Iwca pdf

In that spirit, please read carefully the guidelines below and consider making a nomination. The award is given at every other IWCA conference. All nominations should be submitted electronically to Al DeCiccio, chair of the committee, at adeciccio svc. These may include excerpts from a curriculum vitae, work- shop or published material, stories or anecdotes, or original work by the nominee. Works Cited Greenleaf, R. New York: Paulist, Pemberton, Michael.

Michael A. Pemberton and Joyce Kinkead. Logan: Utah State UP, Our experiences with writing ing in the disciplines, and technology center work during our education and careers have shaped us as, you might say, writing center natives. Coming from a doctoral program in Texts and Technology, we both technology. Yet as we work to keep our writing centers responsive to a student Ph. For a complete description of the The interpersonal connection created between tutors and students is essential to writing center practice.

Second Life, unlike previous technologies, provides a mutually engaging, visually names and contact information of stimulating, immersive virtual world where interpersonal connection is maintained. Maureen Giblin, environment. Students and tutors can sit virtually in comfortable lounge chairs or hold group tutoring Chair, Search and Screen Committee, sessions in spacious rooms without interruption.

Thanks to technology maintained by Damani Corp a contractor for building in uwsp. Second Life , writing center tutors can pull up a whiteboard and display handouts or other resources The University of Wisconsin-Stevens during a consultation. Second Life, an immersive, multi-user virtual world launched in , is the primary virtual world for academics in the United Kingdom and has increased in popularity and usage in the United States in recent years.

It is now being used in a variety of teaching activities, at times as a meeting place for students or as a place for training and simulation. While students in the humani- ties may explore museums and cultural history in Second Life, students in medical ields may visit to simulate patient diagnosis and treatment. March Different from Blackboard or other online courseware systems that rely primarily on text, Second Life is a highly interactive synchronous environment where visuals remain the primary form of communica- tion, expression, and interaction.

Some U. These virtual spaces highlight the ad- Academic Director for vantages of immersiveness—the feeling of being surrounded or submerged within the virtual space or Effective Writing Center actively believing that you are in the virtual space. The successful candi- space for collaborating and distributing visual forms of composition, such as digital videos or interac- date will be responsible for leading and tive displays.

The space not only includes two areas where academics from around the world can con- managing all functions and aspects of the Effective Writing Center EWC and gregate and share ideas in a public forum, but also offers innovative tutor training and simulation that for helping to develop the strategic complement discussions on gender, persona, and culture.

As part of their ongoing training, consultants role of the EWC within the University. The candidate Consultants collaborating in the SLUWC for the irst time in the spring semester were surprised should also have experience using a by the realistic interactions they experienced.

Consultants seemed taken with the social nature of the variety of digital media. Most consultants put a great Requires Masters degree in relevant deal of thought into their appearance and the ethos their avatars would convey in online interactions. Requires estab- Consultants working at the UCF UWC were asked to discuss their experiences in a training session held lished record of writing program ad- in Second Life: ministration and a record of teaching excellence: at the minimum, two years Working in Second Life was one of the more memorable parts of my time at the UWC.

Although experience teaching writing online pre- there seem to be a good amount of kinks to work out in the program itself, I can see how something ferred and two years experience work- like Second Life could enhance the consulting process.

Preferred In viewing student writing in Second Life, students and tutors simultaneously see cursors and arrows on experience includes working with adult the screen, cutting down on the kind of hindrances this student has described. Another undergraduate students in higher education settings, consultant reported that the well-constructed SLUWC complete with handouts!

Even while Second Life consultations could just as easily take place on sonal skills, and evidence of capacity to the beach outside, something about the public virtual structure made it more recognizable and relatable work across departments.

This familiarity, in combination with the avatar interaction, For a full description, please visit also makes the experience more personable than the current Online Writing Lab OWL chat. Many universities and organizations have established roots in Review of applications to begin March Second Life by building campuses, teaching areas, and displays for various groups. Islands the term Position start date is July 1st.

Unique in its mission of providing individualized spaces designed especially for writing center usage, ESMG is currently the only company allowing writing centers to capitalize on the opportu- nities in Second Life for a fraction of the price of a full island and without dedicating hundreds of hours to building. In Second Life, one can take the form of a white fox or Janangelo a dragon, or sport fairy wings and a tail. A friendly stranger in leather chaps offered to show me around.

She Institutes: July 15, led me to several shops in Second Life where I could change my appearance, and I acquired an entirely new body free of charge, added outits to my inventory, and then complemented them with Join us for all or part of a week of workshops, different hair and varying eye colors.

While irst-life geography requires that we build ways in the work associated with it. This community through professional conferences, publications, and listservs, Second Life allows for simu- could include work with writing centers; mul- lated face-to-face chats with fellow tutors across university campuses. Here, it was clear that best tiple sections or instructors of writing cours- practices could be shared between universities in new ways.

I imagined staff meetings and work- es; work with community writing programs; shops where tutors from across the world could explore solutions to common consulting challenges course and program assessment; consider- in real-time. Landau explained how beyond; or any other work that is related to to hide and view local chat boxes for text-based communication , adjust voice volumes for mi- writing instruction or program direction.

Final proposals are due no later friendly design, I was immersed in the experience within four or ive hours spread over a few days. Submit by Wed. Questions that I started to understand how to navigate.

I also encountered colleagues with similar interests in about mentoring project sessions should building and writing in Second Life. The world that once seemed so distant and unfamiliar changed edu. Outside of class, I quickly began to associate with colleagues in Second Life. I explored academic spaces—like 10 Promoting the exchange of voices and ideas in one-to-one teaching of writing. March campuses and museums—that were taking shape online. Before I knew it, I found myself schedul- ing meetings with other faculty members within this new space.

Educational Support Management Group, currently the only such support group available The MENAWCA was founded in November exclusively for writing centers, offers us the support necessary to explore the full potential of this vast and aims to foster communication space. Enjoying Second Life as a user requires little technical expertise; to directors and staff of writing centers at build, however, requires scripting and programming experience along with a great deal of patience. For centers interested in pursuing the latest in tutoring technol- interested in writing center theories and ogy, ESMG provides the technical expertise to customize virtual spaces for each writing center while applications.

ESMG customizes each center with plush furniture, wall art, tables, and more. The writing centers we saw were equipped with or participating in the mailing list, please white boards for drawing or displaying videos, websites, or note cards. With so much riou aus. In addition to the many positive aspects of ESMG services in Second Life, we want to emphasize that many of the technologies employed are developmental.

ESMG is committed to training writing center directors on the use of their interactive tools, but centers inevitably must train their own users with philosophies appropriate for their students and consultants while working in this virtual frontier. White boards and presentation areas will require training, especially for tutors new to residency in Second Life. Smart boards allow consultants and students to write and draw in a public setting, which is especially helpful for brainstorming sessions where visuals can guide the prewriting process.

They also display videos, web pages, and note cards, allowing tutors to discuss other forms of composition and media. We would caution that while tutoring in Second Life offers new opportunities for interacting in virtual space, there are costs in time and money.

ESMG does provide tutor support, and sug- gests practices such as having irst-time users call in advance of their tutoring session so that avatars can be teleported to the center upon login.

These and other time-saving tips can help to minimize usability issues, but familiarity with Second Life is ultimately required before writing center tutors begin consulting in-world. Along with a technological learning curve, an additional aspect to consider in Second Life tutoring is privacy.

While existing e-mail and chat technologies may not foster a sense of immersion, they do allow for certain privacy safeguards. In Second Life, space is essentially public. While ESMG provides guidelines to reduce this issue within writing center spaces, this characteristic of Second Life is not entirely avoidable. But before we discount Second Life for these environmental quirks, consider the bustling, face-to-face environment of most brick- and-mortar writing centers where multiple sessions occur simultaneously.

A completely quiet session without interruption or distraction would be quite abnormal in traditional writing center spaces. Each of these price points includes use of the tutoring center at the ESMGSL property, one hour of student or tutor training, and unlimited access to weekly classroom seminars presented by ESMG staff members. These annual fees are paid by the college or university rather than by individual students. Once a writing center has established the tutoring space through ESMG, students create free Second Life accounts to visit the virtual writing center.

Customized pack- ages are available for those that require additional lexibility and include entire island building and management. In the same way that writing center directors will train tutors, tutors also should expect to troubleshoot as new residents acclimate to the interface during consulting sessions, even if they are digital natives. But in our writing centers we are, after all, initiating students into a new writing environment analo- gous to that of the virtual environment in Second Life.

As students work with their tutor on actions such as how to sit down at a conference table in this new virtual world, they also learn how to develop complex academic ideas coherently.

The Second Life tutoring experience mirrors the long-standing position of writing center practice that tutors and students are, in fact, co-learners in the consulting experience. F Work Cited Prensky, Marc. F 12 Promoting the exchange of voices and ideas in one-to-one teaching of writing. I was sure that if I showed others my work I would be found out, be exposed as a fraud.

My fear was that bad writing meant I was a bad person. Suficiently humbled by my irst semester of graduate school, I realized the ridiculousness of my anxiety and decided that this was the semester in which I would conquer my fear and inally overcome my pride and hypocrisy. And so I scheduled my appointment and waited with great anticipation, or more realistically, trepidation. The receptionist introduced me to my tutor, Courtney. I rushed to explain the laws, of which I was well aware, and my fears, which I—of all people—did not understand.

Here was my major problem: my attitude. My poor attitude hurt the quality and quantity of the writing I produced, but poor Courtney, to whom I was randomly assigned, felt pressure: I was her co-worker and she had to make me feel better about my work before she could help me, whether or not I deserved to be encouraged.

We inally began to get to the text; I read the paper, a personal narrative for one of my classes, aloud, cringing fairly often—perhaps even more often than necessary. The paper was, ironically, about unpacking boxes of books while relecting on how reading has changed who I am. I relected upon my situation and realized that if I would calm down, writing might have a chance to transform me as well. Courtney sat comfortably, patiently listening and watching. She was sitting in the same type of chair I was—same height, same shape.

She was looking at the same paper I was, not her own likely superior piece. We were equals. Yet as soon as I inished reading, I felt the need to repeat my justiication and apology once more.

However, Courtney began with positive feedback, just as I try to do when I tutor or grade. In the course of the tutorial, I found that I had been holding myself back from hearing good things about my writing when I attempted to fence out the corrections and suggestions that I feared would come from another reader. In reality I want corrections and sugges- tions, just as I want praise.

March others. In that case, the teacher is also the only source of critique. A visit to the Writing Center provides more of each, resulting in better writing. The key is to remember that the praise and the critique are about my writing—they are not judgments about me. And surprisingly, I found that the tutorial actually built my conidence. Before I knew it, I was ready to be on my way; I was ready to revise and implement my new ideas and direction.

Instead of fearing that bad writing meant I was a bad person, my experience in the Writing Center showed me that bad writing meant I was a person—a human who uses process to review and improve. After revising, I turned in the inal draft of my narrative. I was pleased with the resultant success both in my grade and in my new identity as a much more open and cooperative writer. I was able to look at my writing as a product or creation of the person I am, not a relection or deinition of the person I am.

The constructive comments became just that, constructive comments. I also came away from the whole ordeal and process with a new belief: Every tutor should visit the Writing Center as a client at least once, if not once a semester. Sitting on the other side of the desk evokes sympathy and understanding. Switching seats helps remind those of us who are tutors that we need to be comfortable in either chair; we are both readers and writers, tutors and tutees. We are human, and we have the ability and opportunity to help each other.

And you know what? When I took this article to the Writing Center, I felt not one jot of anxiety about sharing my writing, even with a tutor I had never before met. The tutorial was productive and painless, and, dare I say it, even fun.

And really, you should be grateful, as there used to be a forced and boring paragraph right about here that neither you nor I are missing. F Works Cited Bradstreet, Anne. Shorter 6th ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton, Daiker, Donald.

Chris M. Urbana: NCTE, Sommers, Nancy. Contact: Barb Lutz and John Nordlof. E-mail: thetutor. IWCAconference english. Related Papers. By Lauren Gregory. Gain knowledge on Glass issues and proper cleaning procedures from a team of industry experts.

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