Reading club provides a space to discuss writing center scholarship. Based on the article or chapter chosen, participants will share experiences, ideas, strategies, and questions about online writing centers (OWCs). This Reading Club will discuss “Why Writers Choose Asynchronous Online Tutoring: Issues of Access and Inclusion” by Lisa Eastmond Bell, Adam Brantley, & Madison Van Vleet in WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship.

Reading Abstract

“To effectively support writers, writing centers should know who uses tutoring at their locale and why. As Lori Salem notes, ‘[T]he decision to use or not use the writing center offers us a unique window into the writing center’ (150), and these decisions often encompass ‘personal preferences’ as well as ‘broader social factors’ (149). Questions about who uses tutoring and why are not new, but they have not always included online tutoring. As a writing center administrator and undergraduate writing tutors, we wanted to better understand who used our program’s asynchronous online screencast tutoring and why these writers chose to use online tutoring. To do so, we conducted an IRB-approved study examining the demographic differences between writers participating in online versus in-person tutorials, the primary reasons writers chose online tutoring, and the ways online tutoring met or did not meet writers’ preferences or needs.”

Guidelines for Participating

Reading Club is currently held in a Zoom Pro room. Participation is open to everyone, including not-yet OWCA members. To ensure a safe space for open communication and interaction, these sessions will not be recorded.

Register

You can register for a reading club through the scheduling system below. Follow these steps:

1. Select your time zone from the drop-down menu
2. Click the “Register” button next to the event you’d like to attend
3. Fill out the registration form and click “Complete Registration”
4. Save your confirmation email to have the Zoom information or cancel your registration later. You can also respond to this email to contact the event organizers.

A reminder email will also be sent the morning of the event.