P R E S S   R E L E A S E

ESSAY-ZONE™ WRITES INSTITUTIONAL LICENSES COVERING OVER 180,000 STUDENTS

Dec. 1, 2010, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Essay-Zone™, Brock University's on-line interactive writing tutorial, has become an international commercialization success story in just 2 short years. Attracting licensing revenues from 8 colleges and universities in Canada and Asia, Essay-Zone™ addresses the widespread problem of inadequate student writing skills faced by post-secondary institutions today. Developed by Brock's Learning Skills Services, Essay-Zone™ was launched on the Brock campus in the fall of 2008. More than 8,000 Brock campus users have since put Essay-Zone™ through its paces, with one in four students experiencing an improvement in exam writing, reading, communications skills and overall grades.* When Essay-Zone™ debuted for license it impressed right out of the gate with road-tested pop-ups, quizzes and colourful graphics.

Essay-Zone™ addresses an important and growing issue. Inadequate student writing skills in the era of Internet research has resulted in essays that are not only poorly written and organized, but prone to unintentional cut-and-paste plagiarism. OCUFA (The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations) reported in 2009 that “First-year students are less prepared for university education than students from just three years earlier**..... Respondents reported declines in writing and numeric skills combined with lower maturity among students who believe that good grades are an entitlement.”

Home of Essay-Zone™
Brock's Student Development Centre
Photo credit: Brock University

Essay-Zone™ teaches students to write original, organized, well researched essays and does so effectively and economically. The primary goal of Essay-Zone™, according to Catherine Closs, Director of Brock University's Student Development Centre, was to “devise an economically feasible program that would teach university-level writing to a large number of students”. Incentives for adoption by both instructors and students are built in. Easy for instructors to incorporate into their curriculum and grading, and flexible, interactive and engaging for students, Essay-Zone™ has been embraced by both students and instructors alike.

And this is just a beginning for Essay-Zone™. A specialized version designed for Aboriginal students is currently underway. As well, a version geared towards high school students is currently being piloted by the District School Board of Niagara (DSBN). Essay-Zone™ is also being tailored to programs with diverse research requirements such as psychology and recreation and leisure. Essay-Zone™ was developed with the support of OPIC and the Ministry of Research and Innovation .

For more information on Essay-Zone™, please visit the Academic-Zone website. For Essay-Zone™ demonstrations and licensing information please contact Daniel Wooster Essay-Zone™ Marketing, Brock University tel: 1.905.688.5550 x 5774

For other licensing and commercialization opportunities at Brock University please contact Maureen Murphy, Legal Manager, Research, Brock University

*2009 project assessment in collaboration with EPI, Educational Policy Institute

**according to over 55 percent of Ontario university faculty and librarians who responded to a recent questionnaire

OPIC is a network of 7 Ontario universities: Brock, Lakehead, Laurentian, Nipissing, Ryerson, Trent and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, working together to increase technology transfer, commercialization and entrepreneurial culture. For more information about OPIC please contact: Karen Zavitz, Managing Director, OPIC

Presented by Ontario Partnership for Innovation and Commercialization
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