Taking Flights with OWLs: Examining Electronic Writing Center Work (2000)

Keywords

asynchronous, synchronous, website building

Synopsis

Taking Flight with OWLs examines computer technology use in writing centers. Its purpose is to move beyond anecdotal evidence for implementing computer technology in writing centers, presenting carefully considered studies that theorize the move to computer technology and examine technology use in practice. Writing centers occupy a dynamic position at the crossroads of computers and composition, distance education, and composition theory, pulling ideas, theories, and pedagogies from each. Their continuing evolution necessarily involves increasing use of computer technology. The move to computer technology so far has occurred so rapidly that writing center staff and administration have not yet had much time or opportunity to study how and when to infuse it into their programs. The need for this collection is evident: Writing center practitioners have long discussed their roles in relation to their supporting institutions; now they are challenged to explore—even re-invent—their roles as computer technologies transform centers and institutions. In exploring varied stages of technology-infusion through field-based accounts, this volume offers an important and unique resource.

Citation Information

Type of Source: Edited Book Collection

Editors: James A. Inman, Donna N. Sewell

Year of Publication: 2000

Title: Taking Flights with OWLs: Examining Electronic Writing Center Work

Table of Contents

  1. The Spotted OWL: Online Writing Labs as Sites of Diversity, Controversy, and Identity” by Mark Shadle
  2. OWLs in Theory and Practice: A Director’s Perspective” by Lady Falls Brown
  3. Language Learning in Networked Writing Labs: A View From Asia” by Andy Curtis and Tim Roskams
  4. The Culture of Technology in the Writing Center: Reinvigorating the Theory—Practice Debate” by Randall L. Beebe and Mary J. Bonevelle
  5. Theories Before Practice(s): Proposing Computers for Writing Centers” by Denise Weeks
  6. Writing in the Electronic Realm: Incorporating a New Medium Into the Work of the Writing Center” by Sharon Thomas, Mark Hara, and Danielle DeVoss
  7. Emerging (Web)Sites for Writing Centers: Practicality, Usage, and Multiple Voices Under Construction” by Michael Colpo, Shawn Fullmer, and Brad E. Lucas
  8. Cyberspace and Sofas: Dialogic Spaces and the Making of an Online Writing Lab” by Eric Miraglia and Joel Norris
  9. Advice to the Linelorn: Crossing State Borders and the Politics of Cyberspace” by Jennifer Jordan-Henley and Barry M. Maid
  10. The Asynchronous, Online Writing Session: A Two-Way Stab in the Dark?” by Joanna Castner
  11. The Anxieties of Distance: Online Tutors Reflect” by David A. Carlson and Eileen Apperson-Williams
  12. E-mail Tutoring and Apprehensive Writers: What Research Tells Us” by Mark Mabrito
  13. Synchronous Internet Tutoring: Bridging the Gap in Distance Education” by Jamie Thurber
  14. The Real(Time) World: Synchronous Communications in the Online Writing Center” by Jake Shewmake and Jason Lambert
  15. Putting the 00 in MOO: Employing Environmental Interaction” by Joel A. English
  16. Ethics, Plugged and Unplugged: The Pedagogy of Disorderly Conduct” by Jane Love
  17. Making Up Tomorrow’s Agenda and Shopping Lists Today: Preparing for Future Technologies in Writing Centers” by Muriel Harris
  18. Centering in the Distance: Writing Centers, Inquiry, and Technology” by Gail Cummins
  19. The Near and Distant Futures of OWL and the Writing Center” by Barbara J. Monroe, Rebecca Rickly, William Condon, and Wayne Butler
  20. How Many Technoprovocateurs Does It Take to Create Interversity?” by Eric Crump