How Writing Support Contributes to Student Success
- by Mary C. Alexander, MA, Director, Center for Writing Excellence - University of Phoenix
Writing is important, and writing well is key to success in college and in
the workplace. The University of Phoenix curriculum emphasizes writing, and the
University recognized early that students needed better writing skills.
University of Phoenix, like many post-secondary institutions, offered labs at
its various campuses, but with the addition of many geographically-dispersed
campuses and the development of the Online Campus, the University was confronted
with the challenge of providing high-quality, convenient, and consistent
services to large numbers of learners.
In 1999 the University opened its first centrally-managed system called the
Virtual Writing Lab. This first online lab was a simple email box that allowed
students to send in course assigned essays that specially trained faculty
reviewed to provide basic writing and grammar skills feedback to students. This
first initiative became so successful that it grew from 50 papers per month in
1999 to 4,000 papers per month in 2001.
Early in 2002, the staff of the Virtual Writing Lab began development of the
automated system named WritePointSM. Like many
inventions, this one came about out of sheer necessity and the will to survive.
This essay evaluation software program reviews students’ written work within a
matter of seconds and provides feedback for grammar, punctuation, word usage,
and style. WritePointSM inserts comments
directly into the text to recommend changes, and the student picks up writing
tips literally by osmosis in rewriting the essay according to the
suggestions—and each essay is incrementally better.
Now, in May 2006, there is no longer a Virtual Writing Lab that is simply an
email box and a few sample papers on a static page. In its place is the Center
for Writing Excellence that provides services to students in a face-to-face
environment, electronically with writing lab reviewers who are faculty members,
and with our automated system: WritePointSM.
More than 250,000 students use our services each month, with 95% of them
choosing WritePointSM. Reasons for the
overwhelming use of WritePointSM include the
following: quality, consistency, speed, accuracy, anonymity, and comprehensive
feedback. Faculty members often require that students use the WritePointSM
system so that faculty can devote their time to providing feedback on the more
substantive matters of essay development and content.
What about student performance? Do our students’ writing skills improve? Do
they stay in school longer? Are they less anxious about writing? Studies
performed by the Department of Institutional Research and Effectiveness have
shown a strong correlation between use of the resources in the Center for
Writing Excellence and student retention, grade point average, and student
satisfaction.
The Center for Writing Excellence and its resources for aiding students in
improving their writing is but one of the many learning resources developed for
students here at the University of Phoenix. The University has shared the
knowledge of these resources with post-secondary institutions at several
conferences, workshops, and seminars, and likewise, the University has drawn
inspiration from many other institutions. The Center for Writing Excellence is
another example of how the University of Phoenix is taking education back to the
basics and into the future.
