Developmental Writing and MOOCs

Online education has created a path for universities to expand their geographical and financial bases, per se, by creating virtual classrooms in which students can be present from anywhere, at virtually any time, and do not require the cost of housing facilities, dining, and other expenses that universities (and students) incur beyond the cost of their education itself. The effects of this geographical and financial expansion are far reaching—more so than we sometimes imagine. If we apply this expanse to the multifaceted concept of access, and narrow that focus to one of the most at-risk student populations—developmental writers—we can clearly map connections and complications between location, politics, and pedagogy, all of which have a direct effect on the students and faculty who occupy these online classroom spaces. Here, access becomes most complicated, because it represents in part a geographical and political open door into an education that was previously inaccessible; however, in examining the ways in which some online educational spaces have ultimately developed, the political and financial benefits of MOOCs and other online learning spaces for universities often directly contest disciplinary pedagogies and accepted methods of student support (i.e. small class sizes, individual attention), especially in the case of developmental writers and other at-risk student populations. Ultimately, the relationship of developmental writing and MOOCs in the field's discussions of 21st century literacies, pedagogy, and student success, and in practice, serves to complicate or fully redefine our field's concept of remediation and development, and in doing so, assists us re-thinking the development of large-scale online writing instruction at institutions that do not have the need or resources for creating a writing MOOC specifically.

A Cognitive Technology to Teach Composition Skills: Four Studies with the R-Wise Writing Tutor

Four studies examined the effectiveness of user-adaptive computer-aided instruction that explicitly models the cognitive processes of composing for developmental writers, and is integrated with classroom composition instruction. The four school-year studies were designed to build on each other, each informing design improvements to a writing tutor named Reading and Writing in a Supportive Environment (R-WISE) as well as informing subsequent research designs. The first year study ( N = 852) compared traditional classroom controls with R-WISE treatment classrooms. The second year study ( N = 1,151) compared students using R-WISE with students using a word processor. The third year study ( N = 1,277) measured the effect of the teacher's instructional style, and the level of student control over the R-WISE software, on student performance. The fourth year study ( N = 617) replicated previous studies. The treatment groups for the four studies each posted significant gains over controls on most holistic and analytical measures of writing quality. The results of testing multiple design factors of R-WISE demonstrated the efficacy of long-term evaluation and enhancement of user-adaptive writing software in a field-based context.