Writing skills is not a piece of cake, it requires a lot of practice. Learning and improving at it is a slow process and feedback is the backbone of it. A student will not improve if they are not provided proper feedback. They must know what they are doing right and what needs improvement.
It is the responsibility of the teachers to provide feedback as and when necessary. However, teachers can always choose to ease their work. Whether you teach online or not, you as a teacher can use online writing tools to ease the process of providing feedback every time.
These tools provide automated feedback to the students. It provides more opportunities for the students to practice and does not add to the burden of the teachers. The more the opportunity for writing and practising, the more the improvement.
Benefits of Online Writing Tools
- Alignment with the Standards for Writing
This may seem obvious, but not all tools are designed with standards alignment in mind. Students can’t learn unless they have defined skill improvement goals in mind, and teachers and students should be able to track their progress toward those goals.
Students should be strengthening their writing skills at each grade level, according to the requirements of their course and grade level. For example, students should know the differences in the tonality of writing.
- Differentiated Instruction Opportunities
Teachers should be able to differentiate instruction for each student without difficulty, and online writing tools are no exception. Choose a writing tool that helps you differentiate and assign tasks to students based on their calibre and gradually increase as they improve.
- Relevant and Timely Feedback
With so many things to handle in a day, giving relevant feedback promptly can be a little tough on some days for the teachers. But an online tool eases the process.
With the help of an online tool, students can ask for feedback as often as they want, and it will be both positive and constructive. As a teacher, you might write short comments like “make improvements”, “not up to the mark”, etc., on a student’s work since you have a busy day and have to review a lot of work and cannot sit and write long feedback every time. This type of vague feedback makes learning tough for students as they might not know how to revise the sentence to make it more flowing. An online writing tool provides precise recommendations so that students are aware of what they can do to enhance their grades.
- Creative Engagement Way
Digital writing tools should make it easier to engage in deep, meaningful conversations. Ask yourself, “How much will this help my students in their learning?” when testing different writing tools. In other words, how will the programme assist students in recognising good writing, working through the construction of a piece, and critically evaluating their own work?
An online tool provides pre-writing steps and guidelines in every step. Also, it encourages them to revise until the concept or the style of writing becomes a child’s play for them.
This also pushes the students to work hard and motivates them to keep learning.
Final Words
When a digital writing tool tracks progress toward specific writing goals, gives actionable feedback, allows for differentiation in instruction, and encourages meaningful interaction, students are more likely to take ownership of their work. However, choosing and relying on one tool can be stressful and confusing because of the numerous options available. Just like you would not compromise on choosing an online teaching app to teach online, you should not compromise on choosing an online writing tool either.