OWL: A wise way to enhance engineering students' writing skills

The task of reforming the engineering education system to improve graduates' writing skills, while justified, faces significant barriers. The College of Engineering and Applied Science's Online Writing Lab (OWL) at the University of Colorado-Boulder is a unique and promising effort that helps overcome such barriers. Rather than rely on the impractical solution of additional required courses, OWL works closely with engineering faculty and students to improve the efficacy of existing technical writing assignments and the quality of written reports. OWL thus capitalizes on a rare opportunity to improve students' writing skills and does so within the pedagogical framework of the discipline. Results from student surveys, faculty anecdotes, and informal studies are promising. Voluntary adoption rates and repeat usage by students and faculty are high. Moreover, students have indicated satisfaction with the system, and student performance has improved dramatically.