Minds across Space: Teaching University Writing Consultants and High School Writers to Work Together in the Webbed Writing Center

The article that I read addressed the issue of technology being incorporated into the writing environment. Specifically, this talked about teachers effectively preparing their students, mostly high school and college, for electronic web conferences. It made reference to Kairos' article involving On-Line Writing Labs [OWLS]. Many perspectives were offered both in favor of and opposed to the OWLS. One point that is addressed by Joan Latchaw and her students is the concept of anonymity. This can be problematic because writers never know if they will be working with the same tutor or not. However, it can also be a good thing because students will not feel intimidated or shy as they may in a face-to-face conference.

Another interesting topic that I encountered while reading this article was an OWL especially for English as a Second Language [ESL] students. Here, ESL students had access to online dictionaries, grammar assistance, and writing samples.

In high schools, this concept has become especially important. As college students, we are usually able to find a time to meet with our professors face-to-face in order to discuss our papers and receive helpful feedback. However, high school schedules and class sizes do not offer the same flexibility. Since this is the case, the OWLS can act as a useful tool to enrich the writer’s paper, even if there may be no time to meet face-to-face.

The importance of the face-to-face conference was stressed in this article as well. Rapport is the ability for effective communication between the writer and the teacher/reader. Next comes setting a set agenda to make sure that all tasks are complete. Third, feedback should be given to the writer. It should include strong areas as well as areas for improvement. Finally, the writer and reader assess the session itself to see whether it was successful in completing its goals or if there were some aspects still missing.

A group of students involved in the OWL submitted their opinions and thoughts on having their papers revised online versus face-to-face. The majority of the responses were in agreement, saying that they did not feel as much pressure because they knew that the tutor was looking solely at the paper. Also, the students seemed to agree that the tutors explained the mistakes in a non-confrontational manner. The only major problem students repeatedly brought up was the time it took to receive their responses.

Castleberg, Laura W., and Bruce Closser. "Minds across Space: Teaching University Writing Consultants and High School Writers to Work Together in the Webbed Writing Center." Technology and the Face of Language Arts in the K-12 Classroom 5.1 (2000). KAIROS. Web. 2 Mar. 2010. .