Nuts and bolts session

Title: A Web-based tool for improving students’ writing skills

Gail Huon and Kylie Oliver

Abstract

We have developed a Web-based tool to enhance students’ written communication skills. Our principal rationale was to develop a tool that could be used to assist students, whatever their discipline, in their learning of the writing process. A second goal was to provide students with a learning environment that was engaging and interactive.

The writing tool is based on a comprehensive model of the writing process that we developed and have been refining over the last two years. The model of the writing process focuses on generic writing skills. The model encompasses the entire writing process, from clarifying the purpose of a piece of written work to editing the final draft. The model comprises four major stages - researching for writing, preparing for writing, writing, and reflecting on writing. Each of these stages has specific learning modules. Each module contains written information and examples. Attached to each module are activities that focus specifically on the information contained in the module. The activities are interactive, that is, they provide immediate feedback and reflection on the feedback. The activities have been carefully designed to reinforce learning and allow users’ to establish where they might need further understanding before moving to the next module. Students are encouraged to start at the beginning of the writing process and work their way to the end. Students are also provided with a writing task. This task can be completed as they work through the writing process, and it can form a piece of written work that they then submit for assessment. To help the students complete the writing task, the tool provides a guided example. In essence, the guided example is a writing task that we have worked through using the web-based tool.

We will present our tool and highlight its key features. We will focus on the development of a comprehensive model of the writing process that formed the basis of the tool, the collaborative involvement of students in an iterative process of development, the optimisation of graphic and instructional design, and the benefits to students and to teachers. The important learning outcomes are outlined. The problems we encountered and our methods for overcoming these problems will also be discussed.