JISC

Project outputs  

Coventry Online Writing Lab (COWL) website that is part of the Centre for Academic Writing (CAW) website. Access is public but CAW writing support services are restricted to Coventry University students and staff, and to external consultancy.

COWL Online Writing Tutorial Platform in Moodle that will enable Coventry University students to book online tutorials, upload assignment briefs and drafts, connect to their online tutorial sessions, and access post-tutorial feedback uploaded by Academic Writing Tutors (or by Tutors/Lecturers in the disciplines). Access is limited to Coventry University students and staff but screenshots and information about the platform will appear in The COWL Good Practice Guide for Online Writing Tutoring. Guest viewing access may be granted on request.

The COWL Good Practice Guide for Online Writing Tutoring for institutions seeking to establish Online Writing Labs (OWLs) or systems for offering online writing tutoring. Aimed at university managers, academics, writing centre/writing development professionals, writing tutors, and administrators, this brief, updatable guide will discuss the concept, challenges and goals of online writing tutoring: explaining COWL as an exemplar system, outlining an implementation strategy based on the COWL model, and discussing common types of issues that the COWL project team encountered and the pedagogy and technology choices that were made. The Guide will supply screenshots (e.g. of the COWL Online Writing Tutorial Platform), handouts, and other Open Educational Resources to be used and re-used at other institutions. The Guide will be housed in Coventry University's open-access CURVE digital repository. There will be a link to it from the COWL Project website and from the main COWL website

Exemplar institution-wide roll-out plan for online writing tutoring provision The roll-out plan, including a staged timeline for CAW to incorporate COWL fully as a new aspect of its provision, was drawn up by the COWL Project Director/Head of CAW and the COWL Project Manager/CAW Centre Co-ordinator, and agreed by Senior Management (the Coventry University Librarian) and the COWL Steering Group in September 2010. The roll-out plan appears on the COWL Project website

User guidance on online writing tutorials for students, Academic Writing Tutors/Academics in the Disciplines, and COWL Administrators has been developed. Initial guidance for the COWL trials, on using MegaMeeting web-conferencing software and an in-house asynchronous system coupled with Riffly audio-feedback software, was created by Dr. Anne Dickinson and Clive Teed (eLU) and is available on the COWL Project website http://cuba.coventry.ac.uk/cowl. Although this guidance has been superseded, it is useful for showing how this software can be used to conduct online writing tutorials and for its expert presentation of user guidance. The current user guidance, on using Skype/Mikogo and Microsoft Word‘s track changes‘, comments‘, and audio comment‘ facilities, was created by Ray Summers (CAW Learning Technologist) and Dr. Mark Childs (Teaching Fellow, FEC) and is housed in the CURVE repository. Coventry University students and staff can access this guidance on the COWL Online Writing Tutorial Platform and it will be available publicly via The COWL Good Practice Guide for Online Writing Tutoring.

Session plans and materials for a training course for Academic Writing Tutors on online writing tutoring techniques and pedagogies were developed by Dr. Mary Deane (Senior Lecturer, CAW), Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams (Head of CAW), and Dr. Dimitar Angelov (Academic Writing Tutor, CAW). They delivered the 6-week course to the Academic Writing Tutors at CAW in Spring and Autumn 2010, with technical support from Ray Summers, the Library IT Technician, and the University‘s e-learning Flying Squad‘ (eLU). These materials are available publicly in The COWL Good Practice Guide for Online Writing Tutoring.

Session plans and materials for Faculty-based workshops on working with students’ writing online are being developed by Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams, Dr. Mary Deane and Dr. Mark Childs for delivery in 2011. These materials will be available publicly in The COWL Good Practice Guide for Online Writing Tutoring.

The ‘COWL Project Review of the Origins and Current Practices of Online Writing Labs (OWLs) and Online Writing Support’ was researched and written by Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams in February 2009. This review is publicly available on the COWL Project website and will inform the introduction to The COWL Good Practice Guide for Online Writing Tutoring.

Materials to illustrate and exemplify new practices introduced by COWL (e.g. screenshots of online writing tutorials and resources, photos and videos of staff and students using these materials, writing tutorial record sheets, and examples of student writing that have been commented on synchronously and asynchronously) are under development and will be made part of The COWL Good Practice Guide for Online Writing Tutoring, the COWL Online Writing Tutorial Platform, the COWL website (http://wwwm.coventry.ac.uk/caw/Pages/COWL.aspx), and the COWL Project website

Academic Writing learning and teaching resources (e.g. updated CU Harvard Referencing Style resources). These CAW/COWL-produced Open Educational Resources (OERs) have been uploaded onto Coventry University‘s CURVE open-access repository and links will be provided from the main COWL website A FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) section on CAW/COWL/online writing tutorials, developed as part of the COWL Project, will also be uploaded.

COWL Project documents including the COWL Project Bid (written by Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams and Professor David Morris (Director, eLU)), the COWL Project Plan (written by Sharon Simkiss (CSHE), Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams and Professor David Morris), the September 2009 and March 2010 COWL Project Interim Reports and the COWL Project Final Report (written by Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams), the COWL Evaluation Plan (written by Dr. Christine Broughan (CSHE/Student Services)), the COWL Project Pedagogic Approaches Report (written by Dr. Mary Deane and Billy Brick, (Manager, Languages Centre)), the Revised COWL Pedagogic Tools Report (written by Dr. Mark Childs and Dr. Mary Deane), the Synopsis of Discussion: COWL Project Pre-Pilots (written by Dr. Mary Deane), a PowerPoint presentation on online writing peer review, survey questions asked of all students who took part in the COWL trials and a summary of students‘ responses, a summary of student data collected through AccuTrack (CAW‘s electronic record-keeping system), a summary of COWL Project interview data, and a summary of data collected via a 'COWL Questionnaire for Writing Development/Writing Centre Professionals‘ will be available publicly on the COWL Project website (http://cuba.coventry.ac.uk/cowl). Elements of these documents and materials will be integrated into The COWL Good Practice Guide for Online Writing Tutoring. Some will appear on the COWL project page in the JISC Design Studio.

3 conceptual maps of CAW‘s model of providing whole-university writing development and the impact of the COWL project on transforming the CAW model. These maps have replaced two earlier maps on the COWL Project website and are entitled: The Centre for Academic Writing (CAW) Model and Coventry University Student Journey in accessing Academic Writing Support at CAW (2004-2010)‘; 'Anticipated Coventry Online Writing Lab (COWL) Project Enhancements to the Centre for Academic Writing (CAW) Model of Academic Writing Support‘; and the Coventry University Student Journey in accessing COWL (from 2010-11), and Future-Gaze Map of the Coventry Online Writing Lab (COWL) and Coventry University Student Journey in accessing Academic Writing Support via COWL‘. The maps were conceptualised by Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams with input from the COWL project team and Steering Group. The maps are on the COWL Project website and on the COWL page of the JISC Design Studio

Promotional materials and activities including a COWL Project flyer, three videos, and a poster conceptualising the COWL Project, were created by Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams and Ray Summers, and involved John Tutchings (eLU), and Dr. Dimitar Angelov and John Morley (Academic Writing Tutor, CAW). The videos are on the COWL Project website  the COWL page of the JISC Design Studio and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap9YnpciPN0, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9k0V940R4s, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kqA7QwAMFI). The flyer was disseminated at Academic Writing conferences in 2009 and 2010. Promotional articles are planned for submission to HEA Subject Centre newsletters.

Presentations at academic conferences and other events relating to COWL so far include:

• Ganobcsik-Williams, L. (2011) ‗Writing Development for Students and Staff: Face-to-Face and Online'. Invited Talk. 11th Learning and Teaching Symposium: ‗riting Development in Higher Education‘. Edge Hill University, England
• Thompson, B., Childs, M. et al. (2011) ‗abor in, and of, the Digital Humanities‘ roundtable session for the Committee on Professional Rights and Responsibilities and the Committee on Information Technology. Dr. Mark Childs will present on COWL findings regarding issues involved with including staff and students in the implementation of new e-learning technologies. January, Los Angeles, California. http://www.mla.org/convention Ganobcsik-Williams, L. and Gilchrist, P. (2010) ‗OWL: The Coventry Online Writing Lab‘. JISC Experts Meeting, Birmingham, England, 20th October
• Patalong, S. (2010). 'Skills for Success: Study Skills in Higher Education', University College and Research Libraries Cilip (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) East Midlands event 'Skills for Success! Study Skills in Higher Education', University of Lincoln, England, 8 June. PowerPoint available at: http://www.slideshare.net/marienicholson1/ucr-east-midlands-event-slides-8th-june-2010-skills-for-success-study-skills-in-higher-education-sally-patalong
• Ganobcsik-Williams, L. (2010) The Role of the Writing Centre in Developing Academic Writing as a Key Competence for University Students and Staff‘. Invited Keynote, Das Forum Wissenschaftliches Schreiben/The Forum Academic Writing, Zurich University of Teacher Education (PH Zurich), Switzerland 10-11 June. PowerPoint may be made available at http://www.phzh.ch/content-n1260-sD.html
• Ryan, L., Cleary, L., O‘Sullivan, I., Deane, M., Childers, P., Daniels, S. and Nichols, P. (2010) 'WAC/WID and the Writing Center: Collaborating Internationally to Address Concerns‘, European Writing Centers Association (EWCA) Conference, the American University of Paris, France, 24-28th May http://www.aup.edu/news/special_events/ewca2010_abstracts.htm#WAC/WID and the Writing Center: Collaborating Internationally to Address Concerns
• Ganobcsik-Williams, L. and Broughan, C. (2009) 'Creating and Evaluating Online Writing Support: The Coventry Online Writing Lab ('OWL') Project', European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing (EATAW) 2009, Coventry University, England http://wwwm.coventry.ac.uk/eataw2009/Documents/EATAW%20B%20of%20A%20FINAL.pdf

Publications relating to COWL so far include:

• Ganobcsik-Williams, L. (forthcoming 2011) The Writing Centre as a Locus for WiD, WAC and Whole-Institution Writing Provision‘ in Mary Deane and Peter O‘Neill, eds. Writing in the Disciplines, Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, page numbers tbc.
• Ganobcsik-Williams, L. and Broughan, C. (forthcoming 2011) 'Using the Balanced Scorecard Method to Evaluate Writing Centre Provision: a Case Study of the Coventry Online Writing Lab (COWL) Project', submitted for consideration to The Journal of the European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing.
• Ganobcsik-Williams, L. (2010) ‗cademic Writing in Higher Education: A Brief Overview‘. Research Intelligence (British Educational Research Association)

Bids for further projects, events and fellowships related to COWL so far include:

• A bid to give a seminar and write a briefing paper entitled 'Giving Effective Feedback on Student Writing: Face-to-face and Online’ Giving Effective Feedback on Student Writing: Face-to-was submitted by Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams to the HEA Seminar Series 2011 on Assessment and Feedback‘ funding call in November 2010. (Unsuccessful)
• An application for a SCORE (Support Centre for Open Resources in Education) Fellowship, including a residential course in developing Open Educational Resources (OERs) at the Open University, was submitted by Sally Patalong (COWL Steering Group Member) in Autumn 2010. (Successful)
• A proposal to write a case study on COWL and the use of online writing tutorials for a new JISC guide to innovative practice in a digital age was submitted by Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams in October 2010. (Unsuccessful)
• A ‘COWL 2’ Project Bid for further development of the Coventry Online Writing Lab resource was submitted by Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams to JISC‘s ‗ER Collections‘ funding call in June 2010. (Unsuccessful) for further development of the Coventry Online Writing Lab resource was submitted by Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams to JISC‘s ‗ER Collections‘ funding call in June 2010. (Unsuccessful)