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Grace Howell Research ProjectsTransition planning from elementary to secondary school for students using assistive technology to accommodate their needs: What is working? What is needed?This study addressed the efficacy of procedures in place at the school level to ensure the continued provision and use of assistive technologies as an accommodation for students with learning disabilities, when they transition from elementary to secondary school. Interviews were conducted with students completing the transition, or who had recently transitioned to secondary school, and who used assistive technology in the elementary school to accommodate their learning needs. Parents, teachers and school officials were also interviewed to examine how assistive technology (AT) was used by the student in the elementary school; the perceived benefit to the student of using the AT; what steps were taken by the interviewee to assist with the transfer and adaptation of AT to the new school, and any additional procedures or considerations they would recommend that might improve the AT transition process for the students. The interviews took place at the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year. Follow-up interviews occurred at the start of the second semester. Thematic analysis of the interview data has revealed several common experiences. Some of these appeared to assist the transition process, and some hindered or delayed the beneficial use of AT at the secondary school level. Results of the first round of interviews were presented in a paper at the Canadian Society for Studies in Education (CSSE) in Toronto in May, 2006. The Centre for Inclusive Education acknowledges the financial support of the Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company for this project. Contact:Grace HowellUniversity of Western Ontario Faculty of Education Phone: 519-661-2111 ext. 88619 Email: ghowell@uwo.ca Assessing the Effectiveness of Writing ServicesPemberton (2003) argues that because there are so many variables involved in any student's improvement in writing, assessing the growth of students' self-efficacy beliefs is the best way for writing centres to provide evidence of their link to students' improvements in writing. A paper to be publiched by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) reports the results of a research study which Grace Howell and Zheng Zhang from the Faculty of Education at Western, and Director of the Writing Skills Centre Theresa Hyland, undertook to explore the effectiveness of writing services in helping students become better writers. Bearing in mind Bell’s (2000) call for rigorous methods of evaluation, the researchers measured students' development of good writing skills using three sources of data: (1) the Writing Proficiency Assessment (WPA) as a pre- and post-test measure of writing improvement between 1st and 4th years of study;(2) data about students' performance in writing in their essay courses; and (3) written survey and follow-up interviews with the students. The research study concluded that there is a complex relationship between the roles that feedback from professors, feedback on the WPA and use of the Writing Skills Centre play in the development of students’ writing skills. The study found a statistically significant relationship between students’ reported performance on essays and their performance on the graduating WPA. This would indicate that the feedback that students get from this source could provide valuable insights on writing. Nevertheless, student interviews show that they pay most attention to feedback from professors and tend to seek additional help only when urged to do so by the professors. Some students do read the WPA feedback and subsequently take steps to improve their writing skills by visiting the Writing Skills Centre. Many more students misunderstand the function of the Writing Skills Centre and list other sources (such as peers and online sources) as being the primary influence on their skills’ development. While evidence from this study may be insufficient to prove a causal link between Writing Services and the development of writing skill, it does indicate where patterns of behavior seem to promote that development. Bibliography:
Bell, James, H. "When Hard Questions Are Asked : Evaluating Writing Centers". The Writing Center Journal 21, (1) (Fall 2000): 7-28.
Clary-Lemon, Jennifer . "Shifting Tradition: Writing Research in Canada." American Review of Canadian Studies 39.2 (June 2009): 94-111.
Contact:Grace HowellUniversity of Western Ontario Faculty of Education Phone: 519-661-2111 ext. 88619 Email: ghowell@uwo.ca 
© 2012 Canadian Research Centre on Inclusive Education, UWO
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