As more and more college writing instructors are asked to teach online
courses, the need for practical, day-to-day advice about what to expect
in these courses and how to conduct them has grown.
Scott Warnock, an experienced writing instructor and online writing
instruction mentor, hears the questions constantly: What do I do each
week that specifically constitutes an online course? How do students
participate and engage in an online writing course (OWC)? Writing
Together: Ten Weeks Teaching and Studenting in an Online Writing Course
narrates the experience of an asynchronous OWC through the dual
perspective of the teacher, Scott, and a student, Diana Gasiewski, who
participated in that OWC.
Both teacher and student describe their strategies, activities,
approaches, thoughts, and responses as they move week by week through
the experience of teaching and taking an OWC. This narrative approach to
describing teaching a writing course in a digital environment includes
details about specific assignments and teaching strategies, with the
added bonus of the student view. Through the experience of the student
author, OWC instructors will better understand how students perceive
OWCs and navigate through them--and how students manage their lives in
the context of distance education.