Mobile Technologies: Undergraduate STEM Students’ Perspectives about Webtools for Writing

Many students struggle with writing skills. The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress-Writing (2017) concluded that only 25% of eighth- and twelfth-grade students could proficiently write a text. The results for students from diverse backgrounds were even lower. This has impacts on students as they move into post-secondary education and are expected to write more specific genres of texts such as lab reports. This study focused on low-er-division university STEM students completing an online survey about their writing skills and how webtools could be a source to help them improve the content and quality of their writing during a 15-week semester. The results of the survey (n = 40) and follow-up interviews of students (n = 10) indicated that they have persistent challenges with writing such as organizing ideas and editing. With access to the writing webtools at mid-semester, students' lab report grades demonstrated improved content and quality scores in weeks 8-15. The authors also discuss limitations and ideas for future research.