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.