In summary:
AcaWriter (writing analytics tool) tested in new genre of writing
Rolled out to over 600 accounting students with exciting positive feedbacks
CIC’s Writing Analytics tool AcaWriter is now being tested for in a new genre of writing – business reports written by accounting students. The tool has been rolled out to about 600 students in UTS this semester (Spring 2018) with a version of automated feedback tuned for this genre. Rhetorical moves from AcaWriter were mapped to the key requirements for a writing assignment to give context-specific feedback for the subject.
The tool was accompanied by writing activities for students to learn the use of rhetorical moves to improve their report structure and quality . This involved online tasks completed by students as homework and in-class discussions facilitated by the tutors to teach strategies for good writing. CIC PhD student Shibani Antonette joined forces with academics Nicole Sutton and Raechel Wight from the UTS Business school to co-design these writing activities and AcaWriter feedback for accounting students.
Initial feedback from students on the usability and benefits of AcaWriter has been promising, with many positive responses on the writing activity and AcaWriter feedback. We hope to do more detailed analysis from the collected data to study its impact on student writing in the near future.