Foundational Practices of Online Writing Instruction

Beth L. Hewett and Kevin Eric DePew, Editors
Elif Guler and Robbin Zeff Warner, Assistant Editors
Copy edited by Don Donahue. Designed by Mike Palmquist.

Cover Foundational Practices of Online Writing Instruction addresses the questions and decisions that administrators and instructors most need to consider when developing online writing programs and courses. Written by experts in the field (members of the Conference on College Composition and Communication Committee for Effective Practices in OWI and other experts and stakeholders), the contributors to this collection explain the foundations of the recently published (2013) A Position Statement of Principles and Examples Effective Practices for OWI and provide illustrative practical applications. To that end, in every chapter, the authors address issues of inclusive and accessible writing instruction (based upon physical and mental disability, linguistic ability, and socioeconomic challenges) in technology enhanced settings. The five parts of this book attempt to cover the most important issues relevant to principle-centered OWI: (1) An OWI Primer, (2) OWI Pedagogy and Administrative Decisions, (3) Practicing Inclusivity in OWI, (4) Faculty and Student Preparation for OWI, and (5) New Directions in OWI. Working from the belief that most writing courses eventually will be mediated online to various degrees, the editors offer principles and practices that will allow this collection to inform future composition theory and praxis. To this end, the editors hope that the guidance provided in this collection will encourage readers to join a conversation about designing OWI practices, contributing to the scholarship about OWI, and reshaping OWI theory.

About the Editors

Beth L. Hewett is a key leader of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) Committee for Effective Practices in Online Writing Instruction. A college-level educational consultant and writing instructor, Dr. Hewett is the author, coauthor, and coeditor of numerous articles and books, including Reading to Learn and Writing to Teach: Literacy Strategies for Online Writing Instruction, The Online Writing Conference: A Guide for Teachers and Tutors, Preparing Educators for Online Writing Instruction: Principles and Practices, Virtual Collaborative Writing in the Workplace: Computer-Mediated Communication Technologies and Practices, and Technology and English Studies: Innovative Professional Paths. Beyond online writing instruction, Dr. Hewett's interests include using digital technologies to understand the characteristics of college-level writing, the public rhetoric of eulogies, and practical connections between postsecondary writing and the world-at-large. She also writes about grief (Good Words: Memorializing through a Eulogy, More Good Words: Practical Activities for Mourning, and More Good Words: Grief in the Workplace) and works as a bereavement coach and facilitator trainer.

Kevin Eric DePew is an Associate Professor and the Graduate Program Director of Old Dominion University's English Ph.D. program, which has an online component. He has authored and co-authored works about OWI in Computers and Composition, as well as the Handbook of Research on Computer Mediated Communication and Emerging Pedagogies in the Networked Knowledge Society. Dr. DePew's research about OWI is one component of his larger project of designing better writing instruction. Other works examine how to advocate for social justice through writing instruction, how to raise instructors' awareness of effective strategies for teaching multilingual writers, and how to design writing curriculum that encourages students to transfer what they learn in their writing courses to other contexts. He is a current member of the CCCC's Committee for Effective Practices in Online Writing Instruction and the CCCC Committee on Second Language Writing.

Elif Guler is an Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Professional Writing at Longwood University, where she teaches courses and conducts research in cultural rhetoric and professional writing. She previously taught both face-to-face and distance education writing courses at Old Dominion University (ODU). She is the recipient of a shining star faculty award from ODU and has co-authored an article on the use of online tools for assessment in the writing classroom.

Robbin Zeff Warner is a Senior Writing Coach at Defend & Publish, LLC, and an educational consultant in OWI. Previously she was an Assistant Professor of Writing, Professional Technology Fellow, and WID Studio Director at George Washington University (GWU). She also is a Teacher Consultant with the Northern Virginia Writing Project. Dr. Warner's interest in online technology was launched in writing the landmark book The Nonprofit Guide to the Internet in 1996 when there were so few nonprofits online one could actually count them. This book initiated a series of books on Internet use for the nonprofit community by John Wiley & Sons. She then wrote the first book on online advertising back in 1997 (Advertising on the Internet), which eventually was translated into six languages. Recently, Dr. Warner lived in Brussels, Belgium, for four years where she studied chocolate making; she is now writing novels that showcase artisan chocolate.

Publication Information: Hewett, Beth L., and DePew, Kevin Eric (Eds.). (2015). Foundational Practices of Online Writing Instruction. Perspectives on Writing. Fort Collins, Colorado: The WAC Clearinghouse and Parlor Press. Available at https://wac.colostate.edu/books/owi/

Publication Date: February 21, 2015.

Contact Information:
Beth Hewett: beth.hewett@verizon.net
Kevin Eric DePew: Kdepew@odu.edu

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