Cengage Learning Unveils Details of Write Experience;
an Innovative Approach to Drafting and Assessing Written Assignments Using Artificial Intelligence

Stamford, CT, August 30, 2011—Cengage Learning, a leading global provider of innovative teaching, learning and research solutions, introduces Write Experience, an innovative new digital technology created to automatically assess writing assignments using the IntelliMetric® artificial intelligence (AI) engine.  The new product effectively scores student writing while providing users with detailed revision goals and instant feedback to promote constant improvement. Created through an exclusive partnership with McCann Associates, an innovative leader in assessment, certification, learning management and business intelligence solutions, Write Experience is powered by IntelliMetric® automated essay scoring technology- the same effective technology that is used to score the Graduate Management Admissions Test® (GMAT®) analytical writing assessment and other similar high-stakes exams.

Close to one thousand colleges and universities are certified by a major accrediting body that requires them to demonstrate written communication skill assessment across all disciplines. To address this issue, Write Experience was developed as the first product of its kind to specifically improve writing and outcomes in the higher education market. It is currently offered for courses in the areas of Accounting, Business Communication, Economics, Organizational Behavior, Small Business Management, Strategic Management and Basic Writing, with more to be added in coming months, across various other disciplines.

The assignments used in Write Experience are course-specific, rather than textbook-specific, allowing the material to be relevant regardless of the textbook chosen for a course. Each assignment compels students to write about and apply core concepts from within their respective course, resulting in elevated comprehension of the material. The instructor chooses from a bank of assignments to include in the course, and Write Experience scores each student submission using a six-point scale – a basic holistic score, along with evaluations in focus and meaning, content and development, mechanics and conventions, organization, and language use.

“Data indicates that students who write more often tend to have the greatest improvement in writing scores, which is why it is so important for these writing and critical thinking assignments to be incorporated into curriculums across all disciplines,” said Jonathan Hulbert, executive vice president, academic solutions, Cengage Learning. “We are proud to have the opportunity to introduce this exclusive new technology, developed in partnership with McCann Associates, to help produce college graduates who will enter the workforce with the ability to write clearly and proficiently. We’re confident that the cutting-edge artificial intelligence and useful writing tools within Write Experience will promote retention and help to fine-tune writing abilities among all users.”

Promotes Writing Efficiency in Students

The instant feedback and real-time guidance within Write Experience has been proven to improve students’ written communication and critical thinking skills throughout the course of a semester.  In fact, 80 percent of instructors who have used Write Experience noted an improvement in their students’ writing skills due to the use of the product.

“Students are using what they learn in real world situations,” noted one instructor. “For example, one of my students lost her financial aid. She used what she had learned in Write Experience to construct a convincing argument to have her financial aid reinstated.”

Through the use of the following interactive tools, students using Write Experience can fine-tune and consistently improve their writing skills with each assignment submitted:

• MY Tutor® – provides real-time guidance as students write and offers writing suggestions while they are working. This feature gives immediate direction for improvement, therefore helping students to learn while the material is still fresh in their mind.
• MY Editor® – provides an explanation of errors – such as clause errors, doubled words, spelling errors, etc. – as well as possible suggestions for correction and presents students with the option of evaluating the mechanics of their writing skills in their native language.
• Performance Report – once a student has submitted an assignment, Write Experience will provide a holistic score for the writing, as well as a graphical breakdown of that score by rubric domain.
• Revision Plan – provides students with goals and strategies for improving their writing based on their current score.

Eases Workload for Instructors

The majority of instructors agree that it’s important for students to have the ability to write effectively, but due to the time it takes to effectively grade and assess each paper, many instructors limit the amount of written assignments in their courses. Of the instructors who have used Write Experience, 68 percent noted that the product allowed them to incorporate more writing assignments into their course, as it allows them to assess written communications skills without adding to their already heavy workload. Additionally, the advanced technology used to create this product aids instructors with the ever-present challenge of detecting plagiarism. Write Experience archives every assignment submitted and will automatically detect if it has already seen that paper, regardless of the campus, geographical location or date submitted.

For more information and to view a demo of Write Experience, please visit www.cengage.com/writeexperience.

About Cengage Learning

Cengage Learning is a leading provider of innovative teaching, learning and research solutions for the academic, professional and library markets worldwide. The company’s products and services are designed to foster academic excellence and professional development, increase student engagement, improve learning outcomes and deliver authoritative information to people whenever and wherever they need it. Through the company’s unique position within both the library and academic markets, Cengage Learning is providing integrated learning solutions that bridge from the library to the classroom.  Cengage Learning’s brands include Brooks/Cole, Course Technology, Delmar, Gale, Heinle, South-Western and Wadsworth, among others. Cengage Learning is headquartered in Stamford, CT.  For more information on Cengage Learning please visit www.cengage.com.

About McCann Associates

McCann Associates, an affiliated operating company of Vantage Learning, has provided cost-effective, innovative assessment, certification, learning management, and business intelligence solutions since 1959. McCann Associates leverages advanced technology delivered via Software as a Service (SaaS) to provide solutions for Higher Education, Government and Public Sectors, Public Safety, and Corporate HR and Employee Learning. The IntelliMetric® artificial intelligence engine is the “gold standard” in automated essay scoring, used for both low- and high-stakes assessment environments. MY Tutor® and MY Editor® are registered trademarks of Vantage Learning.

*GMAT® is a registered trademark of the Graduate Management Admissions Council which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product.

No one, least of all educators, would dispute that scholarly collaboration by all players in the educational pipeline is key to the seamless, successful progression of students from pre-K to university study. In reality, mutually defining the learning expectations common to K-12 and higher education often devolves into finger-pointing and not-so-veiled criticism. Fueled by competition for scarce public resources, disparate challenges, and seemingly disconnected goals, public schools and the colleges and universities they feed students into frequently appear more adversarial than collegial.

These challenges notwithstanding, during the past two years, over 100 faculty from five school districts, two non-public postsecondary institutions, nine state universities, and 24 Florida state colleges worked together without special compensation on a project to improve college readiness.

Florida’s path to a new, customized placement test is the result of a statewide movement toward a common definition of college and career readiness that pinpoints specifically what students need to know and the competencies they need to have to succeed in their first college-level English and math classes. The process, which initially relied upon faculty’s subject-matter expertise, soon became a classic example of success nurtured by professional respect, dedication to a common goal, and ongoing communication between college faculty and their K-12 counterparts.

Section 1008.30 of the Florida statutes, first implemented in 1992, required the State Board of Education to develop and implement a common placement-testing program to determine the readiness of students to enter a degree program at any public college or university. But it wasn’t until October 2010 that the Florida Department of Education’s Division of Florida Colleges rolled out one of the first customized college placement tests developed from a blueprint created by a team of K-12 and college faculty.

The process that eventuated in that test began in April 2008, when, on the recommendation of the Go Higher Florida! task force and with the support of Commissioner Eric Smith, Florida joined Achieve’s American Diploma Project network. In September 2008, as an initial step in aligning high school exit and college entry expectations, the Division of Florida Colleges organized a workshop for English/language arts and mathematics K-20 faculty from across the state.

The participants divided themselves into groups by subject area and reviewed the American Diploma Project (ADP) benchmarks, identifying from among them the competencies they deemed critical to college readiness in entry-level math and English and locating the gaps between academic preparation in the schools and postsecondary expectations. This cross-sector endeavor resulted in Florida’s Postsecondary Readiness Competencies (PRCs), which were subsequently aligned with the K-12 Sunshine State Standards through a joint effort between the department and Achieve. The first steps to a less leaky pipeline were in place.

The Postsecondary Readiness Competencies then drove the specifications for a new statewide college placement test. Members of the original faculty pool that identified the PRCs reconvened in April 2009 to select or develop exemplar test items for each of the English/language arts and math competencies.

Building upon their previous experience, these faculty experts chose items that covered the breadth and depth of each competency, ensuring that the items chosen were representative of the knowledge that incoming college freshmen needed to possess in order to be successful in entry-level college courses without the need for remediation. The PRCs and the exemplar items were included in information provided to potential vendors, who were invited to submit sample test questions based upon the work of the faculty.

All submitted proposals were reviewed by three separate review committees: a content review team, a technical review team, and a negotiation team. Once again, faculty from the original working group that had identified the critical competencies and developed the exemplars were called upon to staff the content review team. They were charged with reviewing and rating the vendor’s sample questions for item alignment and item quality.

Ultimately, when ratings from all three review teams were combined, it was clear that the most well-aligned, high-quality items proved the tipping point for the winning vendor. In January 2010, another step in the collaborative test development process was completed with the award of a test-development contract to McCann Associates, a seasoned “behind-the-scenes” assessment provider experienced in working with both the College Board and ACT.

But then, just as the creation of a new customized college placement test fully aligned to faculty-identified competencies seemed on the near horizon, the Florida Department of Education announced its support of and intention to adopt the newly released national Common Core Standards. [Editor's note: see Kati Haycock's article on the Common Core Standards in the July/August 2010 issue of Change.] Not to be deterred from its goal of a meaningfully aligned assessment, the Division of Florida Colleges’ staff called the seasoned faculty teams once more to action.

This time the cross-sector faculty aligned the previously identified ADP benchmarks with the draft Common Core College and Career Readiness standards, as well as the Basic Skills Exit Test (the test administered to students at the end of the highest level of developmental education). The work resulted in a revised set of PRCs, which the vendor then used to begin actual test-item development.

In June 2010, Florida colleges administered over 10,000 pilot exams populated with the newly created test items. The data from the pilot was then used to build the Postsecondary EducationReadiness Test (P.E.R.T.) item bank. The faculty team came to Tallahassee again in August 2010 to review the entire item bank, analyze each question for alignment with the competencies and overall quality, and make adjustments as needed.

Following the August review, feedback made it clear that there were not enough operational items approved by the faculty to launch a computer-adaptive test immediately. Underscoring the importance of the collaborative process, as vice chancellor I put a halt to the launch of a computer-adaptive test until the item bank was adequate. With the concurrence of the vendor, the Department authorized the launch of a linear test that included additional field-test items. Once the operational item pool is large enough to support it, the vendor will make the transition to a computer-adaptive test.

On October 25, 2010, the P.E.R.T. went live. Each college in the system is now in the process of transitioning to it as their primary placement assessment, and all interested faculty are being given the opportunity to take the test in a proctored setting during the initial rollout phase. The K-20 faculty who worked diligently with the Division of Florida Colleges over the past two years continue to serve as content experts. They are currently reviewing all new test items before they are released for use in the assessment, as well as working on a new bank of items for the soon-to-be launched diagnostic component of the P.E.R.T. The diagnostic will be used for students scoring below college-ready on the basic assessment in order to identify specific academic deficiencies. With this information, faculty members can customize instruction, and course curricula can be modularized for time and cost-efficiencies.

Some of the same faculty members are also working on using the PRCs as the basis for innovative redesign of the developmental education curriculum—but that’s another story for another time.

The Postsecondary Readiness Competencies and Test Items: Examples

Postsecondary Readiness Competency: Writing

Demonstrate control of standard English through the use of grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.

DOE Exemplar Item

DIRECTIONS: Choose the sentence that is correctly punctuated.

1. The students grades weren’t posted, therefore, no one knew who made the highest score.
2. The students’ grades werent posted, therefore, no one knew who made the highest score.
3. The students’ grades weren’t posted; therefore, no one knew who made the highest score.
4. The students’ grades weren’t posted, therefore no one knew who made the highest score.

Postsecondary Readiness Competency: Reading

Use context to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words.

DOE Exemplar Item

DIRECTIONS: Read the following sentence and answer the question.

The warmth of the sun raised the water temperature enough to awaken the rainbow and cutthroat trout that slumbered, and the caddis flies were dancing their erratic dance, here and there, over the water.

What does the word erratic mean as used in the sentence above?

1. aimless
2. graceful
3. leisurely
4. swift

Postsecondary Readiness Competency: Math

DIRECTIONS: Add, subtract, and multiply polynomials.

DOE Exemplar Item

Simplify:

(5x² – 6x – 3) – (2×2 – 2x + 1)

1. 3x² – 8x – 2
2. 3x² – 4x – 4
3. 3x² – 4x – 2
4. 3x⁴ – 4×2 – 4]

Insomuch as other states have asked about the process used by Florida to develop a customized postsecondary placement assessment, John Hughes, associate vice chancellor for evaluation, and Julie Alexander, associate vice chancellor for learning initiatives—both with the Division of Florida Colleges—have developed the following step-by step guide to assist others in understanding and possibly replicating our approach.

1. Develop a core team of cross-sector state-level administrators to coordinate the activities.
2. Identify a cross-sector team of faculty who are willing and able to participate in an ongoing effort for two or more years.
3. Have the faculty identify competencies for courses from developmental education through the first level of college-credit courses. The American Diploma Project, the Common Core Standards, and any previously developed state standards may be used as reference points, but faculty should not be constrained by them. Allow faculty to develop competencies that match their own expectations of entering students.
4. Have faculty rank the competencies in order of importance. For example, in mathematics, quadratic equations may be more important than rational expressions, although both skills are expected. This is necessary because with the limited number of items on a test, not every competency can be fully measured.
5. The state-level core team should determine the number of items on the test and whether a linear or computer-adaptive test is preferable. A computer-adaptive test can be shorter but requires more total items in the test bank.
6. Once the length of the test is determined, have the state-level core team select the number of items that will be used to measure each competency. For highly ranked competencies, a larger number of items are needed; the reverse is true for lower-ranked competencies. This will produce a test blueprint that specifies the number of items for each competency that will appear on the test.
7. Develop the item pools based on the test blueprint. This can be done directly by the vendor or collaboratively by the vendor and the faculty team, although we have found that the latter approach is preferable and saves time in editing down the road.
8. Allow the faculty an opportunity to review the quality of the test, align each item with a competency, and recommend revisions. Remove items that the faculty do not approve.
9. Administer a pilot to students who are similar demographically and academically to those who would normally be tested. Analyze the pilot results, remove the items that did not perform well, and then construct the test.
10. Select the criteria for determining the interim cut scores. If the goal is to match the current placement rates, the state-level core team can work with current course enrollment in developmental education. If the goal is different, the state-level core team will need to develop alternative criteria.
11. Select interim cut scores based on the criteria and the expected distribution of the test.
12. Launch the placement assessment.
13. Assess course outcomes and reevaluate the interim scores.

In the development and implementation of the P.E.R.T., there have been benefits on multiple fronts. First, it is no secret that the various educational sectors speak different languages and even occasionally distrust each others’ motives. But continuous, long-term engagement and re-engagement on an issue of mutual interest and benefit—i.e., college readiness—proved to be a real-time demonstration that it is possible for professionals with different foci to cooperate for the greater good.

In terms of tangible deliverables, Florida has a new assessment; in terms of buy-in and respect, and for the sake of future projects, we now have a cadre of individuals who have worked long hours together, heartily debated academic issues, shared family and pet stories, and consumed the ubiquitous boxed lunches together. Hopefully, the good vibes and joint feelings of accomplishment will be carried back to schools, colleges, and universities throughout the state, where, with luck, they’ll have a positive impact on future secondary/postsecondary relationships and projects.

As for the P.E.R.T. itself, this cooperative initiative has given us a first—an assessment based upon a broadly vetted and aligned set of college-readiness competencies that should more accurately measure essential skills for postsecondary success.

The long road to the development and release of Florida’s new postsecondary placement assessment has already at times left the travelers along it exhausted, impatient, and prey to angst—and we still have miles to go. But given the choice between taking the easiest route—buying an off-the-shelf assessment—or moving forward to provide the best that we could for our students, we chose the latter route. We ask our students to give their best, so it makes sense that we do no less to support their educational success.

Postscript: The developmental-education curriculum is now available to all high schools in Florida, so students have the opportunity to tackle and ensure mastery of necessary competencies prior to graduation. And since last summer, numerous professional-development workshops pairing college and high school math and language-arts faculty have been offered throughout the state. Textbooks, syllabi, and teaching techniques are being shared in this ongoing effort to maximize opportunities for students.

We don’t purport to have all of the answers; in fact, we probably have not yet identified all of the questions about how best to prepare students for education and careers after high school. One thing we do know, though, is that it takes a focus on possibilities, scores of dedicated and flexible individuals, dogged persistence, and many boxed lunches to even begin to make meaningful change.

Judith Bilsky (judith.bilsky@fldoe.org) is the chief academic and student affairs officer for the 28 colleges in the Florida College System, which serves almost 900,000 students annually. Her career spans over 30 years as a faculty member and administrator at all levels of education, from pre-K through graduate school.

EWING, NJ  (June 7, 2011) - McCann Associates and Virginia’s Community Colleges  (VCCS)  are collaborating to implement McCann’s College Success™ platform as the diagnostic and placement testing system for all of Virginia’s 23 community colleges.

Working in accordance with VCCS developmental courses redesign, the College Success™ system will help Virginia’s Community Colleges make appropriate placement decisions for all enrolling students beginning in fall 2011. The McCann platform was custom-designed to align with the VCCS curriculum, reflecting what is needed to be successful in college and improving completion rates in developmental education.

Thanks to cutting-edge technology, College Success™ is able to diagnose a student’s proficiencies in a given subject area by administering a sophisticated, computer-adaptive test to each student. Based on the student’s responses to the “individualized” assessment, the platform utilizes sophisticated branching algorithms to identify target course placement and even remediation suggestions for the student.

The program will simplify and customize the experience of incoming VCCS students. The results of a student’s computer-adaptive placement test and a linear diagnostic test will ensure the student is placed in appropriate developmental courses to meet his individual needs.

The objective of the program is to improve outcomes for students who place into developmental courses by better preparing them for college work. Instead of being placed into a low-level math course because of a shortcoming in a specific area, the student can receive immediate remediation. Thanks to College Success ™, the student can master his deficiency in that arena in a reduced amount of time.

“With the implementation of the College Success™ platform in our course redesign, we are positioning our incoming students to be more successful in college,” says Glenn DuBois, chancellor of Virginia’s Community Colleges. “Our partnership with McCann aims to streamline the placement process, ensuring that our students are placed into classes that are aligned with their educational needs and guaranteeing immediate intervention in deficient areas.”

By allowing the VCCS to identify students’ strengths and areas of needed improvement, students can receive individualized instruction aimed at correcting shortcomings. With an education plan based entirely on each student’s needs, students are more likely to reach graduation.

“We look forward to assisting the VCCS as they welcome students into its institutions,” says Scott Kramer, Regional VP of McCann Associates. “Because we understand that placing a student into a course that is above her knowledge level is going to end in a disaster, we have designed our diagnostic tools to help that student with instant remediation or placement into courses that will best fit her needs and help her succeed.”

The specific core skills that will be measured by McCann’s College Success™ are:

• Elementary Algebra
• Arithmetic
• College Level Mathematics
• College & Career Readiness Mathematics

College Success™ incorporates Common Core Standards into its assessments, allowing the VCCS to comply with state and federal principles for education. College Success™ is the only diagnostic and placement tool aligned with such procedures.

About McCann Associates

As an innovative leader in assessment, certification, learning management and business intelligence solutions, McCann Associates changes the way the world learns and makes decisions. Leveraging advanced technology delivered via Software as a Service (SaaS), McCann currently provides solutions for Higher Education, Government and Public Sectors, Public Safety, and Corporate HR and Employee Learning. To learn more about how McCann Associates can help you, visit http://www.mccanntesting.com.