1. Purposes of the evaluation:  1) Document the extent to which intended strategies have been implemented;  2) Describe any difficulties experienced in the implementation of the strategies;  3) Describe factors which facilitate or inhibit program progress;  4) Indicate likelihood of completion of this phase of the program within stated time frames; and  5) provide plans for the evaluations to be conducted for years 2 and 3 of the program.

2. Findings  It is clear from an examination of the materials presented as well as discussions with the Grant Manager that the intended strategies have been implemented as originally specified.  Most importantly, the Learning Objects, which represent the foundation of the online materials to be developed, are in process.

3. Findings (cont’d)  Piloting of the Learning objects started on June 2 nd, and so far from this total, 11 Learning Objects have gone through piloting having been reviewed by students and other faculty. Two of the 11 have been revised already and the other nine are being worked on using the data collected.  The completed Learning Objects are then reviewed by technical support personnel to add to and enhance the already placed computerized portions. This development/piloting process will continue until all Learning Objects are ready for use by students.

4. Years 2 and 3 evaluation plans  Comparisons of eWriting students with students in traditional lab:  Ancova: on retention in class, CPT scores, exit exams, and measures of writing competence controlling for entering levels of knowledge and other measures of writing competence which may be available.

5. Years 2 and 3 evaluation plans (cont’d)  Other dependent variables: attitudinal measures to indicate levels of satisfaction with various phases of the target courses and this will be an additional dependent variable in the study.  Initial and final writing samples of students in the target courses will be compared with writing samples from students in traditional lab classes on the same level.

6. Years 2 and 3 evaluation plans (cont’d)  Student levels of participation will be monitored and documented relating to levels of participation, hours of participation, assignments completed and extent of involvement with other phases of the system including emails, chat room, frequency of visits to content module pages and frequency of posts to discussions. Attempts will be made to relate levels of participation to effects on post-tests and writing samples.