What's New in MyWritingLab?

As is the case with any good technology, MyWritingLab is improving every day. The Pearson Media Team is committed to providing high quality features and content to help instructors teach and students learn.

The changes listed below are the result of the feedback we've received from our users—instructors and students alike. Thank you for being part of our team!

Your feedback is valuable to us! Please feel free to send your comments and suggestions to EnglishLabs@pearson.com.

New Enhancements for Summer/Fall 2013

Ability to Reorder Modules and Topics. Instructors will now have the ability to control the order that modules and topics appear on a student's Learning Path and on the Extra Practice page. (The updated order is also displayed in the Gradebook View Mastery Status page.)
Gradebook Changes.
- The Gradebook Learning Path Summary page displays each student's Overall Score for the selected content area, as well as the last login date.
- Completed Work for all content areas (including Reading Level) now has two views: "Completed Work" and "All Assignments." "Completed Work" view displays data for all completed work done within the content area currently being viewed. "All Assignments" shows the list of completed assignments and assignments not yet completed, one module at a time.
- Alert notifications have been added to the front page of the Gradebook so that the instructors do not have to click into the Alerts page to see if they have any alerts. (Each alert type now shows the number of alerts for the current content area.)
New "Player" Support for Mobile Devices. A new HTML5 Player (a.k.a., Flashless Player), using HTML5 and JavaScript framework, supports mobile devices such as the iPadTM. It will be available for use on mobile devices only. Users accessing the site from a laptop or desktop will still use the existing Flash player.
Importing/Deleting Previous Results. Instructors now have the option to import student results automatically from a previous course that uses the same book. They can also specify a date and import only results from that date forward. Instructors can also delete all results from a student in batch mode, rather than one assignment at a time.
New Course Home. Course Home has been completely redesigned to provide students with a clearer picture of what they should be doing next. It now shows a list of assignments due in the coming week and a month view of the calendar, as well as the current Learning Path progress bars. Students can also navigate to a separate month view showing either a list of assignments, or a full size calendar. Instructors can control which views are available to students through settings on the Course Home Manager.
Requiring Student-Entered IDs. A new option on the Add/Edit Student IDs page allows instructors to require students to enter an ID before they can work in the course.
New Writing Activity Type. In select courses, a new writing activity type will be available that takes advantage of Pearson's Writing Services composing space, allowing instructors to create their own writing prompts and grading rubrics. These writing activities are fully integrated with the Gradebook and calendar, allowing instructors to easily assign, grade and run reports on the results.
New Peer Review Activity Type. In select courses, a new activity type will be available that will allow instructors to group students for peer review activities. Students will be able to use instructor-created rubrics to evaluate other student's writing responses. These activities are also fully integrated with the calendar and Gradebook.

New Enhancements for Winter/Spring 2013

These enhancements are available now and should automatically flow to existing courses and copied courses.

Topic and Activity Listing in the Gradebook. The Gradebook and Activities and Assessment Manager instructor views now display topic names as well as numeric references, making it easier to determine the topic for each activity.
Incomplete Activity Submission Warning. Students will receive a stronger, clearer warning message before submitting an assessment to prevent work being submitted prematurely.
Expanded Competency Mapping (Mastery Check). Instructors can modify the competency mapping of the content Path Builder, Mastery Check, or Skills Check so that a student's learning path does not change based on the test results, thus making it function like a true diagnostic assessment test.
IP Address Restriction for Tests. Instructors or other designated staff (e.g., lab administrators) can specify a range of IP addresses from which tests or quizzes must be taken. Once the setting is activated at the course level, specific addresses can be changed or the setting deactivated for individual tests or quizzes or from the Change Settings for Multiple Assignments page. This restriction does not apply to homework.
Write Drafting Activity Enhancements. The functionality of Write Drafting activities will be extended to enable instructors to create their own prompts as well as revise existing prompts.

The following enhancements will be available in late January/early February. Instructors will need a new course (created anew after the course release, not copied from previous semesters) to see this new content area.

Pearson's Automated Intelligent Essay Assessor. Pearson Knowledge Technologies' Intelligent Essay Assessor (IEA) automatically evaluates a student's writing skills and knowledge, providing scoring and feedback to both the instructor and student. These writing prompts will be available in the Writing Practice content area.
ELL Content. New content area, "Grammar Skills for Non-native Speakers," contains 47 topics (split into standard 6 levels) and over 2,700 new activities (Overview, Recall, Apply, Listen, and Post-Test) designed to help native and nonnative English speakers alike.
Direct Link to Gradebook Alerts. Instructors will now have a direct link to the alerts from the left navigation menu, eliminating the need to go through the Gradebook to view alerts.
Added Writing Skills Activities. Sixty new Grammar Apply activities were added across the grammar modules.

New Enhancements for Summer/Fall 2012

Adaptive, personalized assessment – Knewton, an adaptive learning platform, provides a dynamic learning path for every student individually. By analyzing data collected while students work in MyWritingLab, Knewton constantly updates and realigns to recommend an appropriate and unique sequence of topics and activities for each individual. The more student data collected, the more precise the recommendations provided.

In the summer of 2012, Knewton will be integrated into MyWritingLab for titles including those from premier authors such as Pamela Arlov, Barbara Clouse, Lynne Gaetz, Greg Glau, Elizabeth Long, and Kathleen McWhorter.

Gradebook Alerts – Instructors will now be provided with alerts in a new view in the MyWritingLab Gradebook. Specific alerts include:
New Write Exercise Functionality – Students will be able to submit multiple drafts of writing assignments (up to ten times, but determined by instructors), and instructors can provide feedback, assign preliminary grades, or accept as a final grade to go into the Gradebook. Students and instructors both will be able to view iterations of assignments, and the progression as a whole.
Improved accessibility – Pearson is committed to making our content and technology accessible to all users. We’ve made changes throughout the application so the user interaction is consistent with Section 508 recommendations.
Improved mobility – In the ongoing effort to make our content and technology mobile-ready, we’ve redeveloped media resources, including the Watch Animations, to work across more platforms and devices.

New Enhancements for Winter/Spring 2011

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Pearson is proud to announce our next-generation MyWritingLab. Building on its hallmark features, this new release of MyWritingLab offers an easier-to-use navigation, more personalized assessment (Learning Path), and instructor tools that allow you to customize and report to your outcomes.

Personalized Learning Path. High-level Path Builder diagnostics determine individual student proficiencies at a given level and more importantly, identify areas for remediation, which are then mapped out in a Learning Path for the student to work through towards mastery.
Ability to set prerequisites activities to all assignments. Setting prerequisites ensures that students follow a specific path through the various elements of MyWritingLab. Rather than being able simply to jump in and out of assessments, while skipping the pedagogical content, instructors can require a prescribed course for students through all (or part) of the educational materials. Instructors choose; it's customizable.
Ability to create original assessments and assignments. By previewing and selecting from a topic-based pool of Pearson-developed questions, instructors can build their own homework assignments, quizzes, and tests. They can add their own original questions too!
Ability to easily modify existing diagnostics/assignments. Previewing, removing, and replacing content is now possible via the Activities and Assessments Manager. Copy the assignment and transform it into a custom assessment by selecting only desired passages and questions.
Ability to quickly and easily adjust course coverage. With the click of a mouse, instructors can quickly and easily tailor MyWritingLab to their syllabus by selecting only the modules (levels) and topics they cover in their courses.
Powerful Gradebook. Select from one of four views in the Gradebook (Learning Path, All Assignments, Overview by Student, and Performance by module) to access data in a desired format quickly.
Quick and Advanced Exports provide comprehensive reporting. Student data in the Gradebook can now be downloaded easily into a Microsoft Excel file via the Export Data button. Quick Export provides fast results with basic filtering. Advanced Export offers more powerful means of downloading content in precisely its desired format.
Improved accessibility. Pearson is committed to making our content and technology accessible to all users. We've made changes throughout the application so the user interaction is consistent with Section 508 recommendations.
More intuitive, familiar navigation. The top navigation bar has been replaced by a left-hand navigation tree.
New role for section instructors (teaching assistants). Instructors can now assign "section instructors" (a.k.a., TA status) to course members.
More Gradebook reporting. Administrators can create reports across sections to see progress across a program.
Ability to hide features. Instructors can hide features (e.g., the Pearson Tutor Services) that they choose not to use in their course.
Interactive chat and whiteboard. Chat & ClassLive tools enable instructors and students to engage in synchronous chat and whiteboard sessions.
Enhanced announcements manager. Announcements now have date and time display settings as well as expirations.
Enhanced email manager. A native email manager allows users to more efficiently control course email.
Enhanced document and file sharing. The document sharing tool allows instructors and students to post documents to be shared with the class. Instructors can use document sharing to post their syllabus and other course documents.
Writing Practice. The score categories (Conventions, Ideas, Organization, Sentence Fluency, Voice, and Word Choice) now include short Watch video clips embedded in targeted areas of the instant feedback. These clips help learners see, hear, and read more about key grammar and writing topics. (Coming to the new MyWritingLab June 2012.)
Vocabulary Development Topic. Designed to help students build on their vocabulary, this new Study Plan topic features review material (e.g., a Watch animation and new Flashcards) as well as Recall, Apply, and Write exercises.
Audio Glossaries. Glossary terms now contain corresponding audio to meet 508 guidelines, and appeal to ESL/ELL learners.
Overviews and Glossaries Audio. Glossary terms and writing overviews now contain corresponding audio to meet 508 guidelines, and appeal to ESL/ELL learners.
New eText Options. Early in 2012, five new eTexts will be available in both MyWritingLab and the Pearson eText app. See Books Available for available titles.
MyWritingLab for Composition Course. This course offering is appropriate for developmental writing instructors who appreciate the features of MyWritingLab (Overviews, Watch animations, Recall, Apply, Write) but would like to cover higher level content than the Essays course. MyWritingLab for Composition covers 15 topics not found elsewhere in MyWritingLab courses, including writing to evaluate, extend, and synthesize as well as seven key topics about writing research papers. Content includes coverage of MLA and APA documentation styles.

New Enhancements for Summer 2011!

Writing Practice. Our new Writing Practice feature allows you to get your students writing more without burdening you with more papers to grade. Once a student submits a response, the system provides instant feedback on six traits: Conventions, Ideas, Organization, Sentence Fluency, Voice, and Word Choice. Writing Practice also provides feedback for improving spelling and grammar.
Ability to assign topics. Instructors now have the ability to assign/require Study topics (Reading Skills content) and diagnostic tests with due dates.
Course calendar. Students and instructors can now view assignment details and due dates on a course calendar. The Calendar view provides icons to indicate when assignments are due, complete, or past due. When copying a course, instructors can choose whether or not to copy required topics and diagnostics in new courses. Further, instructors can choose to retain the original due dates or copy the required topics and diagnostics with no due date.
New gradebook report. The new "Required Work Detail" report shows results by topic for each student on work that the Instructor has required. Students can also see lateness indicated in their Student Detail report.
Ability to hide Write exercises. Instructors can now hide Write exercises from the topic pages.
Improved accessibility. Pearson is committed to making our content and technology accessible to all users. We've made changes throughout the application in line with Section 508 recommendations.
Vocabulary Development Topic. Designed to help students build on their vocabulary, this new Study Plan topic features review material (e.g., a Watch animation and new Flashcards) as well as Recall, Apply, and Write exercises.
Glossaries and Overviews. In the Study Plan, each topic now includes a glossary and an overview, both of which complement the Watch animations.

New Enhancements for Winter 2010/2011!

Writing Practice exercises with automated feedback. Our new Writing Practice exercises represent a ground-breaking enhancement that will empower your students to write more while receiving valuable feedback to improve their skills. As the first and only online application to combine discrete-skill diagnostics and remediation (Writing Skills) with combined-skills application (Writing Practice), MyWritingLab is the most effective online tool for developing writers.
More class and student data in the Gradebook. The Class Summary report now includes a summary score for every topic in one view. The Student Detail now includes performance metrics for each topic.
Precise tracking of student submissions. The calendar and gradebook will display student submission dates based on time zone choices.
New Composition-level course. This product features new composition-level topics (from writing to grammar to research) complemented by MyWritingLab's pedagogical framework, Recall—Apply—Write, and features, including Learning Objectives, Watch Animations, and Grammar Apply exercises.
Additional help for English-Language Learners (ELL). Exercise sets have been added to the seven grammar topics that are particularly challenging for nonnative speakers of English: Nouns, Articles, Prepositions, Pronouns, Verbs, Modifiers, Sentence Structure. Many of these new exercises also include images to help with context.
New Grammar Apply sets. The interface has been updated with new features, including images to help with context, and corresponding audio, which will be added throughout the spring. More sets have also been added to select topics. These sets help students practice correcting and editing within the context of a full paragraph.
New eText courses. Nine new MyWritingLab products with eTexts for 2010 spring/summer courses.
Section 508-influenced content. More media resources and instructional content have been redeveloped in consideration of section 508 recommendations, including screen reader accessibility. Pearson is committed to making our technology and content accessible to all users.

New Enhancements for Summer 2010!

Larger Window for Readings. The window size for reading selections has been increased to display more text and make reading easier for students.
Course Deletion. Instructors can delete courses permanently. The option to archive still exists.
Section 508-influenced content. Media resources and instructional content have been redeveloped in consideration of Section 508 recommendations, including screen reader accessibility. Pearson is committed to making our technology and content accessible to all users.
Learning Objectives. Learning objectives are now available for all topics.
New Grammar Apply sets. Our popular interactive grammar exercises have been added to select topics. These sets help students practice correcting and editing within the context of a full paragraph.
Additional Help for English-Language Learners (ELL). More learning aids and assessment have been added to further assist nonnative speakers of English.
MyWritingLab (Florida Edition). This special version, carefully developed with instructors from Florida, includes more grammar topics, topics corresponding to Conceptual and Organizational Skills, and practice tests specifically designed to help students prepare for the Florida Exit Exam. It is available for fall 2010 courses.

New Enhancements for Winter 2009/2010!

Tracking of total time on task. Total time on task (total time a student spends on assessments) is now available from the Class Summary page in the Gradebook.
Posting notes or announcements. Instructors can now post a note or announcement on the Home page in the MyCourse portlet.
Ability to reset student scores. Instructors now have the ability to reset all scores for a student rather than by individual topic.
New Grammar Apply sets. Additional interactive sets will be phased in to the program starting January 2010.
Learning Objectives. New lists of Learning Objectives for each topic will be phased in starting January 2010.
New eText courses. We're launching eleven new MyWritingLab products with eTexts for 2010 spring/summer courses.
Comprehensive content review. We continued with our annual content review of Recall, Apply, and Write sets to ensure our content is accurate and effective.

New Enhancements for Summer 2009!

eBooks. Electronic, interactive versions of Pearson's most popular reading textbooks are now integrated with MyWritingLab. Your students' personal study plans will now link them directly to the appropriate section in their textbook giving them the information they need when they need it most. Our new eBook platform, the most powerful in the industry, allows users to highlight, take and share notes, search, and much more!
Integrated "help tips." Tips for using MyWritingLab have been integrated throughout making it easy for users to get help with the most commonly used features.
More research support. Pearson's MySearchLab™ has replaced Research Navigator™. Complete with extensive help on the research process and four databases of credible and reliable source material, MySearchLab ™ helps students quickly and efficiently make the most of their research time. Students now have access to a writing space ("Greenbook"), a bibliography builder, various tutorials and videos on writing, research, and avoiding plagiarism, a comprehensive grammar guide and an online handbook.
Updated Watch animations. Enhanced Watch animations are now available for all topics, including new animations for Summary Writing and Critical Thinking topics.
Expanded Critical Thinking content. The Critical Thinking topic now includes additional exercise sets and the new Watch animations mentioned above.
2009 MLA updates. All appropriate content (e.g., research topics) have been updated to reflect the new MLA guidelines.
Comprehensive content review. We continued with our annual content review of Recall, Apply, and Write sets to ensure our content is accurate and effective.

New Enhancements for Winter 2008/2009!

Emailing students. Instructors now have the ability to email all students in their roster at one time in addition to emailing students individually.
Upload and attach documents. Instructors can upload and attach documents. There is a new section on the instructor Home to post documents, such as a syllabus.
Number or attempts recorded in gradebook. The gradebook now reports the number of sets attempted by a student on the student detail page. This information is provided in parentheses next to the score.
New critical thinking topic. Critical Thinking has been added as a topic with supporting recall, apply and write exercises, and a corresponding animation. This topic addresses how to think critically in response to reading passages and visual images.
New summary writing topic. Summary Writing has been added as a topic with supporting recall, apply and write exercises, and a corresponding animation.
Revised and narrated Topic Pages. The introductions to each MyWritingLab topic have been edited for clarity and usefulness. Also, students can now click on an audio icon to listen to this content.
New Watch animations. The formerly-named "Watch" instructional animations have been updated, reflecting a new design, a more visual approach and more interactivity.
Longer calendar notes. The character limit on calendar notes has been increased by 400%.
Comprehensive content review. We've launched a comprehensive content review/edit in an ongoing effort to make sure our content is error-free and effective.

New Enhancements for Summer 2008!

New audio lessons. Twenty new audio lessons for select writing topics.
New critical thinking topic. Critical Thinking has been added as a topic with supporting recall, apply and write exercises.
Streamlined and easier registration. Steps have been eliminated from the registration pages and the required steps are now easier for students to follow. The text has been evaluated for readability and help documents and videos have been added to assist students.
Control over mastery settings. Instructors now have a control in their Settings that allows them to choose whether mastery is based on highest score or most recent score. The Gradebook will default to whichever setting is chosen.
Selective release of content. Instructors have a new control that allows them to selectively release Test content to a student after the student completes a certain number of practice sets.
Easier process for resetting alerts. The application now includes a more direct way to reset exercises when the instructor receives an alert.
Content preview from Study Plan. Instructors now have the ability to preview content via the Study Plan without needing to complete the exercises in the Student View.
Information provided on the number of exercise sets. The Instructor View of the Study Plan now displays the number of exercise sets available for each topic.
Password protected diagnostics. Instructors now have controls that allow them to assign a unique password to each diagnostic. This will allow instructors to control when students can take their diagnostics.
Notification if students move between courses. When a student moves between two courses for the same product (or from standalone into a course), the instructor will be notified via a pop up.
Integrated help. Help documentation for key features is now available to students and instructors on specific pages of the application.
Comprehensive content review. We've launched a comprehensive content review/edit in an ongoing effort to make sure our content is error-free and effective.

New Enhancements for Winter 2007/2008!

User Guides and Help. Instructors and students will find comprehensive User Guides and Registration Guides available at www.mywritinglab.com/help.html. Additionally, the Help link within MyWritingLab has been populated with easy-to-navigate and effective content to help users find answers to their questions when they need them. The Help link can be found in the top right of the screen when logged into MyWritingLab.
Alert and mastery icons. The icons and text associated with alerts and mastery have been revised to be more clear and encouraging to the student.
Ability to reset exercises. Instructors now have the ability to reset exercises from the Alerts page. Additionally, the "Clear" button has been changed to "Archive" to be more consistent with the actual functionality.
Improved navigation. The "Return" button at the bottom of the class roster page now directs the user to the page they last came from instead of always returning them to the settings page.
History of all exercises in student gradebook. Students can now view and print a history of all their exercises.
More details included in gradebook export. Course name, course section and instructor's name are now included in the gradebook export.
Access to Pearson's 24/7 Technical Support (http://247pearsoned.custhelp.com) from every screen.
More usable interface for Pearson's 24/7 Technical Support (http://247pearsoned.custhelp.com).
Redesigned Grammar Apply activities. MyWritingLab's Grammar Apply activities improve critical thinking skills and reinforce concepts learned from the Recall exercises. Students not only identify errors but correct them—and all within the context of a complete paragraph. Furthermore, while students edit, they can track their progress on their screens and receive automatic feedback for each error. These activities have been completely reengineered with a contemporary interface that is faster, more interactive and easier for students to use.

New Enhancements for Summer 2007!

Redesigned Grammar Apply activities. MyWritingLab's Grammar Apply activities improve critical thinking skills and reinforce concepts learned from the Recall exercises. Students not only identify errors but correct them—and all within the context of a complete paragraph. Furthermore, while students edit, they can track their progress on their screens and receive automatic feedback for each error. These activities have been completely reengineered with a contemporary interface that is faster, more interactive and easier for students to use.
Write Exercises in Grammar Topics. Each grammar topic has a new "Write" exercise, in which students have to re-write incorrect prose. To use these new writing prompts, go to "Set/Edit Properties" for each Grammar topic > Click the checkbox next to the new question > click save at the bottom of the page.
Increased usability through improved display of content:
- The display of readings and review materials is more narrow and consistent with common usability standards specifically developed for low literacy users.
- The font size of readings and review materials can be adjusted up or down. This feature is particularly valuable for the visually impaired.
- A Print view for all readings and review materials has been added so users can see an entire piece of text in one view.
"Student View" for instructors. "Student View" and "Teacher View" links have been added to the header of every page allowing instructors to see what their students see.
Easier-to-use instructor Study Plan page. The initial page for the instructor Study Plan has a more accessible interface and better explains all options available to the instructor.
Easier-to-use course builder. The course builder "Choose a Course" page now allows instructors to view all book specific courses or all generic courses.
More flexible diagnostics. Instructors now have the option to choose the topics they want included in the diagnostics and the pre-tests they want to require.
Improved navigation within diagnostics. A "Next" button has been added to the end of each required diagnostic. Using this button returns students to the "Diagnostics Required" Page, where they can select another required diagnostic.
Exercise resetting. Instructors receive an alert when a student exhausts all of the exercises for a particular topic without achieving mastery. The instructor now has the ability to reset the exercises so the student can take them again and continue to work on mastering the topic. Resetting an exercise clears any associated alerts.
Most recent, highest and average scores in gradebook. Users can now choose to view scores on their most recently attempted set, their highest scoring set, or an average of all attempted sets.
New export option in gradebook. Instructors can now export their gradebook reports in CSV format.
Increased number of Write exercise drafts. The number of Write Exercise drafts a user can submit has been increased from 2 to 10.
New question types. A new Flash API allows for a greater variety of activities and exercises. Additionally, new short answer, write, fill-in-the-blank, and multiple choice questions types have been added.
Make a suggestion. A "Make a Suggestion" link has been added to the footer of the instructor interface. The link leads to a form that instructors can use to make comments or suggestions directly to the English Media Team.
Back button. The browser Back button has been enabled throughout the application so users will not lose their place in the application and can use it to navigate to the previous page.

Your feedback is valuable to us! Please feel free to send us your comments and suggestions at EnglishLabs@pearson.com.