Writing software teaches students how to correct their own mistakes

SAS Curriculum Pathways’ Writing Reviser helps teach students to correct their own writing mistakes.

Students struggling with writing tend to fall behind in multiple disciplines; however, it can be hard to correct their writing behavior effectively on an individual basis. Amid all of their other demands, many teachers simply don’t have the time to grade student essays every night. That’s where software programs such as SAS Curriculum Pathways’ Writing Reviser come in, users say.

“One of the things that we’d been hearing from teachers was that writing—particularly the review process, and getting students to understand revision—was a skill that a lot of students struggled with,” said SAS Curriculum Pathways Director Bruce Friend. In response to this demand, SAS added Writing Reviser to its Curriculum Pathways program in 2007.

“What Writing Reviser specifically does is take [students’] narrative work and give them feedback on areas where they could improve,” Friend said. The program scores students through feedback in areas such as wordiness, overuse of prepositional phrases, or clichéd jargon, and it provides constructive feedback through artificial intelligence.…Read More

Free online curriculum expanding to middle grades

SAS Curriculum Pathways offers inquiry-based activities in English, math, science, social studies, and Spanish.
SAS Curriculum Pathways offers inquiry-based activities in English, math, science, social studies, and Spanish.

An online instructional resource for students in grades 8-12 that has been available to schools free of charge since December 2008 soon will include content for sixth and seventh graders as well.

SAS Curriculum Pathways, from North Carolina-based SAS Institute, a leading maker of business analytics software, provides web-based lessons and activities in the core subjects of English, math, social studies, science, and Spanish.

Lessons take an inquiry-based approach that is intended to develop students’ higher-order thinking skills. The educational software has won a CODiE Award from the Software and Information Industry Association for best K-12 instructional solution overall in 2008 and best instructional solution for English in 2009, and it’s a CODiE Award finalist this year in math.…Read More