Andrea Vinci, Ed.D.
Andrea Vinci, Ed.D. is an Associate Professor and Division Coordinator at Rowan College of South Jersey. She teaches multiple courses at the college, including ENG 101, in which she uses Hawkes Learning’s English Composition, 2nd Edition courseware.
I first started using Hawkes for my online courses in 2019. I thought it was useful and engaging for students in distance-learning courses to master the materials that I usually taught in my in-person lectures. Fast-forward to 2020…the pandemic hit and EVERY class went online. I was uploading lectures, but without the hands-on, in-class activities to gauge student mastery of the different topics, I knew I needed to make a change.
That’s when I made the switch to using Hawkes in all of my courses. I still taught each topic through a video to students and used my own essay assignments, but I was able to use the Hawkes Learn/Practice/Certify tools to make sure they truly understood the different modes of writing, how to find, implement, and cite sources, and proper grammar. It gave my students the ability to master these topics and then apply them to their writing. Even after returning to the classroom, I decided to still use Hawkes in this way. We focus on hands-on learning in class, and then they complete the Hawkes assignments at home, at their own pace, to truly master the material.
The results have been really great. Not only does Hawkes allow for extra time and materials to master the core content of ENG 101, it also serves as a great resource for when a student is absent or misses a class for any reason (which we all know is very common post-Covid!). Students can still learn all the materials we covered while they were out.
I also like that it allows each student to learn at their own pace for each topic. If they understand something well, students can easily certify their mastery. If they need a little more help with a certain topic, they can practice, learn, and attempt mastery as many times as needed to fully learn and master the topic.
“Overall, Hawkes has been a truly useful learning resource in both my online, hybrid, and traditional in-person courses. Students find it to be a helpful learning tool, and I think it’s a great teaching tool. The technical support is also readily available and helpful at all times.”
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