Academic writing is an important and growing discipline worldwide. Research has identified over sixty types of academic writing that are required across just a handful of the diverse disciplines found in the modern university (Ganobcsik-Williams 2004: 13-14). Supporting students—and the academic staff who teach them—in developing the writing skills they need is a major component of promoting student success. COWL is building on the successful experience of the Centre for Academic Writing at Coventry University by developing and extending the pedagogy, reach and diversity of services available, through enhancing capacity via a technology-enhanced teaching and learning environment.
The COWL Project has transformed the ability of the Centre for Academic Writing (CAW) to provide writing development to students at Coventry University. The project has enabled CAW staff to work with colleagues and stakeholders from across the University, as well as with external experts in writing development and online learning, to develop an online platform answering the two key writing support challenges facing CAW and Coventry University: access to and scalability of writing support services.
Because these challenges are faced by all universities and colleges, and by all writing centres and writing programmes, the benefits of the COWL model are widely applicable and its impact will be widespread. As a member of staff at a UK university who learned about the project through COWL dissemination activities has commented, ‗I think you will find that the more people are made aware of the project, the more interest there will be in it and in replicating online writing tutoring elsewhere‘ (Shields 2010).
Students at Coventry University now have access to personalised online Academic Writing support as a result of the COWL Project. The project has also enhanced the professional skills of writing centre staff. Through the COWL Project, a workable model of 'whole institution‘ writing support has been developed and made available to the sector."
Project dissemination
COWL Project website housing documents and information related to the COWL project. Access is public. Coventry Online Writing Lab (COWL) website that is part of the Centre for Academic Writing (CAW) website. Access is public but CAW writing support services are restricted to Coventry University students and staff, and to external consultancy.
Project outputs
COWL Online Writing Tutorial Platform in Moodle that will enable Coventry University students to book online tutorials, upload assignment briefs and drafts, connect to their online tutorial sessions, and access post-tutorial feedback uploaded by Academic Writing Tutors (or by Tutors/Lecturers in the disciplines). Access is limited to Coventry University students and staff but screenshots and information about the platform will appear in The COWL Good Practice Guide for Online Writing Tutoring. Guest viewing access may be granted on request.
The COWL Good Practice Guide for Online Writing Tutoring for institutions seeking to establish Online Writing Labs (OWLs) or systems for offering online writing tutoring. Aimed at university managers, academics, writing centre/writing development professionals, writing tutors, and administrators, this brief, updatable guide will discuss the concept, challenges and goals of online writing tutoring: explaining COWL as an exemplar system, outlining an implementation strategy based on the COWL model, and discussing common types of issues that the COWL project team encountered and the pedagogy and technology choices that were made. The Guide will supply screenshots (e.g. of the COWL Online Writing Tutorial Platform), handouts, and other Open Educational Resources to be used and re-used at other institutions. The Guide will be housed in Coventry University's open-access CURVE digital repository. There will be a link to it from the COWL Project website and from the main COWL website
Exemplar institution-wide roll-out plan for online writing tutoring provision .The roll-out plan, including a staged timeline for CAW to incorporate COWL fully as a new aspect of its provision, was drawn up by the COWL Project Director/Head of CAW and the COWL Project Manager/CAW Centre Co-ordinator, and agreed by Senior Management (the Coventry University Librarian) and the COWL Steering Group in September 2010. The roll-out plan appears on the COWL Project website.
User guidance on online writing tutorials for students, Academic Writing Tutors/Academics in the Disciplines, and COWL Administrators has been developed. Initial guidance for the COWL trials, on using MegaMeeting web-conferencing software and an in-house asynchronous system coupled with Riffly audio-feedback software, was created by Dr. Anne Dickinson and Clive Teed (eLU) and is available on the COWL Project website. Although this guidance has been superseded, it is useful for showing how this software can be used to conduct online writing tutorials and for its expert presentation of user guidance. The current user guidance, on using Skype/Mikogo and Microsoft Word‘s ‗track changes‘, ‗comments‘, and ‗audio comment‘ facilities, was created by Ray Summers (CAW Learning Technologist) and Dr. Mark Childs (Teaching Fellow, FEC) and is housed in the CURVE repository. Coventry University students and staff can access this guidance on the COWL Online Writing Tutorial Platform and it will be available publicly via The COWL Good Practice Guide for Online Writing Tutoring.
Session plans and materials for a training course for Academic Writing Tutors on online writing tutoring techniques and pedagogies were developed by Dr. Mary Deane (Senior Lecturer, CAW), Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams (Head of CAW), and Dr. Dimitar Angelov (Academic Writing Tutor, CAW). They delivered the 6-week course to the Academic Writing Tutors at CAW in Spring and Autumn 2010, with technical support from Ray Summers, the Library IT Technician, and the University‘s e-learning ‗Flying Squad‘ (eLU). These materials are available publicly in The COWL Good Practice Guide for Online Writing Tutoring.
Session plans and materials for Faculty-based workshops on working with students’ writing online are being developed by Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams, Dr. Mary Deane and Dr. Mark Childs for delivery in 2011. These materials will be available publicly in The COWL Good Practice Guide for Online Writing Tutoring.
The ‘COWL Project Review of the Origins and Current Practices of Online Writing Labs (OWLs) and Online Writing Support’ was researched and written by Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams in February 2009. This review is publicly available on the COWL Project website and will inform the introduction to The COWL Good Practice Guide for Online Writing Tutoring.
Materials to illustrate and exemplify new practices introduced by COWL (e.g. screenshots of online writing tutorials and resources, photos and videos of staff and students using these materials, writing tutorial record sheets, and examples of student writing that have been commented on synchronously and asynchronously) are under development and will be made part of The COWL Good Practice Guide for Online Writing Tutoring, the COWL Online Writing Tutorial Platform, and the COWL Project website.
Academic Writing learning and teaching resources (e.g. updated CU Harvard Referencing Style resources). These CAW/COWL-produced Open Educational Resources (OERs) have been uploaded onto Coventry University‘s CURVE open-access repository and links will be provided from the main COWL website. A FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) section on CAW/COWL/online writing tutorials, developed as part of the COWL Project, will also be uploaded.
COWL Project CAW model - Three conceptual maps of CAW‘s model of providing whole-university writing development and the impact of the COWL project on transforming the CAW model.
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