Online Writing Centers Association

Virtual Conversation Hour: Identifying & Navigating Institutional Context for OWCs
2019-09-13 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
The OWC Community invites you to join us for discussion during our free Virtual Conversation Hour.

Date: Friday, September 13, from 12-1pm EST
Topic: identifying and navigating institutional contexts
Registration: register online

During this session, we’ll consider the following questions (or any other questions and ideas attendees bring!):

How do you know your student demographics? Where did you find them and who did you consult?
How did you determine your institutional context?
How did learning that information impact decisions around OWC tutoring?

Virtual Conversation Hours will be held in Zoom; you will receive attendance information after registering. You can participate via audio and/or text chat.

Virtual Conversation Hour: OWC Readings
2019-08-20 12:00 - 13:00
The OWC Community invites you to join us for discussion during our free Virtual Conversation Hour.

Date: Tuesday, August 20, from 12-1pm EST
Topic: OWC readings
Registration: register online

During this session, we’ll consider the following questions (or any other questions and ideas attendees bring!):

What readings do you find most helpful in your OWC work or your tutor training?
In what ways are those readings helpful?
How have the readings impacted or changed your OWC tutoring?

Virtual Conversation Hours will be held in Zoom; you will receive attendance information after registering. You can participate via audio and/or text chat.

Virtual Conversation Hour: Training for Online Writing Tutoring
2019-05-03 13:00 - 14:00
The OWC Community invites you to join us for discussion during our free Virtual Conversation Hour.

Date: Friday, May 3, from 1-2 pm EST
Topic: training for online writing tutoring

Registration: register online

During this session, we’ll consider the following questions (or any other questions and ideas attendees bring!):

What unique training, if any, do you offer staff engaging in online writing tutoring? How do you structure your training (is it integrated with your face-to-face training or is it an additional “level” of training?)
What training materials or activities have you found especially effective?
What barriers are you facing in terms of training staff engaged in online writing tutoring?

We welcome all participants. Virtual Conversation Hours will be held in Zoom; you will receive attendance information after registering. You can participate via audio or text chat.

Virtual Conversation Hour: Synchronous Tutoring Platforms
2019-04-12 13:00 - 14:00
The OWC Community invites you to join us for discussion during our free Virtual Conversation Hour.

Date: Friday, April 12, from 1-2 pm EST
Topic: synchronous tutoring platforms

Registration: register online

During this session, we’ll consider the following questions (or any other questions and ideas attendees bring!):

What platform do you use for your synchronous tutoring (e.g., Skype, Google Docs, etc.)?
What are the pros and the cons of your platform?
How did you choose the platform? What considerations went into that choice?

Virtual Conversation Hours will be held in Zoom; you will receive attendance information after registering. You can participate via audio and/or text chat.

SIG at ECWCA 2019: Evolving Technologies in Online Writing Center Work
2019-04-05 14:00 - 15:00
Google Doc for recording session notes
Session Information
Conference: East Central Writing Centers Association (ECWCA) Conference 2019
Type of Session: Roundtable and Special Interest Group (SIG)
Institution: University of Dayton
Session Title: Evolving Technologies in Online Writing Center Work
Facilitator: Jenelle Dembsey
Date: April 5, 2019 from 2-3pm EST
Session Description
The potential for online writing center work is directly affected by available and evolving technology platforms. At times, technology can limit what is possible. In other cases, technology can re-define online consultations entirely. For example, collaborative technologies like Google Docs have introduced the revolutionary idea that students can be present for and active in asynchronous appointments (Moberg, 2010; Schultz, 2010), blurring the boundaries between asynchronous and synchronous consulting support.
In a recent IWCA survey, respondents were interested in learning the pros and cons of different technological platforms used for online writing center work. As a response to this need, this session will engage attendees in conversations regarding the successes and failures of asynchronous and synchronous technologies in their local contexts. This session focuses both as a roundtable for online consulting platforms and as a special interest group for online writing center work more broadly. In addition to discussion, attendees will be briefly introduced to the Online Writing Centers Community and invited to participate in shaping future resources and support.

Virtual Conversation Hour: Asynchronous Tutoring Strategies
2019-03-26 13:00 - 14:00
The Online Writing Center (OWC) Community invites you to join us for discussion during our first free Virtual Conversation Hour.

Date: Tuesday, March 26, from 1-2 pm EST
Topic: asynchronous tutoring strategies
Registration: register online

During this session, we’ll discuss asynchronous tutoring strategies, considering the following questions (or any other questions and ideas attendees bring!):

What strategies do you use for providing students feedback asynchronously?
What technologies or tools do you find helpful or effective?
What kind of training have you done? What kind of training do you need to do?

We welcome all participants, whether you’re just beginning to think about asynchronous tutoring or have a lot of prior experience. Our goal is to bring together writing center tutors, administrators, faculty, and staff to share their experiences, ideas, strategies, and questions. Through conversations like these, we can connect our individual writing centers to build community.

Virtual Conversation Hours will be held in Zoom; you will receive attendance information after registering. You can participate via audio or text chat.
