ENGAGING STUDENTS IN ONLINE WRITING COURSES. Evan Ashworth Center for Academic Program Support

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1 ENGAGING STUDENTS IN ONLINE WRITING COURSES Evan Ashworth Center for Academic Program Support

2 OVERVIEW Online vs. onsite classrooms Goals of online writing courses Weighing class components in the online course Strategies for engaging with students and commenting on student writing

3 CLASSROOMS: ON SITE VS. ONLINE Onsite Classroom Shared physical space Commuting required Synchronous Less dependent on technology Little to no anonymity Pedagogy well established Domain of the instructor Online Classroom Shared non physical space No commuting required Mostly asynchronous Dependent on technology More anonymity Pedagogy not well established Domain of the student

4 GOALS OF ONLINE WRITING COURSES Provide access to non traditional students and distance learners Enhance skills related to digital literacy Emphasize low stakes writing assignments Create an environment of productive discussion Model good writing practices

5 STRUCTURING THE ONLINE WRITING COURSE Establish rules and limits Weighing class components (see Warnock 2009) Discussion (as participation) can be weighed more heavily in online courses (e.g., message boards, blogs) Consider de emphasizing paper/essay components Define what constitutes an interaction Treat syllabus as contract Don t be the bottleneck: Allow students to communicate freely

6 STRATEGIES FOR ENGAGING STUDENT WRITERS Developing online persona Contextualizing praise and criticism Combining criterion and reader based feedback Using screen capture programs to respond to student writing

7 DEVELOP YOUR ONLINE PERSONA Build rapport through icebreakers Framing yourself (and class) as audience Eschew obfuscation! Take care not to use language that is too informal Create a balance between technical accuracy and accessibility

8 OFFERING PRAISE Students tend not to revise where there is praise, so it should be used tactfully Unqualified praise should be used sparingly, if at all Contextualize Praise: Explain why a piece of writing is praiseworthy so the student can use it as a model for future writing (see Hewett 2010) Instead of good thesis statement, consider I like how your thesis is specific, arguable, and tension filled

9 OFFERING CRITICISM Students tend to revise only where their instructor has offered criticism Contextualize Criticism: Explain critiques of writing Use open ended questions to help the student go deeper Rather than responding with thesis needs work, or even thesis has no tension, consider What might your opponents cite as the strongest reason supporting their argument? How would you respond?

10 CRITERION BASED AND READER BASED FEEDBACK Criterion based feedback: Judges the quality of one s writing based on such standard criteria as thesis, organization, and grammar. Criterion based question include (cf. Elbow 1981, 240): What is the quality of the content of the writing: the ideas, the perceptions, the point of view? How well is the writing organized? How effective is the language? Are there mistakes or inappropriate choices of usage? Criterion based feedback is more invasive

11 CRITERION BASED AND READER BASED FEEDBACK Reader based feedback: Allows the reader/writer to reflect on how the writing makes them feel. Reader based questions/responses include (cf. Elbow 1981, 240): What was happening to you, moment by moment, as you were reading the piece of writing? Summarize the writing: Give your understanding of what it says or what happened in it. Make up some images for the writing and the transaction it creates with you. Reader based feedback is much less invasive

12 CRITERION BASED AND READER BASED FEEDBACK Students praise is often reader based while their criticism is criterion based (Indrisano and Paratore 2005, 166) Be the guide on the side rather than the sage on the stage (cf. Collison et al. 2000) It is important for instructors (and students) to combine criterion based and readerbased feedback. Students not only must fulfill the expectations of the assignment (as per rubric), but need to develop their voice as writers as well.

13 USING WRITING TO RESPOND TO WRITING Using writing to respond to a piece of writing presents several problems: Message as text dependent Whatever is written will be read as the message (Hewett 2010, 71). Authority written comments [as opposed to oral ones] can be perceived as being more authoritative, permanent, and directive than intended (Ryan and Zimmerelli 2006, 76) Appropriation Teachers comments can take students attention away from their own purposes in writing and focus that attention on the teachers purpose in commenting (see North 1982 and Sommers 1982)

14 JING Jing is a free screen capture program that allows you to record what you see and do on your monitor (see also Snagit and Camtasia ) This software allows instructors to: Avoid problems associated with using writing to respond to a piece of writing Easily disseminate class resources (e.g., how to research, how to use PowerPoint) Cater to students of multiple learning styles

15 CONCLUSION Think deeply about how you ll weigh course components Be the guide on the side rather than the sage on the stage Develop your online persona Contextualize praise and criticism Combine criterion and reader based feedback Remember: You don t have to rely on using writing to respond to writing Thanks! Evan Ashworth Assistant Coordinator Writing and Language Center Center for Academic Program Support University of New Mexico evantheus@gmail.com (505)

16 REFERENCES Anson, Chris M. "Distant Voices: Teaching and writing in a culture of technology. Cross talk in comp theory: A reader. Ed. Victor Villanueva. 2nd ed. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, Print. Collison, George, Bonnie Elbaum, Sarah Haavind, and Robert Tinker. Facilitating online learning: Effective strategies for moderators. Madison: Atwood, Print. Elbow, Peter. Writing with power: Techniques for mastering the writing process. New York: Oxford University Press, Print. Hewett, Beth L.. The online writing conference: A guide for teachers and tutors. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, Print. Indrisano, Roselmina, and Jeanne R. Paratore. Learning to write, writing to learn: Theory and research in practice. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, Print. North, Stephen M.. "Training tutors to talk about writing." College Composition and Communication 33.4 (1982): Print. Ryan, Leigh, and Lisa Zimmerelli. The Bedford guide for writing tutors. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, Print. Sommers, Nancy. "Responding to student writing." College Composition and Communication 33.2 (1982): Print. Warnock, Scott. Teaching writing online: How and why. Urbana, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English, Print.