design team.
Step 3: Define the Learning Object (the basic structural unit of the eWriting lab courses). FIPSE writers and staff defined the length, components, types of activities, language structures, and content-related themes of an LO. Each writing team produced a model LO. A FIPSE Focus Group meeting was held, and the three LOs were presented, critiqued, and approved. Then the tools for developing the online presentation of each LO component were presented (described later). The eWriting concept of an LO was also inspired by successful models created by other institutions and organizations, especially that of the National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland (NFLC), the originators of LangNet.
For the eWriting program, an LO is defined as a one hour self-contained, reusable (portable) unit of online instruction. It does not link out, nor does it depend on other LOs for pre or post instruction. It pre-tests students’ knowledge of the target concept and measures learning through a post-test. It incorporates a myriad of technology tools for the express purpose of addressing a variety of learning styles.
Step 4: Develop a checklist of LO content elements. Each LO consists of the following structural elements: a functional objective, anticipated time to complete LO, a pre-test, a warm-up, up to 3 learning activities (each starting with a presentation and finishing with a self-check), a post-test, and a student evaluation of the LO. Completed LO are measured against a comprehensive checklist of the content elements.
Step 5: Produce paper versions of LOs, pilot, and evaluate them in grammar and writing classes. A grant assistant helps the professors in the classroom, collecting data on duration of the LO, clarity of presentation, level of difficulty, interest level, and organization of material. Assistants correct the papers and enter statistical information on degree of completion of each activity and of the LO, pre and post tests results and average. Initial results from the piloting of LOs are indicating a 20-30% increase in learning (based on pre and post test scores).
Step 6: Edit and submit a revised version of the LO. The writer then edits the material based on the feedback.
Step 7: Selection of the appropriate tools and online design. (The programming of the Learning Objects will begin in August.)
Objective 5: Develop course test banks. Test banks, entry and exit
exams were developed for all six levels of the eWriting lab. The total number
of test bank elements developed so far for all six level of the eWriting project
are 2,679. All items incorporate
instructional feedback for all incorrect responses.
Second year plan, changes and delays:
Goals for year 2 of the Grant have been added. They
include the following: 1) Train new faculty teams for levels one, two and six, 2) Finish piloting and revision of levels three,
four and five, 3) A plan has been outlined to involve full-time and adjunct ESL
faculty from all MDC campuses in the piloting, 4) Develop and pilot online LOs
for levels three, four and five, 5) Design models for the online versions of
the LOs, 6)Develop the content for levels 1,2 &6, 7) Begin piloting the content of levels one, two, and six
college-wide, 8) Hire reviewers for online LOs, 9) Collect evaluation data and
disseminate project, 10) Present at conferences, 11) Publish articles about the project in professional journals, and
12) develop a comprehensive project Website.
13) Produce CD’s for BlueGLAS
training and for online computer literacy skills.
The appointment of a Project Manager was delayed by
five months due to unforeseen difficulties related to hiring procedures at the
College during the period Oct- Feb, 2003.
Improving the quality of teaching and learning:
The extensive training that faculty receive
throughout the project have helped enhance their teaching skills. The writers
are not only developing the content but also incorporating design ideas their
LOs. A level 5 writer states: "As project writers,
we've not only developed quality instructional materials, we've also developed
as ESL teachers. We've been well equipped through many
excellent training workshops and have been given the time
necessary to implement skills acquired from that training.
Professional growth has been an unexpected but welcome 'perk' from working on
this project."
Another outcome of the project training aspect has been the enthusiasm for teaching with technology generated in the faculty involved in the project. Writers on the FIPSE team have introduced their colleagues WebCT, the tool selected to deploy the final grant product at the College, and currently over half of the full-time faculty in the department use WebCT to enhance their own teaching. As the word spreads about the grant ESL faculty from all MDC campuses have indicated interest in contributing to and becoming a part of the project.
Due to the warm reception of piloted materials, an additional outcome of year 1 activities is the request of faculty to have paper versions of the lessons available for future use in the ESL classroom. The scale of the grant has been enlarged and the project products will also include accompanying textbooks and teachers’ guides for each level.
Impact on Educational
Practices:
Originally, the intent was to limit the curriculum development to the Kendall Campus during the initial phases of the project and later disseminate the products college-wide. However, ESL faculty from other campuses have requested active participation in the project. They were invited and have attended eWriting Focus Group meetings, Advisory Board meetings, training sessions, Conference Day presentations and will be part of the content development, piloting and review processes in years 2 and 3.
Evaluation proceedings:
All grant-related activities, such as trainings,
meetings, content development, design tools workshops, and piloting procedures
have been evaluated and data has been collected and analyzed.
An external project evaluator was retained in May,
2003, to track and measure the project progress and to design and implement
evaluation plans and strategies for each year of the program in keeping with
FIPSE requirements. The first year
report, as well as the second and third year evaluation plans, were presented,
discussed and approved at the annual eWriting Advisory Board Meeting, June
27&28, 2003.
The evaluation plans for years 2 and 3 will measure
1) The effect on students:
Pre-and post-tests will be
conducted online for each of the target courses, comparison students will be
pre-and post-tested in three traditional lab classes on the same level. Analysis of Covariance will be used to
determine differences between the groups with respect to dependent variables of
interest, including retention in class, CPT scores, exit exams, and measures of
writing competence controlling for entering levels of knowledge and other
measures of writing competence which may be available.
Students will take
attitudinal measures to indicate levels of satisfaction with various phases of
the target courses and this will be an additional dependent variable in the
study.
Initial and final writing
samples of students in the target courses will be compared with writing samples
from students in traditional lab classes on the same level.
2) The effects on faculty using the materials: Observations of the teachers’ use of materials will be conducted to verify usage of appropriate classroom strategies. Teachers will be surveyed to determine their perceptions of various issues surrounding use of materials including changes in pupil responses.
Sustainability of project:
The ESL writing curriculum has been developed and refined over the past 33 years at MDC. The purpose of the eWriting program is to meet the need for ESL students to have easy access (any time, any place) to interactive lessons to help them improve their writing skills. There has also been a need for online tutorials to reinforce the 6 levels of writing taught in the ESL classroom.
The institutionalization of the program has already begun – four campuses are involved and the other have expressed an interest in project participation.
The in-kind contributions of the college to the
project development are significant. Even before the awarding of the grant, MDC
had already invested over $1,000,000 in infrastructure and software to enhance
the teaching in the ESL labs. The college in-kind contributions so far are
approximately $1,084,000, and fall into several categories: software,
workshops, labs, supplies, equipment, computers and staff support.