Excelsior's multimedia Online Writing Lab (OWL), developed in partnership with eight community colleges across the nation, applies best practices in instructional design and education technology to provide students with a truly immersive user experience. Two pilot studies found the OWL to be effective in improving student writing and increasing course grades. Designed so that it can be easily incorporated into any traditional, online or blended courses at no cost, the OWL offers an alternative to developmental writing courses.
We recently launched a rebuilt version of the OWL. I'm going to open the hood of the new OWL and tell the story of the platform's creation. Highlights:
- Cost of the original OWL platform? $250,000... Cost of the new one? $0.
- Owlets - a feature that lets you customize the OWL for your courses.
- The free HTML5 authoring tool we used to create interactive activities.
