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This project "eWriting: ESL Writing Success" is sponsored
in part by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE),
U.S. Department of Education.
Project
Abstract
The
inability to express themselves in written English continues to be a major
barrier for second language learners seeking self-sufficiency because it
bars both academic and professional paths. Miami-Dade College (MDC) hopes
through this grant to create an accessible, high-quality learning solution
that can make a measurable difference in peoples’ lives.
MDC is the largest educational institution in the United States. The
English as a Second Language (ESL) program at the college enrolls over
12,000 non-native English speaking students per year, making it the most
numerous in the country. More than half of the students who enroll at the
college require preparatory writing courses to enroll in college-level
courses. Through this FIPSE grant, eWriting: ESL Writing Success,
faculty at the College are creating an innovative, flexible, online
writing program for ESL students who need to improve their writing skills
with the accessibility and convenience of being able to practice any place
with access to the Internet. The final product, a six-level, content-rich,
modularized, competency-based, interactive, online writing lab, will be a
cost-effective, student friendly tool for increasing the ability of
students to write in English at the college level.
The overall goal of eWriting is to significantly improve the
writing skills of ESL students by creating a fully online writing lab
program in six levels. The courses will increase students’ writing
competence, preparing them to pass the writing section of the College
Placement Test, to write successfully and to compete for grades with
native speakers of the language in college-level classes. The content of
the online materials encompass the six levels of writing objectives that
have been developed and refined over the past 30 years at MDC. Course
materials are designed and developed by MDC faculty with help from graphic
designers and technology experts. Ultimately, the goal is to enroll over
5,000 students by the end of the three-year grant and to make the program
available to ESL students at all campuses of the College and beyond.
The end product, an online writing lab program, will consist of a
repository of Web-deliverable ESL Learning Objects (LOs).
The content will include over 250 hours of ESL writing instruction
and an additional 100+ hours of instruction on WebCT, basic
computer skills, word processing, Internet skills, and study skills. The
flexibility of the
program design will permit instructors to create and customize
a writing curriculum by selecting the objectives that meet their students'
needs. They
can opt to deliver the material over the Web, in a lab setting, or in the classroom using the materials as
a full course
or just course support. Each
of the six levels of online materials will also be available as textbooks
mirroring the content of the software.
It is a goal of the project to start up, and then jump into the “real
world” for extensive evaluation, using the large numbers of diverse
students from all six campuses of MDC. Evaluation studies are conducted at
each stage of project development to
test the effectiveness of the program.
The faculty teams and staff assembling the eWriting project at MDC
includes Endowed Teaching Chair recipients, national award-winning
professors, published authors, international language consultants, teacher
trainers, software designers, grant directors, award-winning online course
developers, etc. Besides the substantial support of College Training and
Development and all other departments and sectors at MDC, the consultants
and collaborators contributing to the successful outcome of the project
are: Kennesaw State University, Johns Hopkins University, the Hispanic
Educational Telecommunications System at the InterAmerican University of
Puerto Rico, Plato Learning and Feedback Technologies, Inc.
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