Excelsior Life

Dr. Crystal Sands, online writing lab project director at Excelsior College, joins the podcast to discuss the development of the new Excelsior OWL, a highly-interactive, media-rich, first-of-its-kind writing lab designed to serve the needs of struggling writers as they make the transition to college-level writing and the writing disciplines. 1:01 What is the OWL and what makes it different from other Online Writing Labs? 2:44 Meeting a critical employer demand. 4:06 Kresge Foundation and the development process.  5:38 Open-source and opening the OWL up to the world for free. 6:44 Using the OWL to lower employee training costs. 7:06 Breaking down individual sections of the OWL. 8:33 Incorporating the award-winning ESL-WOW into the OWL. 9:21 Digital writing. 10:39 Introducing gaming into the curriculum with “Paper Capers”. 12:21 A writing teacher’s favorite section. 13:58 Pilot program studying the impact of the OWL on writing outcomes. 15:04 The OWL and the Common Core. 16:41 Building an OWL community