Course Description
NROC Developmental English is designed to help students meet basic college entrance requirements. Combining highly sophisticated software with fundamental pedagogy, this online program integrates and reinforces the standard developmental English curriculum—reading comprehension, writing, vocabulary building, and grammar skills—to fully prepare students for credit-bearing courses.
Designed for use in any learning environment, NROC Developmental English provides an integrated curriculum that allows students to practice strategies for reading and writing effectively. Media-rich presentations, comprehension exercises, and the My Journal feature support students through a variety of instructional approaches that engage and enhance a wide range
of learning styles.
Developed and written by a team of subject matter experts utilizing state-of-the-art technology to deliver crucial pedagogical supports, NROC Developmental English will help enhance and improve student performance and results.
Course Components
Each instructional unit follows a sequence of integrated reading and writing experiences.
- Unit Introduction: A short, multimedia presentation that introduces the unit themes and content overview.
- Foundations: Text-based lessons present the unit’s core concepts: reading, writing, and grammar, and punctuation and usage, replacing the need for a separate handbook.
- Pre-Reading Presentation: A multimedia presentation that models effective pre-reading strategies.
- Active Reader: Enhances reading skills with self-assessment and supporting pedagogy, including audio narration, vocabulary in context, and grammar lessons.
- Post-Reading Presentation: A multimedia presentation that models post-reading strategies
with comprehension exercises, creating a strong bridge from reading to writing. - Pre-Writing Presentation: Introduces the specific writing assignment for the unit and models effective pre-writing strategies.
- Writing Center: An online writing workspace that supports the steps in the writing process with scaffolding, tips, and
reviewing features. - My Journal: This innovative feature allows learners to build a portfolio of writing in each unit by capturing all annotations to unit reading selections and all responses to comprehension and writing exercises. Thus, a portfolio of writing is waiting for the learners when they are ready to apply it to a specific assignment in the Writing Center. No one starts with a “blank page.”
- Assessments: Include an initial diagnostic, mid-unit reviews, unit assessments, and a final summative assessment.
