The Crow platform includes a learner corpus of texts collected from writing courses at multiple universities. In some cases, these texts are linked to a repository of teaching materials also gathered from these classes. This unique innovation allows researchers to systematically explore how teaching practices and artifacts influence student writing.
Texts in the repository are de-identified in the same way as texts in the corpus. They are published as both plaintext, facilitating research with corpus tools, and as PDFs, preserving original formatting and layout.
We’ve recently started an initiative to improve the functionality of our repository and expand its size from the current 524 texts. This will support the key innovation made possible by our linking of corpus and repository texts, but which we have not yet fully explored — systematically studying the influences guiding texts have on other texts — while supporting our current work in corpus-informed instruction, and creating new research potentials as well. We are identifying Crow platform users for user experience interviews and testing that will ensure our repository provides value for the Crow community.