Online MS-Word, Instructional Video for Helping Students Turn-on and Use Immediate Writing Feedback: A Longitudinal Study of Developmental Writing Progress and Self-Efficacy
Date
2018-05
Authors
Barry, William J.
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Abstract
Given the percentages of first-year college students whom the system assesses as not college ready in writing, the current study looked to design and evaluate an intervention consisting of a brief online video intervention, which offered developmental writing students Microsoft Word (MS-Word) training on how to use non-default grammar and style feedback settings. Following anecdotal action research and pilot study data suggesting that similar in-class training improved first-year students’ writing outcomes, the current study looked to influence developmental course outcomes as well as next semester enrollment and progress in writing-intensive (WI) courses, while measuring changes in writing self-efficacy (WSE). Participants (N=35) were developmental writing students ages 18-42 at a large multi-campus community college in Texas. Participants took a pre-intervention WSE survey and watched one of two brief (90 seconds) online video trainings, MS-Word (experimental), or a similarly formatted online video training for Google Scholar (comparison). Results suggested MS-Word training increased WSE, improved developmental writing course progress, and improved next semester enrollment and progress in WI courses. The scalability of online interventions such as the one studied here, and the observed changes in WSE, make a compelling case for large-scale replication.
Description
Keywords
Self-efficacy, Developmental education, Developmental writing, Writing self-efficacy, Technology, Word processor
Citation
Barry, W. J. (2018). <i>Online MS-Word, instructional video for helping students turn-on and use immediate writing feedback: A longitudinal study of developmental writing progress and self-efficacy</i> (Unpublished dissertation). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.