Wiring the Writing Center

UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................................................................................................................................VIIINTRODUCTION Straddling the Virtual Fence Eric H. Hobson......................................................................................................ixONE The Look and Feel of the OWL Conference Barbara Monroe...............................................................................................3TWO Email "Tutoring" as Collaborative Writing David Coogan...............................................................................................25THREE Reflection and Responsibility in (Cyber) Tutor Training: Seeing Ourselves Clearly on and off the Screen Rebecca Rickly...............................44FOUR WAC on the Web: Writing Center Outreach to Teachers of Writing Intensive Courses Sara Kimball........................................................62FIVE Have You Visited Your Online Writing Center Today?: Learning, Writing, and Teaching Online at a Community College Clinton Gardner.....................75SIX The Other WWW: Using Intranets to Reconfigure the Who, When and Where of Network Supported Writing Instruction Kurt P. Kearcher.......................85SEVEN Wiring a Usable Center: Usability Research and Writing Center Practice Stuart Blythe.................................................................103EIGHT Drill Pads, Teaching Machines, and Programmed Texts: Origins of Instructional Technology in Writing Centers Neal Lerner..............................119NINE Virtual High School Writing Centers: A Spectrum of Possibilities Pamela B. Childers, Jeannette Jordan, James K. Upton................................137TEN The Community College Mission and the Electronic Writing Center Ellen Mohr...........................................................................151ELEVEN Random Memories of the Virtual Writing Center: The Modes-to-Nodes Problem Ray Wallace................................................................163TWELVE Computers in the Writing Center: A Cautionary History Peter Carino...................................................................................171THIRTEEN UnfURLed: 20 Writing Center Sites to Visit on the Information Highway Bruce Pegg.....................................................................197FOURTEEN Computers and Writing Centers: An Annotated Bibliography Steve Sherwood..............................................................................216WORKS CITED.....................................................................................................................................................231CONTRIBUTORS....................................................................................................................................................242INDEX...........................................................................................................................................................246

Chapter One

Barbara Monroe

The Online Writing and Learning (OWL) at the University of Michigan grew out of our face-to-face (f2f) peer tutoring program in many ways. Although our OWL website includes links to other OWLs that offer electronic handouts, our primary purpose is to respond to writers' needs, online, person-to-person. Like many OWLs, our online tutorial is technically conducted by means of asynchronous electronic mail, which clients can also access through the web. When we first decided to offer writing conferences online in 1994, we saw this move as simply an extension of our peer tutoring program. Not surprisingly, then, our online and f2f tutorials are close kin, borne of the same principles and practices. Our writing conference, both online and off, is based on a one-to-one, rather than one-to-many, instructional model and a collateral power relationship: peer-to-peer rather than a teacher-to-student. Consistent with that rationale, our OWL and f2f conference use the same activities, such as conducting diagnostic work and establishing conference priorities. Our tutors also worry about the same pedagogical issues, such as finding ways to engage clients as collaborative partners in the conference enterprise. And both OWL and f2f tutors work within the same constraints inherent to our walk-in program: our tutors can not count on seeing the same clients or the same paper assignment again, and so their conferences attempt to be comprehensive and specific at the same time.

But a key point of difference is that an OWL conference is a written artifact with its own look-and-feel, and as such, can be productively described and analyzed as a genre unto itself. Largely through trial and error, and verified by client feedback studies as part of our training seminar, our tutors have developed what we believe is an effective online pedagogy, specific to an asynchronous electronic environment. While the formal features of the OWL conference have stabilized over the past three years, each OWL conference reflects a tutor's own persona and conferencing style. The centripetal trends of our OWL conference give it shape as a genre; individual tutors's variations on that form suggest the centrifugal pull on that genre, very much in a Bakhtinian sense. As a genre onto itself, the OWL conference can be productively described and analyzed. At first glance, the OWL conference has a standard shape, but a closer look reveals a wide range of discursive practices at play within that formal framework.

THE LOOK OF AN OWL CONFERENCE

The actual procedure of our online tutorial is not unlike that of our f2f service. The OWL conference begins when a client first "comes in" (by way of our webbed OWL) and fills out a mailform (http://www.lsa.umich.edu/ecb/OWL/ mailform.html). This form asks the client to identify what year student he is, what class the paper is for, and when it is due - information that gives the tutor a context for the conference. The mailform page also asks the client to explain the assignment and identify what kind of help he is seeking before asking him to copy, paste, and submit his paper. The tutor reads the paper through and thoroughly, usually more than once, before writing a response and sending the "conference" back to the client. Within 48 hours (as per our policy), usually much sooner, a client receives a "conference" from the tutor in the form of a personal email message, signed with a first name, a thoughtful, friendly, well-composed response from an experienced reader and accomplished writer in her own right. This is what a conference might look like to the client:

Hi Curtis-

[1] My name is Sean and I'm an ECB OWL tutor. I've read your paper, and I have some suggestions for you. I guess I'll give my general feedback and then my specifics. My specific stuff will be set off ***Like This***

Generally, I think you've got a nice, picturesque little tableau here: pretty well detailed, and certainly very pretty. If you're trying to think of avenues for expansion of the material, there are a couple of things I can suggest:

One thing to think about is a sort of narrative. I understand that this is not a specifically narrative essay, but there is an observer who is describing this scene. Why is this the scene that sticks with you particularly? Is this a general, timeless scene, or do you really want to foreground one particular time, and if you do, what is the narrator doing there, and why is it so important? I think there are shadows of these issues already sort of dancing at the edges of your essay, so if you bump them up you'll take up space and you can add more of a human dimension to this scene.

The other thing I'd encourage is just to really really really push at your description: make it as specific and sensory as possible. I'll show you what I mean in the specifics, so I guess we might as well just move right along to those:

On Tue, 18 Mar 1997, Curtis McDonald wrote: > > Name: Curtis McDonald > Class the paper for: Eng125 > Assignment : Describe a landscape > help looking for: how could I expand the paper? It is too short. > > The Harbor > It was rare to have such a sunny day in this city. [2] ***what city?*** > The sky was blue with no clouds; it merged with the tranquil ocean at the > far end of the world. The wind blew gently and brushed away all the > dampness. The afternoon sun shared its warmth with everybody, driving > away the cold of the winter. I decided to go for a walk.

***This is pretty much perfect, as far as description of the weather, I think. It's beautifully detailed. My one quibble is that all we see here is the sky: what about the city? What does the sidewalk look like in the sun after a long winter? How about the grass? The buildings? In other words, why not turn your attention to the rest of the city instead of just the sky overhead. Also, if you wanted to bump up the narrative aspect: what's happening inside the narrator? Why specifically does the narrator go for a walk? Just for the good weather, or something else?***

> I arrived at the harbor sidewalk. The gorgeous view offered by the > sidewalk attracted many citizens to spend their spare time here. I sat down > on one of benches on the sidewalk and immersed myself into ***I think you just want "in" here instead of "into."*** > the beautiful sunset. I could see the high rise skyscrapers on the opposite > side of the Victoria Harbor, forming a continuous wall of concrete. > TheCentral Plaza, like the Empire State building in New York, stood up > against the other structures.

***Okay good, it stands out: How? What does it look like? I can't really see it (the Empire State has a very specific shape, is the Central Plaza similarly shaped, or does it just stand out the same way? )***

> The sunlight shined on the reflective glass walls of the buildings, making > them look like ***You don't need the "like" here, I think.*** > golden-plated. Above the harbor, the sea gulls circled to find their dinner, > singing happily and enjoying this evening. > This sidewalk is one of my favorite places, because I could see the > ocean, and I used to go to here when I feel ***I think you want past tense here: "felt."*** >gloomy.

***Is the narrator feeling gloomy now? If so, why? (These questions are just intended to open up avenues to expand the text, by the way, not just to be a jerk. )***

> I like to hear the waves bouncing on the sidewalk, creating a harmonic > symphony. I would gaze at the waves of the ocean, wondering how deep > the ocean is. Being close to the sea gives me a calm and peaceful feeling.

***Okay this paragraph is very good, except for the last four words. It's not that there's anything wrong with the words themselves, it's just that they're not as specific as they could be: what exactly do you feel? Heavy eyelids? Warm skin? Do your arms rest lightly on your legs? Do you feel like you're underwater? What, in short, is the physical manifestation of this feeling?***

> I also like to watch the people at the sidewalk. I saw quite a lot of > people were relaxing under the warm sunshine. Two old men sat onthe > edge of the fence fishing, lowering their tackles, and waiting patiently for > the fish to eat their bait. A bunch of tourists walked along the sidewalk > taking pictures. Two young executives dressed in suits leaned against the > fence looking to the far side of the ocean. As if they were trying to escape > from the high pressure in this fast-paced city. > A pair of lovers walked along the sidewalk hand in hand, smiling and > whispering in each other's ears. Another couple sat on the bench hugging > each other. Three teenagers roller bladed on the pathway, trying to do some > difficult jumps.

***The people watching here is good. More material here: linger a little longer on each. That is: let us watch the fishermen for a paragraph instead of a sentence. How do they tie on their bait? How do they cast? The same with all the rest. You don't have to spend an equal amount of time on all of them, but I think these people could be watched a little more, and that'll add to your description.***

> Above the ocean were numerous boats and ships. They left long white > lines after they cut through the serene surface of the ocean. Ferries > crisscrossed between huge cargo ships. Fishing boats came home after a day > of hard work, I could almost see the smiling faces of the fishermen from a > distance.

***This is a nice image, but again, I can't "see" the different types of boats. Aside from numerous, what do they look like? Small fishing boats and freighters don't look alike, so you can spend some time here looking at each type of boat.***

> The orange street lights finally light up. The street lights line up in a > row along the sidewalk. On the opposite side of the harbor, the skyscrapers > gradually died down. Big neon advertising signs light up. I could see small > lights comes out from each family kitchens, I could almost smell the dinner > they were making.

***Great! Getting smell into a description is always a good idea. I'd say that you really want to push this: what elements of food do you smell here? Meat? Fish? Or is it less identifiable? Even if it is, it should smell like something, which will remind the narrator of food.***

> Dong ... dong ... dong ... > I looked at the clock tower from the pier, it was already seven o'clock. > Though I did not want to leave, I have to say good bye. I knew I would > come back again. > Good bye Victoria Harbor.

***Now we're back to narrative here: why say goodbye? Is this an event, a leaving for a long time, if not for good? If it is, it weights things differently, and we should understand that throughout. In other words, you can play up the occasion for this telling, the narrative reason for this description.

[3] Anyway, I hope this has been helpful. Thanks for Flying OWL! Sean

If an OWL conference is read straight through by the client, he might hear the tutor sequence his remarks much as he would in a f2f conference. The conference visibly has three parts that have become standard practice in our program: [1] the front note, opening overview comments that introduce the tutor and establish rapport, that acknowledge the client's stated concerns (e.g. development) and set (or re-direct, as the case may be) conference priorities (e.g. focus, counter-arguments, insufficient support); [2] the intertextual commentary, remarks within the text of the paper itself that locate specific instances of the conference priorities; and [3] the end notes, closing remarks that serve as a disclaimer, encourage revision, and/or remind the client of our f2f service.

While these three parts lend the OWL conference a generic framework, we see a wide range of rhetorical strategies at play within each of those parts. A descriptive analysis of each part-the front note, the intertextual commentary, and the end note-will identify what has become standard about those strategies.

A CLOSER LOOK AT FRONT NOTES

Most of the work of the OWL conferences gets done in the front note. This work always includes these four main activities: 1) opening the conference by introducing the tutor by name and the conference procedures; 2) discussing the assignment parameters; 3) addressing the client's stated concerns; and 4) summarizing writing strengths and indicating revision priorities. The praise and criticism implicit in this last touchpoint of the front note are usually handled in tandem, but in a rich variety of ways.

Opening the conference

In the opening lines of the front note, the tutor greets the writer by name, introduces himself, and lays out how the conference will proceed. This procedural orientation includes telling the client that this front note is general commentary, with intertextual comments pointing to specific examples of the general critique layered within the writer's text that follows. Sometimes tutors thank clients for sending in their papers and encourage them to answer back if they have questions, but most save that for their closing remarks in the end note. In fact, a few prefer to save all the summary commentary for the end, a strategy they believe encourage clients to keep reading; those that follow this format always tell their clients where they can find the general commentary and immediately launch into their intertextually comment. Experienced tutors settle into their own self-devised template wording for this first line or so, some more expansive than others:

Hi Sue,

It's Sean again. I've read your paper and I have some comments for you, some sort of general stuff and some specifics. I guess I'll give you the general stuff first, and then move into the specifics intertextually. My intertextual comments will be set off ***Like This***

========

Hi William! Thanks for sending a paper to our OWL - I hope I'll be able to be helpful to you.

With even a simple opener as the one immediately above, the tutor immediately begins the interpersonal work of the conference. Sometimes a tutor makes overt attempts at connecting, when appropriate, based on what the writer has shared about himself in his writing:

I've really enjoyed reading your fascinating paper. I have a very close friend whose brother is autistic and I feel that I have a much broader understanding now of what's going on with both of them.

Discussing the Assignment

In the next portion of the front note, the tutor customizes the conference to the specific writer's needs and the requirements of the assignment based on what information the client has supplied in the web mailform. Because this information grounds the assumptions for the conference, the tutor takes care to "say-back" his understanding of the assignment. If the tutor is not sure that the client has met the required guidelines, he will explicate what he sees as possible points of difference, giving alternative explanations but leaving the final decision to the client:

If you're trying to write the kind of review you'd see in a newspaper, I think you're on track (though you may go overboard sometimes). If, however, you're supposed to be constructing an argument based on the movie [Independence Day], I think you may want to seriously re-think the essay in terms of what we can learn from the movie in spite of the fact that it's terrible (what does it show that such a bad piece of cinema is one of the top grossing films of all time? Why did it hit so many of our buttons, so to speak?) Anyway, since your tone is so much closer to the former interpretation (like a newspaper), I'll assume that's what you're shooting for, and restrict my comments to how well that style is working.

(Continues...)

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