The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of essaypop on student engagement and confidence in writing. Recognizing that enjoyment and self-efficacy are critical components of academic success, we sought to measure how effectively essaypop influences these factors.

To achieve a thorough assessment, we collaborated with Ardice Hartry, Associate Director at the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley. Her expertise helped design a survey tailored to capture changes in students' attitudes toward essay writing after using essaypop. This survey included 14 items based on established scales for measuring fascination and competency beliefs.

Our primary goals were to determine if essaypop increases students’ interest in writing and boosts their confidence levels. These insights would validate our approach while informing future enhancements to better meet student needs.

The survey employed a Post/Retro-Pre design method, capturing shifts in perceptions over time. Data from 168 completed surveys reveal significant improvements, indicating that integrating emotional engagement with traditional teaching methods can yield positive results.

Teachers involved in preliminary discussions overwhelmingly supported the idea that addressing affective elements like engagement and self-assurance is crucial for preventing stagnation in student performance. Therefore, understanding how tools like essaypop can foster these elements is essential for developing effective educational strategies.

Sample: 168 students completed the surveys.

Instrument: A new instrument that measures enjoyment of essay writing, confidence or efficacy beliefs, and interest in essay writing was used. This instrument is adapted from the Science Learning Activation scales for Fascination and Competency Beliefs. The scale has 14 items. Of these, 1 item had errors in the data collection system (Google Forms) and was thrown out of the analysis. All other items were incorporated into the scale, which is created by averaging all responses to the individual items in that scale. (More information about the psychometric qualities of the scale are available.) For the scale, a score of 5.0 would equal most fascinated with and confident in writing essays. A score of 1.0 would equal least fascinated and confident.

The instrument uses a Post/Retro-Pre design.

Overall, significant growth from retro-pre to post, with scores changing from 3.26 to 3.84 on post (t=10.112; sd=.73942; p=.000). The box plot in Figure 1 shows the significant difference in attitudes. Across all students, 78% reported improvement in their attitudes towards writing.

Student growth varied by starting place (which is not unusual for educational measures). Students in the lowest quartile grew by more than 1 scale point; students in the second-lowest quartile grew by more than ½ scale point.

Most students credited EssayPop with changing their attitudes towards writing essays (see Figure 3):

Students’ self-assessment of change generally correlated with how much they credited EssayPop with changing their attitudes towards writing essays. (Note: we do not expect 100% correlation because interventions, context, or circumstances other than EssayPop could have influenced student attitudes toward writing.) In other words, students who saw significant growth in their attitudes towards writing generally credited EssayPop with that change. Those who had no significant difference from Pre to Post generally felt that using EssayPop did not change their attitudes toward writing.

This study highlights the positive impact of essaypop on student attitudes towards essay writing. Findings show a significant increase in average scores—from 3.26 pre-survey to 3.84 post-survey—demonstrating improved enjoyment and confidence among students.

Notably, 31% of students reported loving essay writing more after using essaypop, while another 56% indicated moderate increases in liking it. The greatest gains were seen among initially less confident students, underscoring the importance of things like frame-writing, kid-friendly scaffolding, and peer-to-peer collaboration. Overall, these encouraging results suggest that further exploration into the specific aspects influencing student attitudes within the essaypop platform is warranted to foster better learning outcomes in writing.

The early results from essaypop are encouraging. Additional research would provide more information about how well essaypop works, for what students, and under which conditions. We recommend: