Rethinking and redesigning a Web resource for online writing teachers

Project #: 36
Name: Warnock, Scott (sjwarnock@drexel.edu; 215-895-0377)
Department: English and Philosophy
Academic Area: English/Computers and Writing

Title: Rethinking and redesigning a Web resource for online writing teachers

Description:
Since 2005, I have maintained the Website Online Writing Teacher. This resource not only served as the launching point for my book Teaching Writing Online: How and Why, but it has become a go-to site for writing teachers around the world (over 30,000 pages views) who want to teach online. The site has won several educational technology awards and recognitions. Eight years after I created it, I still think it's a valuable and unique resource, but its design, technological presentation, and rhetorical approach have long needed to be rethought. For this summer project, I am seeking an undergraduate to work with me on the sizable task of recreating Online Writing Teacher. I am seeking someone who is a skilled writer; attentive to the rhetorical challenges of digital spaces; experienced in Web design; attentive to the organizational requirements of digital environments; interested in educational technology; and eager to develop research techniques, especially in the area of writing and technology. We will take apart this chronologically-structured, blog-formatted digital resource and redesign it completely, including more interactive tools, better visual presentation, and, mainly, a stronger and more robust design and presentation concepts.

Associated Independent Study:
This is a rigorous project, and the sizable research and design opportunities would certainly lend be appropriate for an independent study in a digital humanities-style course. The final product of this course will be a high-profile, for my part of the academic world at least, Website.

Gained Experience:
The student will gain an inside understanding of the field of writing and technology, particularly the subfield of online writing instruction (OWI). The student will learn about the most current research and practices in the field. The student will also think deeply about the technological and rhetorical choices involved in revising the platform and design of an electronic resource. I have a good history of helping students present and publish. I have worked with humanities fellows three times, and my goal as an advisor is to provide you with professional opportunities far beyond our time together. The 2007 fellow used the results of our summer project as a means of helping her secure a job after graduation at a major research university. The 2008 fellow and I published a co-authored paper in The Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks. The 2009 fellow helped launch a project that showed how different teaching strategies result in positive, measurable changes in student writing. In 2010, I worked with a Drexel Research Co-op, and that student presented a paper with me at a conference and has co-authored a journal article with me. You will have similar opportunities.

Outcome:
The final product will be the revised scholarly Web resource, Online Writing Teacher. It will be a tangible product for the student to include in her/his portfolio. We will have opportunities to propose conference talks highlighting our collaboration and describing the technical, rhetorical, and research decisions involved with our revision.

Tasks:
See above. You will be working with me on all aspects of revising this Web resource. You will have plenty of guidance but you’ll be able to self-structure your time as best suits you.

Location:
You and I will meet during the summer in my office in the Drexel Writing Center. You will be able to do much of this work remotely.

Meetings:
We can set up a flexible meeting plan based on our schedules. I expect us to meet several times early in the summer and then several times at the end of the 10-week period. Much of the work in the middle weeks can be done remotely by you. This is a sizable, challenging project, and the question is not where it gets done, but that it does indeed get done.

Interview Availability: March 5, March 6, March 7