The Electronic Writing Portfolio is set to change for next fall.

After much debate, the Council on Academic Affairs approved the proposed changes for the EWP at their meeting Thursday.

The CAA first discussed an amendment they had been considering to restrict submissions to only Writing-Intensive and Writing-Centered courses. The amendment also required any student who took Composition and Language or Composition and Literature or any honors equivalency to submit work from one of those courses.

“If this amendment passes, the rest of the proposal would need to be changed,” said Karla Sanders, Director of the Center for Academic Support and Achievement.

The CAA discussed that this could lead to a smaller version of their current problem with the EWP.

The concern is that if students forget to turn in their submission right away, they would never turn it in. Lack of submission would result in a hold on the student’s account later on.

Sanders said the lack of EWP submissions has resulted in over 3,200 holds in Fall 2006 and over 3,000 holds in Spring 2007.

The amendment would also create a baseline to judge the student’s growth over the years, but Sanders said the EWP is not looking for growth because it would be too difficult to judge from the different documents submitted.

“Departments can compare growth because it’s apples to apples. What we have at EWP is apples, grapes, bananas and assorted fruit,” Sanders said.

After considering these points, the CAA had a unanimous disapproval of the amendment.

The CAA discussed the proposal without the amendment looking toward its advantages.

They discussed that it would benefit students to submit earlier so they can get help if they are struggling.

Les Hyder, a journalism professor, said by the time he gets his senior seminar students, they are beyond his help.

The CAA added new revisions to the proposal including that transfer students who come in with more than 30 hours may be allowed additional time to submit if requested.

Another revision added was students whose first two submissions receive a needs improvement or unsatisfactory will need to take a diagnostic writing exam. Those who do not pass with a minimal score will be required to take a one-semester hour, non-credit course.

“You got to give it a chance to see if it will work,” said Robert Fischer, biological sciences professor.

The proposal passed with an 8-1 vote.