Laura Tichy-Smith, M.A.

Many students regard their first-year foundational classes, such as freshman composition, as mere prerequisite hurdles to be leapt on their way to classes they believe will be more applicable to their future careers. My role as an instructor is to guide them into discovering for themselves how the practical skills they learn in foundational classes — such as methods for research; criteria for evaluating appropriateness of sources; analytical techniques for thinking and writing critically about the gathered data; and formats for proper citation — are vital for both their college and career survival. By teaching lessons that apply college-level writing skills to the professional writing that students will have to do in their career fields, I seek to help them internalize why mastering writing matters to their lives. When students finish my class, they will have not only learned and practiced college and career writing skills, but they will also have applied those skills to create valuable documents that they know will be relevant to their future careers, such as resumes and fully developed LinkedIn accounts. Additionally, because my teacher-training was specifically focused upon teaching writing online and my writing and editing work collaborations have largely taken place online, I possess the experience and knowledge to orient students to the 21st century skills required for success in both online learning as well as the distance work collaborations they will likely face in their modern careers.

 

While all students must have a desire to learn in order to succeed in college, fully online students in particular must learn to be self-motivated because they lack the extrinsic catalyst of in-person contact with their instructors and classmates. To help distance learners become motivated and focused in an online composition class, not only do I need to demonstrate why mastering writing skills pertains to their career goals, but I also must present a highly organized course featuring assignments designed to build upon one another toward the goal of creating capable, college-level writers.

 

I have specifically studied online class design and the academic literature regarding researched-based best practices for online teaching in order to learn the most effective techniques for facilitating online students' success. Additionally, from my experience as an editor collaborating via email or postal mail with aspiring authors, I have found that using a coaching approach improves their writing skills. I teach the authors about the grammar rules applicable to their common writing errors; then I have them apply those rules to perform edits upon their own manuscripts. Once they have line edited their own manuscripts, I then focus on content editing to offer them constructive feedback about story arcs and character development. Authors who undergo grammar coaching consistently write cleaner first drafts of their second books, which provides me with a means of assessing how they have learned and improved.

 

As an instructor of a foundational class situated early in the curriculum for all majors, I realize my job requires that I both orient students to the expectations of academic culture as well as help them learn how to use the institution's Learning Management System (LMS). Distance students need for me, as their instructor, to communicate effectively in order to facilitate collaboration between the scattered students so they may discover together how best to learn in the virtual classroom and to construct knowledge from the information presented. While the LMS provides rich opportunities for presenting lessons via multimedia, online classes also must be accessible to all students. Applying universal design principles when designing online classes, such as providing textual alternatives for video presentations, creates classes that are more accessible and useful to all students, even those who normally would not require adaptive accommodations.

 

Prompt and frequent feedback is critical to success in courses presented in any format, but it is particularly critical for online students who typically are unable to receive the synchronous feedback afforded by in-person interactions in the traditional classroom. Excessive delays in grading not only frustrate online students, but the delays also can damage grades because students must continue to submit assignments while they lack the feedback to know if they are doing those assignments correctly. I believe that frequent formative assessments, particularly early in the semester, provide students with the information they need to succeed in the online class. By this means, students will learn that the most important part of professional composition lies not in writing the initial draft but in the editing and rewriting that is essential to creating a finished document that fits the rhetorical needs of the audience and the situation. Frequent constructive feedback also helps students to develop the sense of self-efficacy they need to remain motivated to continue not only in composition class but also to persist and persevere in school until graduation, thus enhancing student retention.

 

Rather than classes such as composition proving to be a hurdle delaying them on their way to their careers, my goal is to help students discover that the class actually smooths the path to reaching their professional goals. By helping students acquire the skills they need both to become effective writers as well as effective online learners, my role as instructor serves to prepare incoming students to face successfully the many educational and professional challenges that will come their way in their lives.