Committee Charge
This committee is being created to develop a set of best practices for online writing instruction. The committee charge is to:
- identify and examine best strategies for online writing instruction in hybrid and distance-based composition classrooms;
- identify best practices for using various online media and pedagogies (e.g., networked classrooms, e-mail and Internet-based conferences, peer-reviewed papers) for the teaching of writing with both synchronous and asynchronous modalities and taking into consideration currently popular learning management environments;
- identify best practices for using online writing instruction for English language learners; and
- identify best practices for training and professional development of online writing instructors.
- File reports twice a year prior to the CCCC and NCTE conference meetings using the Report format; and compose a post for the CCCC web site that communicates your ongoing work. NCTE staff will see that your text is posted on your committee's behalf.
November 2008 Update
We have several initiatives under way that make progress on two major projects: (1) an annotated bibliography of the materials currently available that speak to best practices in OWI and (2) the creation and distribution of a survey targeted toward OWI instructors and administrators.
The bibliography, which ultimately will be posted to the CCCC website for membership use, will be a valuable product for the field, and it also is helping us learn more about OWI relevant to our charges.
The survey is being constructed from data derived from (1) a special interest group (SIG) conducted at the CCCC 2008 (F15: Best Practices for Online Writing Instruction: Issues and Questions) and (2) field visits and interviews of institutions that are noted for their OWI programs, as well as some that may consider themselves more “technology poor,” during which we are talking with colleagues and observing their practices. Face-to-face, telephone, and email-based meetings will augment and nuance digital communications. The survey will be field tested at the CCCC 2009 FSIG and at a C&W 2009 workshop.
In terms of our current understanding of OWI best practices, among other early findings, we are learning that educators have a wide range—from little to a lot—of preparation and training for their online instruction. Some training focuses mainly on how to engage the technology, while other training has some components of actually teaching with the technology. The issue of actually teaching writing as the disciplinary subject appears to be treated somewhat inconsistently at these institutions. Some of the people we have interviewed and who have responded to our initial questionnaire have expressed a lack of ability to speak to the theory and pedagogy of online writing instruction, which suggests that discerning best practices in areas other than the superstructure and infrastructure of OWI courses might be the biggest challenge this committee faces. At this early point in our research, we take this interesting finding to indicate that the theory and pedagogy of OWI—particularly regarding “best practices”—likely will require ongoing research.