scholarly journals The Impact of Taking Basic Writing on Later Writing Course Performance and Graduation at a Career-Focused Four-Year University

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-63
Author(s):  
Justin Nicholes ◽  
Cody Reimer
1979 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-37
Author(s):  
Mary Epes ◽  
Carolyn Kirkpatrick ◽  
Michael G. Southwwell

Author(s):  
Eric M. Fife ◽  
C. Leigh Nelson ◽  
Theresa B. Clarke

An exploratory quasi-experiment of college-level students was used to examine the difference in a variety of course indicators among instructors when they did not use Twitter as a supplement to their courses, when they moderately used Twitter, and when they used Twitter a great deal in their courses. When instructors used Twitter in their classes, perceived learning via technological mediums, perceived classroom community with regard to technological media, perceived pedagogical affect, perceived course effectiveness, perceived learning performance, and perceived perception of learning from Twitter were all greater than when they did not use Twitter in their courses. Overall results of this study recommend further research and a continued focus on the usage of Twitter in the higher education classroom.


1990 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 489-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Herrington ◽  
Marcia Curtis

Reacting to what many considered a racially motivated conflict on the UMass/Amherst campus in 1986, Anne J. Herrington and Marcia Curtis felt compelled to reconstruct their Basic Writing course to give voice to minority students usually kept on the fringes — "marginalized" — academically and socially within the university. They aimed to create a curriculum that reflected an accurate image of the university's students, to affirm the diversity of the student body rather than deny it. They changed their reading list to include predominantly non-White authors and encouraged students to engage in a dialogue with those authors while reflecting in writing on their own experience of marginalization. By raising students' consciousness and by encouraging students to speak out through their writings, Herrington and Curtis contributed to the acceptance and respect their students demanded — to validate the voices on the margin — as they accomplished their academic aims for the course.


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. ar16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian K. Sato ◽  
Amanda K. Lee ◽  
Usman Alam ◽  
Jennifer V. Dang ◽  
Samantha J. Dacanay ◽  
...  

Despite the ubiquity of prerequisites in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics curricula, there has been minimal effort to assess their value in a data-driven manner. Using both quantitative and qualitative data, we examined the impact of prerequisites in the context of a microbiology lecture and lab course pairing. Through interviews and an online survey, students highlighted a number of positive attributes of prerequisites, including their role in knowledge acquisition, along with negative impacts, such as perhaps needlessly increasing time to degree and adding to the cost of education. We also identified a number of reasons why individuals do or do not enroll in prerequisite courses, many of which were not related to student learning. In our particular curriculum, students did not believe the microbiology lecture course impacted success in the lab, which agrees with our analysis of lab course performance using a previously established “familiarity” scale. These conclusions highlight the importance of soliciting and analyzing student feedback, and triangulating these data with quantitative performance metrics to assess the state of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics curricula.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meixun Zheng ◽  
Daniel Bender ◽  
Cindy Lyon

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic forced dental schools to close their campuses and move didactic instruction online. The abrupt transition to online learning, however, has raised several issues that have not been resolved. While several studies have investigated dental students’ attitude towards online learning during the pandemic, mixed results have been reported. Additionally, little research has been conducted to identify and understand factors, especially pedagogical factors, that impacted students’ acceptance of online learning during campus closure. Furthermore, how online learning during the pandemic impacted students’ learning performance has not been empirically investigated. In March 2020, the dental school studied here moved didactic instruction online in response to government issued stay-at-home orders. This first-of-its-kind comparative study examined students’ perceived effectiveness of online courses during summer quarter 2020, explored pedagogical factors impacting their acceptance of online courses, and empirically evaluated the impact of online learning on students’ course performance, during the pandemic. Method The study employed a quasi-experimental design. Participants were 482 pre-doctoral students in a U.S dental school. Students’ perceived effectiveness of online courses during the pandemic was assessed with a survey. Students’ course grades for online courses during summer quarter 2020 were compared with that of a control group who received face-to-face instruction for the same courses before the pandemic in summer quarter 2019. Results Survey results revealed that most online courses were well accepted by the students, and 80 % of them wanted to continue with some online instruction post pandemic. Regression analyses revealed that students’ perceived engagement with faculty and classmates predicted their perceived effectiveness of the online course. More notably, Chi Square tests demonstrated that in 16 out of the 17 courses compared, the online cohort during summer quarter 2020 was equally or more likely to get an A course grade than the analogous face-to-face cohort during summer quarter 2019. Conclusions This is the first empirical study in dental education to demonstrate that online courses during the pandemic could achieve equivalent or better student course performance than the same pre-pandemic in-person courses. The findings fill in gaps in literature and may inform online learning design moving forward.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 80
Author(s):  
Wisam Chaleila ◽  
Basem Khalaila

While recent literature has focused extensively on the widely embraced approach of explicit instruction, there is a considerable paucity of research concerning plausible practical frameworks that can demonstrate how such particular approach is implementable in EFL classes. To address the specific writing deficiencies of EFL students, the current study proposes an innovative, comprehensive, practical framework that derives from Fisher & Frey’s explicit instruction approach. As such, an experimental three-stage of pretest-posttest design research took stock of the impact of a modified approach on EFL students’ academic writing performance. The research targeted 44 tertiary Arab-Israeli students enrolled in a two-semester academic writing course. The results of the study revealed that the writing performance of the students improved considerably after being exposed to the modified comprehensive explicit instruction program.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 71-99
Author(s):  
Çelen Dimililer ◽  
Mustafa Kurt

This experimental research study attempted to examine the effectiveness of an advanced writing course integrating the stream of consciousness technique and collaborative writing. The writing course was designed for eleven undergraduate English as foreign language students studying at the English language teaching department. Adopting a mixed methods research design, qualitative and quantitative data were used to answer the research questions. Qualitative data were gathered from pre and post-intervention interviews and the quantitative data from the pre and post-tests. The results revealed that a great majority of the participants made considerable progress in terms of creativity and overall writing performance. The fact that the intervention was effective was apparent in a great majority of the participants’ preference for collaborative writing over individual writing and all participants’ preference for the stream of consciousness technique over traditional writing modes. In terms of the use of the stream of consciousness technique and collaborative writing, it was found that collaborative writing was a more pleasing experience. It was also found that due to the intervention they not only made good progress in terms of their writing skills but also their attitudes changed in a positive way towards writing.


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