This month the UWC introduces a new option for faculty who’d like to know more about teaching students to write: an online workshop hosted on WebCT.

Most W course instructors have little, if any, formal training in teaching writing. As a result, most tend to teach the way they themselves were taught, occasionally trying out one or two new ideas they’ve gleaned from colleagues. It’s a hit-or-miss approach that often leaves instructors with more questions than answers:

• How do I create clear, effective writing assignments?
• How do I teach students basic writing skills like punctuation and grammar?
• How do peer review sessions work, and can they really help students revise?
• What are some strategies for grading writing fairly and efficiently?

The UWC has created The Write Place for Faculty, an online course designed to answer those questions and more. The course is designed to be supremely flexible, letting faculty choose when and how they access the information.

“I picture it as a cross between an online workshop and a digital book,” explains course designer and facilitator Nancy Small, a lecturer in the English department who began teaching writing at Texas A&M in 1994. “Once information is posted, it will remain there for participants to come back to whenever they need it.”

Instructors can e-mail Small to be added to the course roster; after that, they’re welcome to dig in, looking to see what might be relevant to their particular needs.

“Researchers in composition have learned a lot about what does and doesn’t work in teaching writing,” explains UWC Executive Director Valerie Balester. “This online course distills that information and makes it accessible for faculty. I see this becoming a primary resource for faculty teaching writing, an essential place for finding and sharing information.”

As Small points out, “If you look up ‘writing assignments’ on the Web, you’ll get millions of results, and the results will be everything from elementary school assignments to college writing. So my job is to filter all that and find a good representation of what’s available and relevant to Texas A&M students.”

The course is divided into four sections (Design, Deliver, Reflect, and Revise) and features an initial set of 12 modules. Small plans to continue adding and revising modules in response to participants’ needs.

For each module, Small has included relevant readings as well as videos, handouts, discussion areas where faculty can exchange ideas, and quick activities instructors can complete if they’d like to put some of the ideas to work. Much of the information is intended only for faculty, but some, such as a video on the difference between academic and non-academic writing, can be used directly with students.

As an example, under the Deliver heading, participants can click on a module entitled “Designing and Using Rubrics” and find

• a video discussion of rubrics,
• a variety of readings on the topic,
• sample rubrics,
• a worksheet to help create a customized rubric, and
• a forum for discussing rubrics with the facilitator and other Texas A&M instructors.

Although W course instructors are the primary audience for the course, any instructor assigning writing, even if it’s only essay exams, might benefit from browsing through the course material. Likewise, while the course is aimed at those new to teaching writing, even experienced writing instructors may want to check out topics like how to add a student blog to their course. Experienced instructors are also encouraged to use the space as a way to discuss good practices for their disciplines and lessons they’ve learned along the way.

“I think different instructors will use this course in different ways,” says Balester. “Some instructors may want information on only one or two topics, like where to find handouts on various citation styles or how to use turnitin.com. Others will want to keep coming back to the course for ideas as new situations arise in their teaching.”

The course also gives instructors the chance to exchange information with colleagues across campus. That’s particularly helpful since some departments have only a few instructors teaching writing. Small sees the potential for interdisciplinary interaction as the course’s greatest asset and hopes the WebCT offering eventually becomes “an active but informal, low-pressure community of practitioners who can support one another.”

Instructors with questions about the course are invited to email Nancy Small: n-small@ tamu.edu. Or to register for the course, go to writingcenter.tamu.edu.

“Guided Tour” offered this summer

This summer, Lecturer Nancy Small will conduct a guided, online workshop for instructors who’d like a more structured, linear approach to using the UWC’s new WebCT course, The Write Place for Faculty. The time commitment will be minimal, perhaps an hour a week over five or six weeks.

“It will be almost like a day-long workshop on teaching writing, but spread out over time and with more independence. Instructors will complete the online workshop with both ideas and materials they can apply to their courses,” says Small.

You may register for the guided workshop online.