[Teaching_Composition] Teaching Comp--On line comp

[Laura D Card]

Interesting that you should bring this up right now. I just had an exchange of email messages with one of the librarians here at BYU yesterday where we discussed a problem I've been encountering with my advanced composition classes. 

We have a great program, a lot like other universities I've known, where librarians who specialize in social sciences or humanities or some other discipline offer one-hour sessions (specifically for a major) on the databases, inter-library loans, RefWorks, and other online assets provided for our students. This session goes into much more detail than the sessions required for freshman comp. Going to a session for a major is a requirement of an advanced composition course and many students tell me they wish they could have had that session earlier in their academic career because it is so informative and the librarians are so friendly and offer personalized help anytime.

My problem is that the librarians want the advanced comp students to come with their major research project topic so they can work on it in the session. However, the sessions are offered early in the semester, weeks before I get to the research unit of the class and while we're still working on preliminary material to prepare students to work on their major projects, so they don't yet have specific topics. My students are frustrated and I am frustrated by the timing. Yesterday, when I explained our frustration to a librarian, he offered to have a private session just for my class next semester at a time of my choosing. What a wonderful idea! Now I'm going to get in touch with the librarians who do the sessions for the other types of advanced composition that I teach and see if they'll do the same.

As for teaching online, I find that what is a great convenience for the students is sometimes very time consuming for the teacher. It also has its frustrations in that the type of communication that can take place in a classroom that takes 30 seconds, takes minutes to receive, type answers to, and send. So, for instance, when I taught two online courses in one semester, I found I was spending 40-60 hours a week keeping up on correspondence and downloading and uploading and grading assignments. While I could do it at any time day or night, I found I was spending so much more time just on the logistics that it seemed I was never away from my computer and had little time for my own research and writing. Hopefully advances in technology will help us deal with that problem and maybe it has. I gave up on online courses a couple of years ago because I didn't have the time to teach them. Anybody have a different experience?

Laura Card

-----Original Message-----
From: Phyllis Mentzell Ryder <pryder@gwu.edu>
To: teaching_composition@mailman.eppg.com
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2006 10:13:39 -0500
Subject: [Teaching_Composition] Teaching Comp--On line comp

Great question, Jennifer.  We had our first on-line courses this past 
summer.  I don't think we have any data about them yet, but I'd be 
really interested to see the best practices you compile. 

Your post makes me think of a question we have at GW, that ties on-line 
courses with information literacy.  From my perspective as a faculty 
member, I have to say our instructional librarians are much more adept 
at on-line communication than most of the faculty.  The library has 
on-line chats for reference help, and is developing an on-line game that 
teaches research and critical information literacy.  But most of our 
relationships with the librarians come through collaborating to develop 
library sessions that fit directly with the kinds of assignments in our 
courses, that introduce the databases and teach recursive research 
strategies.  As some of our courses go on-line, however, it's hard (and 
VERY time-consuming) to duplicate this element of the class into the 
on-line course.  I worry that it will fade away, even though it is 
incredibly important to the course.

Have any of you and your partner librarians developed strategies for 
teaching on-line information literacy? 

Phyllis


> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From:
> albericj@ccv.edu
> Date:
> Sun, 12 Nov 2006 15:49:10 -0500 (EST)
>
>
> Hi List!
>
> I'm wondering if anyone out there knows about research being done on the
> number of colleges offering English Composition fully online? I'm also
> compiling best practices for teaching writing online.  Finding best
> practices is one thing, but finding stats is another.  Thanks for any help
> with this.
>
> Jennifer Alberico
> Academic Advisor
> Community College of Vermont
> Springfield
>
>
>   
-- 
phyllis mentzell ryder | assistant professor of writing |university writing program | the george washington university |  2100 fox hall road | washington dc 20007 | pryder@gwu.edu | academic center 107 [mt vernon]|fax: 202.242.6669 | 202.242.6667 


Everything will be okay in the end.  If it's not okay, it's not the end. 

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