According to a new report, there are three effective strategies instructors can employ to improve student writing skills.
Published by the Alliance for Excellent Education, the report examines whether formative assessment can improve students’ writing skills and what techniques are best to help them improve.
Student writing skills can be improved by having teachers provide students regular feedback, track their progress, and encourage them to evaluate their own skills, finds a new report, “Informing Writing: The Benefits of Formative Assessment.”
Merit web-based writing programs can help teachers accomplish the three tasks outlined in the report.
The screen shot below shows how teachers can:
- View student writing within an online portfolio to give feedback. (See “View Student’s Work” in blue box.)
- Determine if students have viewed editing sections for self-assessment purposes. (See “Section Progress” in green box at left in the screen shot.)
- Monitor the writing progress of entire classes as they work. (All student records can be accessed by using the double arrows shown at top of screen shot.)
Here is a link to the report:
http://www.all4ed.org/files/InformingWriting.pdf
Click here to learn more about Merit web-based writing programs.
I’ve always felt it’s important to remind my students to check, and recheck, their grammar and vocabulary, even though it is exasperating at times.