ERIC Number: EJ1009196
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0260-2938
EISSN: N/A
A Scaffolded Approach to Discussion Board Use for Formative Assessment of Academic Writing Skills
Horstmanshof, Louise; Brownie, Sonya
Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, v38 n1 p61-73 2013
Mastery of academic writing skills remains one of the greatest challenges for university students, especially in the first year. Amongst the reasons offered for the challenges are lack of clarity about the university's expectations and low levels of teacher feedback on work submitted, a failure to engage, and low levels of contact with teaching staff and other students. Academic staff are challenged by increased class numbers and increased student diversity in classes and university policies to adopt a wide range of information technologies into teaching modes. In this paper, we offer one attempt at addressing these three important contemporary academic challenges: use of information technology to provide timely feedback through formative assessment to help students with a range of abilities to acquire the academic writing skills necessary to succeed in higher education. Early indications show that students find this form of formative assessment very useful. They value the timely and focused feedback from the lecturer and are developing collegiality as they learn from each others' writing and feedback. We believe that this strategy is sustainable and can be adapted to facilitate academic and social integration for students across many disciplines. (Contains 1 table.)
Descriptors: Formative Evaluation, Scaffolding (Teaching Technique), Writing Skills, Academic Discourse, Technology Uses in Education, Feedback (Response), Web 2.0 Technologies, Performance Factors, Barriers, Change Strategies, Instructional Improvement, Participant Satisfaction, Student Diversity, Educational Environment, Aptitude Treatment Interaction, Teaching Methods, Evaluation Methods, Online Courses, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A