1. Nevine Kamal
An Online Writing Unit
Argumentative Essay
CEP 820
Developer’s Notebook
April, 2010
My project is a writing online unit for ESL college students. This unit is purely online. I intend to
use this unit in a normal traditional face to face class. I decided to teach this unit online because I
would like to give students the opportunity to experience an online unit within the course. At the
same time, the security and stability of a normal class is maintained for the other units during the
course. In addition, students can call or meet me in my office if they feel they need to discuss
urgent or pressing issues. The students – intended audience- in this course have not experienced
an online class before. I wanted them to be familiar with online learning, while having traditional
class for the other units.
I thought of developing the online writing unit and pilot it after the board of trustees and the top
management levels expressed their concerns regarding the low enrollment in the summer
sessions for the university requirements. This online unit could be the basis for developing a
complete online course or a hybrid course later on.
The unit is purely online for several reasons: to answer some of the top management worried and
to offer other options (offer online course in summer), to overcome time and space constraint
option, and to exploit the opportunities for reading and writing by the web and by CMS. I believe
that the main advantage of this online unit for students is learning how to use the discussion
board, the chat room and reflective peer review.
For this online unit, I tried to use the social constructivist approach. The unit focused on peer
collaboration, discussion, and feedback. One of the major advantages of offering an online class
is the communication level between the teacher and the students. The online environment allows
greater opportunities for teachers to provide guidance, assistance, and feedback to individual
students. Such environment also entails group interaction. This is achieved when the instructor
find ways to alleviate the pressure to respond to every student message by encouraging students
to become more autonomous and to reply to one another by working in pairs or groups.
In this unit, there are several opportunities where students can investigate other websites and
work on group projects to create personalized learning experience. This unit allows students to
investigate different learning options-YouTube links, PowerPoint presentations, online activities,
and other reading and listening activities. By the end of this unit, students should be able to
identify aspects of an argument and write an argument that supports a particular idea.
This unit is structured so that it takes 5 weeks. Students are given a set of tasks to fulfill each
week. It might seem a long period to work on argumentative essays, but with ESL learners we
have to be aware that it takes more time to digest concepts and writing techniques. Students
listen to online lectures and view PowerPoint presentations. They also listen to current
controversial topics and answer relevant questions. The aim of such activities is to provide
2. background information that would help them to develop a well constructed written
argument. Students have to do a set of activities every week to master and develop their writing
abilities. In addition, bringing up controversial topics for students to discuss and reflect on
broadens their horizons and knowledge, which is necessary for college students. In this unit,
several grammar topics are highlighted to ensure language accuracy. Students are directed to
several links and are instructed to do online exercises to grasp particular grammar issues.
Throughout the unit, students use various online learning tools like discussion forum and virtual
hall on blackboard, podcasts, and PowerPoint presentations. In this unit, students were engaged
in an extended online project that includes group writing and presentation. They must create a
PowerPoint present and submit a written report. There is no final exam at the end of the unit, but
all the tasks and activities comprise the points earned. Formative and summative assessments are
used to monitor students’ progress and development. Students are encouraged to contact the
teacher when they need a closer help. They have to call the teacher or send an e-mail to set a
time either face to face, via the phone or Skype.
The material used to develop this unit is free. I have explored many similar units and tailored this
one to suit my context and setting. I would like to use this unit as a model for other types of
writing genres.
Students are engaged in this online unit because of the benefits underlie such courses. The most
important one is that it meets the needs of diverse group of students. Since not all students learn
at the same pace, students in an online learning environment can work at their own speed. In
addition, I believe that this online experience could enrich the learning opportunities for the
students. Technology was used as a tool in this unit. I did not want to overwhelm students with
different tech. projects. I would prefer to stage the use of technology gradually throughout the
course. For this unit, students would use blackboard, PPT, YouTube, and podcasts. Later on,
they might be instructed to use other tools such as Jing, Animoto, or Voice Thread.
The aim of the collaborative tasks in this unit is to provide lifelong experiences that would help
students in college and in workplace. In this unit, students are given opportunities to develop
their social skills by engaging them in pair and group projects. Students are asked to work
collaboratively to produce podcasts, PPT, and a writing assignment. In addition, they were
instructed to respond to different posts and voice their views and beliefs. Finally, students were
asked to evaluate their participation and input in the group project. This aim of peer evaluation is
to help them reflect on such an experience and identify the advantages and disadvantages.
Online learning as well as blended learning provide teachers, students and parents with different
kinds of feedback based on formative and summative assessments. Online learning allows
parents to see their children’s progress and development. This unit is available all the time on the
internet, parents and students have access to the learning material anytime and this in turn
increases the parents and students’ involvement in the learning process. All the assignments are
graded against different assessment rubrics that are available to students all the time; this allows
students to work towards a particular target as they know the expectations for each and every
assignment. Furthermore, providing the assessment criteria for students helps in developing
autonomous learners.
3. Students have to reflect on and analyze their work thoroughly to meet specific requirements. At
the college level, parents are not very much in their children learning, yet students become more
conscious of their performance and tend to do better on each assignment. What is more, the
comments that I would give student after each assignment are very helpful as they would serve
as a communication channel. The main focus of this unit is developing well structured
argumentative essay, therefore, the rubrics I chose reflect that. In addition, in order to ensure that
learning is taking place, I focused on developing varied activities to help students grasp the
different aspects of this type of writing.
In this unit, students will be engaged in listening and reading comprehension activities about
different controversial topics. They have to develop a range of activities such as PowerPoint
presentations, podcasts, discussion board forums, individual writing assignments, and group
project.
Formative and summative assessment will be implemented to monitor students’ progress and
work of areas of weaknesses. Different rubrics will be implemented for each type of activity. As
mentioned before, coming up with different rubrics could be overwhelming, but they give
structure to the learning process and guide students along the unit.
Students will be engaged in the assessment process as they have to fill in self-evaluation and
peer- evaluation forms. The aim of these forms is to help them reflect on their learning as well as
find out areas of strengths and weaknesses. Not only this, students will be given an opportunity
to air their concerns and worries throughout the unit. They could do this by e-mailing the teacher.
Furthermore, towards the end of the unit, they have to fill in a feedback survey and write a
reflection about what they liked and disliked in this online unit.
The rubrics I chose are quite detailed and attain to the activities and assignments they have to
complete. Rubrics provide transparency and could be used as references students have to refer to
as they work on their tasks.
The assessment procedure should be clear from the beginning to the stakeholders- the top
management, other colleagues, and students. Students have to be aware of the grading criteria
and the expectations from the first day. Knowing this, allows them to know the amount of effort
they have to put into the course.
Since I have not piloted this unit yet, I am somehow worried about the overall structure of the
unit-activities, assignments, reading tasks, and group/pair projects. Nevertheless, I investigated
many resources and tried to tailor them to meet the body of students I teach.
The assessment rubrics adopted here reflect what students are expected to produce when working
on their projects. The marks will be adjusted to fit pointed allocated for this unit. E-mails will be
sent to students with the grading rubrics and a comment from the teacher informing them about
their overall performance- potentials and weaknesses.
I have created assessment rubrics for podcasts students have to create using Google forms:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/gform?key=tBNegD4QNknCDgHSGSekrPw&hl=en
4. Online learning encourages collaboration and communication between teachers and educators.
This document is an example of communication between teachers via the intent. Publishing this
document allows teachers all over the world to view it. They could customize this unit to their
own needs and setting.
Finally, this online unit has provided students with new learning experiences that they would
benefit from in their college studies as well as their workplace. The unit has exposed them to
different learning styles that cater for audio and visual students. It also helps students develop
sense of responsibility by engaging them in collaborative projects. Finally, students are given an
opportunity to reflect on their own learning experience by asking them to fill in an online survey
to evaluate the course, learning outcome, personal preferences. In addition, they have to write a
short essay to take about the experience as a whole the advantages and disadvantages of the
online unit. This reflection will is part of their online participation but will not be graded against
specific rubrics. This information will be valuable for the teacher if she decides to replicate the
same course in future. I think I will share this will my fellow colleagues.
To conclude, my online unit will provide students with an experience that they would like to
share with others. In addition, the online skills that they have mastered will transfer to other
academic and personal life. What is more important, I hope that students get an opportunity to
have a rich inquiry based learning experience.
Having briefly indicated the overall objective of this online unit, I believe it is necessary to
highlight some of the challenges and guidelines I used to help me structure my course. In
addition, a detailed outlined of the course is provided for further explanation of the procedure.
Challenges
I am aware of the fact that developing an online course is a challenging task for me as well as my
students due to several factors:
1- Students’ Motivation: Students in my setting have low motivation. They feel that TOEFL
exam is enforced on them by the ministry of education to make them suffer. In addition, they feel
that there is not relation between passing the TOEFL and succeeding in their academic life. It is
very hard to convince them that passing the TOEFL will help them manage their academic
studies especially when they have to deal with English texts.
2- Technical Competency: Some students are not comfortable with technology and this is a
factor that I have to take into consideration. To deal with this issue, I can give an orientation
session and a step by step guidance when necessary.
3- Evaluation: I have to construct effective assessment measures to assess students’ performance
and participation. Bearing Bloom’s Taxonomy in mind, I have to construct evaluative criteria
touching on such principles. Since I have not done that before, I have to read on this issue and
keep in mind that it will take me thoughts for class interaction for both teacher and students
There are three models of online language learning: distributive, tutorial, and co-operative.
5. In the distributive form, materials and handouts are posted online for the learner to study
independently. This is a one-way communication from the teacher/instructor to the leaner. This
model may include reading, listening, and grammar handouts and links to exercises.
In the tutorial form, there is two-way communication. Students and teachers interact
asynchronously or synchronously (e-mail/ voice mail, chat rooms, or internet phone).
In the co-operative model, students interact with each other as well as with the teacher. This is
achieved by engaging students in pair and group activities and interacting with the teacher at the
same time. As mentioned, the communication could be synchronously or asynchronously.
In this online unit, I will include two models of online language learning: distributive and co-
operative. The distributive form will be dedicated for grammar and listening. The co-operative
form, on the other hand, will be for reading and writing.
I decided to include the co-operative model because it the most beneficial for the learner as
Vygotsky stresses. Co-operative learning provides excellent opportunities for students to
participate in task-based activities.
Unit Material
No textbook is required. You will be provided with online resources and other materials in place
of a textbook. Because the course work is done on a computer, students must have reliable
internet access, be comfortable using a computer, have keyboarding skills, and some experience
using Internet Explorer, email, and word
processing.
The class is WebCT supported
All assignments will be posted on Blackboard.
Unit Description
In Academic 2, students are introduced to the basic expectations of university –level writing.
They will write in multiple genres -argumentative writing- for this unit. Instruction in critical
reading is an important part of this unit. In the context of the writing process, attention is paid to
grammar/mechanics, sentence structure, and paragraph development. They will complete a
minimum of five writing assignments.
One of the best ways to learn to write is by writing, and for that reason students will be asked to
do a lot of brainstorming, drafting, revising- and that is what writing is. In addition, sharing
work with others promotes learning about writing by widening the response writers to get their
own work, and to draft writing assignments. Finally, they will also spend time reviewing
grammar and usage. Grammar and mechanics are taught in the context of a writing assignment
and along with abstract exercises or worksheets.
Major Essay assignments: During the course of this unit, you will be writing five essays.
Detailed essay assignments will be posted on Blackboard. Engagement in the discussion board
6. helps you brainstorm, broaden your view about a topic before you actually submit your writing
assignments. Please stay organized and look ahead to the next class’s assignment.
This unit outline/description is adapted from various and tailored toward specific context- Arab
students studying Academic English 2 at the University of Sharjah.
Extra Help
There is a lot to get done on this unit-argumentative essay. If students are having problems, they
have to e-mail me as soon as possible I will do my best to foresee any writing issues that they
may have so that students have enough time to work on them before you submit the next
assignment. However, if the students are aware of a particular writing problem and I have not
discussed with them, they have to take the initiative to address it with me so that I can make sure
they can improve in this area.
Teaching and Learning Strategies for this unit
Varying academic levels: use of different reading materials
Visual learners: students will use graphic organizers to help them comprehend
different controversial topics. In addition, PowerPoint presentations, will be also used to aid
your comprehension
Auditory learners: students will be exposed to YouTube links and audio podcasts to
help them gain more depth into the topic.
Learning Goals for this unit
General learning outcomes
o To improve and develop language skills and knowledge within academic
contexts- argumentation in particular
o To improve and develop critical thinking skills
o To develop interest in and knowledge of a wide range of academic
controversial topics
o To improve and develop English language skills and knowledge within a
debatable issues
o To develop an autonomous and self-directed approach to learning
o To develop skills in exploiting computers as a study reference as well as a tool
for producing presentable work
Specific learning goals
In this unit, students will address the following skills and will be able to:
Vocabulary: understand the appropriate use of signal words related to
argumentative essays
Reading: analyze reading texts and identify arguments and counter-arguments
Writing: understand the question and how to analyze
7. Discover the basic terminology of arguments
Learn strategies for reliably distinguishing between premises and
conclusion
Explore the differences between arguments and explanations
Understand and address the task in essay writing
Learn American academic essay writing
Support your thesis and develop well structured essay
Organize essay and add coherence and unity
Learning outcomes for this unit
General learning outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, all students will have developed knowledge and
understanding of:
The importance and value of independent learning
English grammar structure, function, and discourse pattern
English vocabulary, particularly specific to controversial and debatable topics
Extended academic text in controversial issues, presentation, discussion, and
online articles
On successful completion of this unit, all students will have developed their skill in:
Handling online texts, scanning for information and grasping the main
ideas and details, formulating arguments.
Making relevant notes capturing facts, concepts, arguments, and
relationship with controversial ideas.
Asking reasonably detailed questions, evaluate, and express arguments
and counter arguments.
Planning and writing argumentative essay in an appropriate format in
smooth way which provides no difficulty for the reader to grasp the points
being discussed.
Give clear presentation on argumentative topics, and showing the ability
to formulate the presentations and writings in a clear presentable way.
Fulfill the writing requirements of the course, writing at least 600 words.
Complete short writing assignments, listening and reading assignments,
threaded posted, PowerPoint presentations, talk about debatable topics,
and other activities to strengthen thinking and writing skills.
Apply concepts they have learned in their writing assignments.
8. On successful completion of this unit, all students will have developed their appreciation of
and respect for values and attitudes regarding:
o Academic honesty
o Active participation
o Collaboration
o Independent learning
Adapted from http://www.alte.org/can_do/alte_cando.pdf
Standards
This online unit is aligned with the following standards:
1- ISTE’s Education Technology Standards for students: http://tiny.cc/OCyVc
2- Michigan’s Educational Technology Standards and Expectations
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/9-12_150927_7.pdf
3- Standards for English Language Arts: http://www.readwritethink.org/standards/
4- ESL Standards- TESOL: http://tiny.cc/rpdRM
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is an unethical issue. It is common among ESL learners because they have to deal
with two problems the subject matter and the foreign language. So copying or plagiarism gives
them an escape from the language difficulty and allow them to focus more on the subject matter.
By learning appropriate research and writing strategies at the foundation level, students will be
able to encounter academic challenges with respect to subject matter and foreign language.
Students have to become aware of the fact the as they practice they will develop their language
skills and build up their vocabulary that will help them in their academic reading assignments.
Students will be referred to online links at the beginning of the course to teach them that
copyright should be respected and emphasize the importance of citing electronic information. To
inform students of copyright issues, I will refer them to the following link:
http://www.coollessons.org/
For this unit, students will be told that plagiarism will not be tolerated. Penalties range from a
written warning to failing the course. Students will be informed to consider the disciplinary
actions with regard to plagiarism implemented at the University of Sharjah. Students will also be
instructed to view the Maricopa District's policy on Academic Misconduct, including cheating,
plagiarism, and excessive absences, at
http://www.dist.maricopa.edu/gvpolicy/adminregs/students/2_3.htm
How to organize and submit work
Students are given some guidelines on how to organize and submit their work, projects, and
assignments.
Essays:
9. Format in Microsoft word
Use 12pt. Times New Roman font
One-inch margins around
Number each page by placing you last name and an Arabic numeral in the
upper right hand corner of the page.
Place your name, my name, course number, and date aligned at the left
margin and double spaced.
Each essay need to be a minimum of 500- 600 words
Before you submit your final draft make sure you post your ideas and
thoughts about the topic in the discussion forum. You are expected to read
other posts and respond to some of them.
Submitting papers on Blackboard:
Log in
Click on Course
Find the assignment in the list
Browse to find the assignment on your computer
Click submit
Types of activities for this unit:
Real time discussions in virtual Hall
Discussion Board
Team Project: the team project component of this unit requires that you
collaborate with other students over the duration of this unit. I have
already assigned you to your groups. You can check Discussion forum to
know your group members.
Individual assignments (reading, writing, and listening)
While a reasonable amount of flexibility is necessary in hybrid courses, it is important to stay on
track and turn in assignments on time. Additionally, class discussions are related to current
writing assignments. Students need to be current with their assignments to be able to participate
and contribute to the class activities.
10. Students will take part in regularly scheduled threaded discussions to share ideas with each other.
These threaded discussions are designed to replace in-class activities due to time limits. The
threaded discussions have start and end dates. The instructor participates in each discussion.
Reading response
Students are asked to respond to the reading assignments on the discussion forum. Then, they
have to submit your final essay related to the assignment.
Unit structure and weekly plan
Each weekly plan comprises of the following:
Online handouts
Listening assignments
Reading assignments
Grammar activities
Writing assignments
Discussion board
Group project
Tentative Schedule of Instruction for the Unit
Below is a tentative schedule students have to follow for 5 weeks. The online unit is expected to
finish by the second week of April, 2010.
Week 15/3/2010Unit Begins: Introduction, discussion board, listening assignment, writing
1 assignment
Week 22/3/2010Vocabulary and text organization
2
Reading assignment, connecting words assignment, writing assignment, group
project, discussion board
Week 29/3/2010Grammar and text organization
3
Reading assignment
Guided writing
Podcast
Group project
11. Week 5/4/2010 Review and further practice
4
Writing assignment
Virtual Hall
Group project
Week 12/4/2010Finalize projects and assignments
5
Writing assignment
Discussion board
Group project
Assessment and Grading Teaching strategies
Students have to do from 3-4 assignments each week. Team project is a major assignment and
students have to do it in stages. Each stage lasts for a week. As the same time, they have to do
the other assignments. Feed back on writing assignments will be given using two different
rubrics. Copies of the rubrics are posted in the Course Documents on Blackboard. All essays will
be scored according to these rubrics. Students are advised to revise the rubrics before submitting
their assignments.
In this unit, the teacher acts as a facilitator who intervenes when necessary and when help is
needed. Students have to work on their own to investigate the topic and complete their
assignments. The teacher’s role is to monitor that students stay on task and do not drift away.
Unit evaluation details
Active participation in discussion board, virtual hall, and team project is mandatory along with
other assignments is necessary to get a high score. This unit comprises of 30 % of your total
score for this course. No final exam for this unit, as mentioned before, students will be engaged
in several assignments. Assignments and posted are to be completed before we start a new week.
Students are given one week for the completion of all assignments within that week. Team
project is the only extended assignment that has to be completed within 5 weeks.
Discussion participation: 10%
Other writing and reading assignments: 18%
Team project: 12%
Grading Criteria
A 90- 100 Exceptionally fine work, superior in mechanics, styles, and content
12. B 80- 89 Above average work, superior in one or two areas- mechanics, style, content
C 70- 79 Average quality work, good enough, unexceptional
D 60- 69 Below average work, noticeable weak in mechanics, style, or content
F 0- 59 Failing work: clearly deficient in mechanics, style, and content (incomplete work or
59 plagiarism)
Adopted from http://www.alte.org/can_do/alte_cando.pdf
Types of assessment for this unit
Assessment
Standard assessment is important to monitor the learning and development of students. Rubrics,
therefore, give students relevant and timely feedback without belittling their efforts when
preparing for an assignment.
Rubrics allow teachers to align bench marks/standards of proficiency based on the skill sets they
have already taught. By aligning their instruction to match assessment criteria, students know in
advance how they can get a good grade. Developing rubrics can be tricky to some extent but
using them to evaluate students’ work becomes a breeze. Rubrics could be a learning tool or a
reference for students to ensure that their work meets the necessary standards and requirements.
Adding a comment could be used to enhance the process of using rubrics. Comments are
indispensable as they add personal touch that caters to enhance students’ learning. In addition,
providing rubrics for self and peer evaluation enhances and engages students in the learning
process. Self and peer evaluative rubrics allow students to reflect on their own learning and help
them identify their potentials and areas of weaknesses.
Types of assessment to be used throughout the unit
Two types of assessment will be used for this unit, formative and summative.
Formative assessment:
Formative assessment will be used to monitor students’ progress and development throughout
the unit. The discussions and assignments students post on Blackboard will help the teacher
observe the students’ needs and strengths.
Summative assessment
A summative assessment is typically given to students after a specific point in instruction to
measure their understanding of a subject. Some examples of summative assessments include
high stakes tests, standardized state exams, district or interim tests, midterms and final exams.
Summative assessments can also be used to check students' mastery of a subject every few weeks
or months. The knowledge gleaned from assessment should be used to reach individual students
13. and support them in their learning process. Summative assessment: is used with your writing
assignments that you have to produce every week as well as you team project.
Evaluation of the unit
Survey instrument for this unit
It is important to know what students think about the online course. This will be achieved in two
phases:
1- Students will be asked to fill in a survey to get their feedback on the course.
2- They will have to write a short paragraph answering the following questions:
What did you expect from this class?
What are you taking away in terms of what you have learned?
Compare this class to other writing classes you have taken.
Where did you do most of the work for this class (e.g. dorm, home, library)?
Did you have any difficulties accessing materials for the class?
If there are two versions of this unit- face to face and on-line, would you have preferred
the other mode from the one you took? Why/why not?
Is there anything else you would like to tell as about this class?
What did you expect from this being engaged in this online unit?
The aim of the survey and self-reflect is to help the teacher to improve the online learning
opportunities for students and at the same time acknowledge the strengths of online learning and
work on developing engaging tasks and learning opportunities.