As winter term begins and students scramble to start the arduous, and sometimes confusing, process of essay-writing for many of their courses, Brock University’s Essay-Zone online tutorial has many breathing a sigh of relief.
A fresh initiative developed last year, Essay-Zone is a colourful, interactive program that helps students to master the art of the essay.
For first-year students who are not used to writing at a university level, the university said the program proves especially helpful.
“[It] makes sense for busy college and university students,” said Margaret Groombridge, Learning Skills Instructor at Brock.
The tutorial uses jokes, games, pop-ups and other interactive features to make learning more fun. Flipping through the pages of a virtual book, students learn everything from researching, citing sources, and using proper grammar to writing a thesis statement and fine-tuning a paper with editing tips.
“At Brock, students across various disciplines have used Essay-Zone to give them an edge when completing writing assignments,” Groombridge said.
Students can learn in what she calls a “stress-free individual learning environment,” easily accessible, quick and void of the embarrassment some students feel in asking for help.
With rising enrollment and more and more students coming in with little experience in writing papers, Brock staff saw the need to design a new program.
Professors see the benefits of using Essay-Zone as a tool in their classes, with some allotting between 2 and 15 per cent of students’ marks to completing the tutorial.
“Over the past year and a half, Brock professors across the faculties have adopted Essay-Zone as a student writing resource in their courses, using it for approximately 4,000 class contacts,” Groombridge said.
First years aren’t the only ones to benefit. Anonymous testimonials from last year include one from a third-year student who “learned much more than I thought I would.”
Diane Leon, an academic advisor at Brock, said though she has not had any experience with the program, she has heard glowing praise from other staff.
“Other advisors are very high on the results, and the associate dean, Dorothy Griffiths said it is remarkable,” she said.
Leon said other universities have expressed interest in adopting the program. These include the City University in Hong Kong, Concordia University in Montreal and Texas State University.
Essay-Zone is being licensed to other institutions for a small fee and Groombridge said it is benefitting countless students internationally.