HETS has established collaboration with Miami Dade, as part of its FIPSE eWriting Project. This collaboration would allow HETS members to have access and provide their students with access to innovative ESL online modules and resources. Through 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, is a cost-effective, student friendly tool for increasing the ability of students to write in English at the college level.
ESL Modules Through MDC`s FIPSE eWriting Project
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. Although developed for ESL purposes, the upper 4 levels of the 6-level program would benefit College Prep students.
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 (also Angel and Blackboard), basic computer skills, word processing, Internet skills, and study skills. The flexibility of the program design allows 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.
