Research has shown that students with more access to faculty perform better in several key academic areas. These interviews offer perspectives on students' experiences that are not available in traditional print media simply because the video recordings of students talking offer a much more vivid and realistic image of basic writers than print media. When students speak for themselves, the reader sees what she sees in her daily interaction with basic writing students: a diverse and vibrant group of people, most of whom are fully engaged in the difficult work of learning about writing. The interviews also help us understand the specific aspects of engagement that appeal to them. They appreciate not only the connection to their teachers but also the connections they make with other students. Students note that the slow pace of the Stretch program multiplies their opportunities for success while offering a support system for their transition to college life. The interviews offer a finer-grained view of student engagement than studies that rely solely on surveys and statistical information. They suggest for faculty multiple ways that we might support students as they move through the first year writing sequence. We have long known how effective group work has been in establishing audience reference points and in increasing students' comfort level. These interviews suggest that we might build on this learning principle by creating opportunities for students to remain together for longer than one semester. As both instructors and students enthusiastically noted, it was at the beginning of the second semester that their ability to provide substantive feedback to each others' writing really increased. The students in this study are a representative sample of basic writers. These students, and others like them, so often imagined as unreasonably challenged by academic expectations, demonstrate a lively engagement with academic opportunities and an eagerness to learn in online environments. 

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