e-Support4U: An evaluation of academic writing skills support in practice

The Faculty of Society and Health at Buckinghamshire New University is committed to the widening participation agenda and to providing support that enables our students to achieve the requirements of the programme and registration. Literacy and numeracy skill development is an integral part of the academic modules of our current pre-registration curriculum. E-Support4U was launched in semester two of 2008 with the aim of extending academic writing support beyond the confines of the University and into the practice arena. Evaluation of the project tentatively suggests that the scaffold approach to academic writing, based on Salmon's 5-stage framework, may have contributed to a 100% pass rate for the reflective practice-based assignment for this cohort of students. However, participants experienced issues around access; differing levels of IT skills, dispersed placements that contributed to a lack of active collaboration within the group. Recommendations include early introduction of blended learning and incorporation of web 2.0 technology into the curriculum.