1. The Impact of Web-Assisted Instruction on Student Writing Outcomes in Business Communication
- Author
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Austin, Traci L., Sigmar, Lucia S., Mehta, Gurinder B., and Shirk, Jennifer L.
- Abstract
This study investigates the impact of McGraw-Hill's "Connect™ LearnSmartAchieve" ("LSA") on student writing outcomes at a regional AACSB-accredited business school. The authors analyzed a total of 172 student writing samples before and after the introduction of selected "LSA" modules in six junior-level business communication courses from 2015 to 2016. This study targets grammatical, mechanical, and sentence-level errors that employers and educators have identified as potentially damaging to a student's professional image. In 2015, a control group (pre-"LSA") of 85 online and face-to-face students was given standard teacher-led grammar/mechanics instruction in these problematic areas in multiple contexts throughout the semester. In 2016, instructors introduced 87 online and face-to-face students (post-"LSA") to the selected "LSA" modules to be completed within a six-week period early in the semester at the students' own pace and outside the classroom. When comparing the average number of errors in the pre- and post-"LSA" groups, the authors noted statistically significant differences; overall, the average number of most writing errors was lower in the post-"LSA" group. These findings indicate that web-assisted instruction, such as McGraw-Hill's "Connect™ LearnSmartAchieve," can provide students and instructors with a valuable resource for improving writing outcomes in business communication.
- Published
- 2018