Keywords
Asynchronous, Pedagogy, Nondirective feedback
First Paragraph
As writing labs continue to branch out into cyberspace, questions abound as to the potential changing role of the writing lab, especially in its capacity online. Should the OWL (Online Writing Lab) act as a resource medium, providing users with a variety of writer-related tools (including handouts, interactive workshops, exercises, and additional links to more resources)? Or can it be a medium in which one conducts tutorials as well? While the answer to the first question has been answered with a resounding “yes,” the second question evokes a much quieter, more reserved response. An OWL that provides handouts, exercises, etc. simply replaces a grammar handbook, a rhetorical guideline to the writing process, or various workbooks; it is nothing more than an extension of the tools writers already have at their disposal; the OWL conveniently makes these resources accessible online. But the second question, and “the tools” it seemingly replaces, threatens the very nature of the writing lab: the face-toface (f2f) tutorial cannot be processed through fiber-optics, for both the writer and the tutor are real individuals, with real writing needs; it is an on-going dialogue that needs eye contact, body language, direct and indirect questioning, and the writer’s response. At its foundation, the tutorial is writer-centered, and the tutor’s job is to facilitate the writer’s discovery of his or her writing self. But online, where is the tutor? Perhaps more importantly, where is the writer? The most frightening prospect of the online tutorial is that all one is left with is the writing and not the writer, the product and not the process.
Citation Information
Type of Source: Newsletter Article
Author: J. A. Jackson
Year of Publication: 2000
Title: “Interfacing the Faceless: Maximizing the Advantages of Online Tutoring”
Publication: Writing Lab Newsletter, Volume 25, Issue 2
Page Range: 1-7