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This study analyzed the effects of live academic support sessions on online graduate students’ interaction with the course content. This was accomplished through qualitative methods of data collection and analysis. In-depth interviews with eight purposely selected online graduate students provided the textual data.
In September of 2006, the director of the Writing Center at UMBC (University of Maryland–Baltimore County), Mary Hickernell, asked me to research the practice of online peer tutoring. Specifically, Professor Hickernell wanted to know how other schools were approaching the idea of online tutoring in writing and what would be involved in the incorporation of such a program at UMBC. My initial research focused on the “spaces” involved in online tutoring—chat rooms, message boards, emails, and other such environments—as well as the types of methods and tutor training necessary to begin an online tutoring program.
This chapter offers a different perspective on asynchronous online writing tutoring based on the teaching practices in place at the Centre for Academic Writing (CAW), Coventry University, England. It develops a new theoretical framework for existing tutorial practices and suggests juxtaposition through parenthetical comments as a pedagogically-sound strategy for teaching critical thinking in asynchronous online student-tutor communication and potentially in other teaching contexts.
The case for Online Writing Center services has been built upon arguments of geographical needs, cost effectiveness, and overall time efficiency. A largely overlooked population who would benefit from these online services is that of students with disabilities.
More writing courses than ever are being taught online, and effective online writing instruction requires teachers to communicate deliberately and clearly in order to have productive relationships with their students. In The Online Writing Conference: A Guide for Teachers and Tutors, former chair of the CCCC Committee for Effective Practices in Online Writing Instruction Beth L. Hewett articulates the how and why of one-to-one online writing conference pedagogy.
Keywords websites, writing center history, gopher sites, asynchronous, writing across…
OWI should be supported by online writing centers, most often referred to as online writing labs or OWLs. Developing these support structures, however, can be a daunting endeavor for many institutions, as OWLs are plagued with issues related to the perception that it is a deficit model for tutoring, accessibility issues, appropriate tutor training, and technology.
Just as the mediums in which we compose have shifted throughout the millennium, the modes of evaluating student work have likewise shifted. This shift is reflected in our own experience as Graduate Assistants in our recently reached out to students whose needs cannot institution’s Writing Center.
Examining 200 word choice errors from Chinese students' drafts submitted to a writing center's online asynchronous tutoring program, the present study demonstrates that second language writers need help with word choice. Word choice problems, a natural part of second language learning, can negatively affect rhetorical effectiveness and readers' comprehension and evaluation.
Writing centers provide invaluable writing assistance to students, and students who have used writing centers typically come to this conclusion themselves. Despite these positive responses to writing center tutorials, motivating first-time users to go to the writing center can be challenging.