|
PRINCETON, N.J., 01/03/2007 -- Students who submit essays to their teachers through the CriterionSM Online Writing Evaluation now have the option to plan their essays online. The "Make a Plan" tool is a new feature of Criterion v7.1, which ETS released nationwide today.
The Criterion service is an online writing practice tool. Students work independently to write and submit essays on an assigned topic. The Criterion service uses automated scoring technologies to score the essay and provide diagnostic feedback on multiple basic elements of writing-grammar, usage, mechanics, style, and organization & development. Students can review the comments, visit a Writer's Handbook for more information, and revise their work. Teachers can view their students' essays and the Criterion feedback, add their own comments using pop-up notes, and generate reports about their class' writing progress.
"Before students begin writing their essays, they typically take a few moments to organize their thoughts," says Linda Reitzel, ETS's Director of Development for the Criterion service. "The 'Make a Plan' tool gives them a space to brainstorm about the structure of the essay and to draft their thesis statement, main ideas and supporting points. The practice of thinking about the goal of the essay with the main ideas and supporting points helps students work through the writing process more clearly and effectively."
The "Make a Plan" tool gives students a choice of eight plan types, including an outline, an idea web, and templates for specific types of essays, such as compare/contrast and cause and effect. Students can type sentences, notes or ideas into the template of their choice, and can save and print their work. When they feel satisfied with the plan, they can continue on to the essay screen, which is automatically populated with content from the plan. The students can then reorganize or rewrite their notes and flesh out the rest of the essay.
Other enhancements to Criterion v7.1 include the ability to generate a targeted list of student names for essays with advisories and a word count display that students can refer to while typing.
The Criterion service is part of ETS's System 5(tm) suite of K-12 products and services. For more information about the Criterion service, including an online tour, visit www.ets.org/criterion.
About ETS
ETS is a nonprofit institution with the mission to advance quality and equity in education by providing fair and valid assessments, research and related services for all people worldwide. In serving individuals, educational institutions and government agencies around the world, ETS customizes solutions to meet the need for teacher professional development products and services, classroom and end-of-course assessments, and research-based teaching and learning tools. Founded in 1947, ETS today develops, administers and scores more than 24 million tests annually, in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. Additional information is available at www.ets.org.
###
<< New Major Field Test |
ETS Press Releases |
Educere >>  |
