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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 7 November 2019

Chiaki Iwasaki, Yasuhiro Tada, Tomoki Furukawa, Kaede Sasaki, Yoshinori Yamada, Tsutomu Nakazawa and Tomoya Ikezawa

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development and assessment of learning support environments for academic writing that utilize ICT, such as e-learning and online…

4322

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development and assessment of learning support environments for academic writing that utilize ICT, such as e-learning and online tutoring, in Japanese higher education. First, the authors introduce the design of an e-learning writing program for the Japanese language and assess whether the program is an effective learning support tool for undergraduates. Second, the authors analyze and assess online tutoring support for academic writing and clarify the merits and disadvantages of online and offline tutoring at writing centers, then suggest instructional strategies by analyzing the writing tutoring process.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors adopted e-learning goals to assess its effectiveness. The authors asked the participants questions they could answer from five-point scales, conducted a paired t-test, and included a free description-type questionnaire. Then, to assess online tutoring, the 12 students took pre- and post-test questionnaires, after which the authors conducted a Wilcoxon signed rank test. In addition, the authors carried out a Kruskal–Wallis rank sum test in order to confirm differences in satisfaction level and the effectiveness of face-to-face tutoring and online tutoring.

Findings

By analyzing the pre- and post-test results, the t-test confirmed that the students found the e-learning system to be effective for nurturing academic literacy. This means the system is appropriate as a support tool for nurturing academic writing, especially writing knowledge and rules, and university must provide a comprehensive learning support environment including e-learning. Next, the authors found no statistically significant difference between face-to-face and online tutoring, although some problems with the writing process remained. So online tutoring has opportunity to promote autonomous learning. The research results make it clear that because of writing centers’ potential and their effectiveness in utilizing ICT tools.

Originality/value

Research findings about academic writing are to improve the tutoring process and writing strategies, such as the use of ICT for academic writing support like e-learning, online tutoring, do not exist. To provide learning opportunity to learners and promote autonomous learning, e-learning and online tutoring are important. For the reasons noted above, it is necessary to provide an alternative writing support environment to students in Japan. Therefore, the authors report on and assess the development of learning support environments for e-learning programs and online tutoring for academic writing at the undergraduate level in Japan.

Details

Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2414-6994

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 June 2018

Sarah McDaniel

This paper aims to apply integrated academic literacies and threshold concepts constructs to the development of graduate student literacies. Western Washington University has…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to apply integrated academic literacies and threshold concepts constructs to the development of graduate student literacies. Western Washington University has developed a graduate peer-tutors program to advance integrated academic literacies and graduate student agency. Graduate peer-tutors are expert-outsiders (Nowacek and Hughes, 2015): expert in conversations about literacies and outsiders to disciplinary expertise. Peer-tutors augment a support ecosystem that includes faculty advisors, subject librarians and others. Libraries should lead innovative programs to develop integrated literacies, and librarians should leverage both subject and literacies expertise as part of an ecosystem of support.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on library, writing center and higher education scholarship, the author draws on research methodologies from writing center scholarship to explore models for integrated graduate student literacies. The author collaborates with graduate peer-tutors to connect theory and practice in the Graduate Research & Writing Studio (GRWS).

Findings

Peer-tutor models offer a valuable layer of support for graduate students engaged in thesis-writing. Peer-tutors, faculty advisors and subject librarians play important roles in advancing development of integrated literacies. The role of peer-tutors is unique in advancing integrated literacies, and addressing affective barriers and equity concerns.

Practical implications

Economic pressures have transformed higher education, ushering new populations into graduate programs. Opportunities to enhance inclusivity cannot be realized without support for development of literacies. Libraries should lead with innovative services that address barriers to graduate student success.

Originality/value

The author leverages the unique laboratory offered by the GRWS and engages graduate peer-tutors in connecting scholarship and practice. Drawing on contemporary theoretical lenses on literacies, she argues for libraries’ leadership of programs that support integrated graduate student literacies.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 46 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 16 September 2021

Jessica J. Jones

As online academic programs and online student populations continue to grow, it is important to consider the population of graduate-level students and what support they need from…

Abstract

As online academic programs and online student populations continue to grow, it is important to consider the population of graduate-level students and what support they need from the university in order to be engaged and successful. This chapter will provide a review of the theory and research to show that there is a need for academic support for graduate-level students while also discussing how institutions have worked to create meaningful connections for students. Drawing on Astin’s theory of student involvement, this chapter will discuss three ways that the University Academic Success Programs department at Arizona State University has worked to address that need and provide academic support to online graduate students: online graduate writing centers, online dissertation writing camps, and employment of online graduate students. Using interview examples from former student tutors, this chapter will show how these opportunities helped online graduate students feel valued, supported, and connected to the institution. This chapter will conclude by addressing limitations, areas for program growth and future research, and recommendations for practitioners to apply in their own institutions.

Details

International Perspectives on Supporting and Engaging Online Learners
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-485-1

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2006

Roberta L. Tipton and Patricia Bender

To present a successful collaboration between an instruction librarian and the director of a campus‐writing center for the benefit of some under prepared transfer students in an…

1881

Abstract

Purpose

To present a successful collaboration between an instruction librarian and the director of a campus‐writing center for the benefit of some under prepared transfer students in an urban setting at a research university.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative. Librarian and writing instructor reflect on the pedagogy used and their collaboration.

Findings

Intensive librarian‐faculty collaboration using theoretical concepts and models from general education, writing pedagogy, and librarianship can create a successful learning space for under prepared students.

Originality/value

The actual voice of the teaching faculty is rarely heard in the library literature, but it is an integral part of this article.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 34 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 23 August 2022

María Constanza Errázuriz, Lucía Natale and Juan Antonio Núñez Cortés

Certainly, most academic-disciplinary literacy initiatives in the Ibero-American context have arisen with the purpose of achieving social justice, especially in a territory that…

Abstract

Certainly, most academic-disciplinary literacy initiatives in the Ibero-American context have arisen with the purpose of achieving social justice, especially in a territory that has suffered from inequity and whose deepening has increased with the current health emergency situation. However, despite well-intentioned initiatives, these programs, in general, have followed Anglo-Saxon models far removed from Ibero-American needs and reality. Therefore, in their implementation, they have dichotomies that ultimately weaken their sustainability over time and their results in their level of real inclusion, some of these – considering the approaches of Tierney (2018) and others – are: assimilation/accommodation, elitism/inclusion, institutional reform/educational innovation, research/action, remediation/re-mediation, standardization/contextualization, performance/learning, submission/emancipation, monologism/dialogism and homogeneity/diversity. In this way, based on a qualitative and reflective analysis on the experiences of three academic literacy programs in three universities in Argentina, Chile, and Spain, we will make these tensions explicit, and we will reveal practices that are truly contextualized to the communities where they are inserted, such as their eclectic, collaborative, dialogic, and remediated nature, which allows them to be constantly codesigned by the participation of students, professors, and tutors and whose research is promoted through action. In this sense, these countries can be related by sharing the language, a recent tradition of academic literacy and high school dropout rates. Finally, knowing both the strengths and the contradictions they still hold will contribute to continuing the process of contextualizing to the communities and, thus, establishing them as emancipatory pedagogies from the South to the South.

Article
Publication date: 9 April 2018

Nicholas Alexander Hayes, Steffanie Triller Fry and Kamilah Cummings

The purpose of this paper is to describe, reflect on, and problematize the curricula and student support created by the Writing Program at DePaul University’s School for New…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe, reflect on, and problematize the curricula and student support created by the Writing Program at DePaul University’s School for New Learning. This case study discusses the challenges and considerations that the authors have used to develop writing classes and support for non-traditional adult students.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative case study emerges from the practical experience and theoretical knowledge of the three authors. The experience includes development, implementation, and revision of curricula and support services to fit the changing needs of the non-traditional student population.

Findings

The growing majority of students demonstrate at least one non-traditional characteristic: delayed postsecondary education enrollment, lack of high school diploma, part-time enrollment, full-time employment, multiple dependents besides a spouse, etc. In the face of institutional indifference, these populations frequently fail to receive the support that meets their particular needs.

Practical implications

Using their own experience of creating a Writing Program that meets the needs of adult non-traditional students, the authors discuss practical strategies for and possible pitfalls of providing writing support that can be adapted for similarly underserved student populations.

Originality/value

The paper does present interesting approaches for educating adult students. It covers the unique challenges in this population, and the the approaches that are specifically tailored toward meeting their needs.

Details

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, vol. 10 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-7003

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 September 2020

Nadia Behizadeh

This paper aims to examine two teachers’ beliefs and practices on teaching writing at an urban, high-performing middle school to determine: What discourses of writing are being…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine two teachers’ beliefs and practices on teaching writing at an urban, high-performing middle school to determine: What discourses of writing are being taught in an urban, high-performing US public middle school? What factors prevent or enable particular discourses?

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on case study methods, this study uses a single-case design with two seventh-grade teachers at a high-performing urban school as embedded units of analysis. Data collection took place over one semester. Data sources included observations and interviews with the two teachers, an interview with an administrator and multiple instructional artifacts, including unit and lesson plans. Observational data were analyzed using a priori code for writing discourses (Ivanic, 2004) and interview data were analyzed for factors affecting instruction using open, axial and selective coding.

Findings

Both teachers enacted extended multi-discourse writing instruction integrating skills, creativity, process, genre and social practices discourses supported by their beliefs and experience; colleagues; students’ relatively high test scores; and relative curricular freedom. However, there was minimal evidence of a sociopolitical discourse aligned with critical literacy practices. Limits to the sociopolitical discourse included a lack of a social justice orientation, an influx of low-performing students, a focus on raising test scores, data-focused professional development and district pacing guides. Racism is also considered as an underlying structural factor undermining the sociopolitical discourse.

Research limitations/implications

Although generalizability is limited because of the small sample size and the unique context of this study, two major implications are the need to layer discourses in writing instruction while centering critical pedagogy and develop teacher beliefs and knowledge. To support these two implications, this study suggests developing university-school partnerships and professional development opportunities that create a community of practice around comprehensive writing instruction. Future research will involve continuing to work with the participants in this study and documenting the effects of providing theory and tools for integrating the sociopolitical discourse into middle school curricula and instruction.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the field of literacy education’s understanding of internal and external factors limiting the sociopolitical discourse in a high-performing, urban middle school in the USA, an understudied context.

Details

English Teaching: Practice & Critique, vol. 20 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1175-8708

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2003

James K. Elmborg

Points out the similarities and differences between library instruction and writing instruction in the higher education curriculum. Notes that information literacy librarians can…

3608

Abstract

Points out the similarities and differences between library instruction and writing instruction in the higher education curriculum. Notes that information literacy librarians can learn from the experiences of composition instructors regarding curricular revision and reform. Suggests that one of the keys to information literacy reaching its potential is to find common ground with programs like Writing across the Curriculum.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 31 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 June 2017

Nadine Hoffman, Susan Beatty, Patrick Feng and Jennifer Lee

This pilot aims to study a way of integrating research and writing support into a university course along with content. Research and writing skills are not taught explicitly in…

2213

Abstract

Purpose

This pilot aims to study a way of integrating research and writing support into a university course along with content. Research and writing skills are not taught explicitly in most university courses, yet these skills are increasingly required both in and outside of the classroom.

Design/methodology/approach

An embedded, collaborative instructional team comprising the instructor, librarians and writing specialists re-designed a first-year inquiry-based learning course, incorporating research and writing instruction throughout, formative and summative assessments and a flipped classroom model. At the end of the course, each member of the team reflected on their collaborative and individual experiences. The team also surveyed students to gauge their perceptions of the research and writing sessions.

Findings

The team learned from this experience and noted a large, but rewarding, time commitment. The flipped classroom model allowed the tailoring of instruction to students’ needs but required more work by librarians to prepare content and to grade. Students indicated appreciation for repeated interactions with librarians and reported confidence to use the skills taught.

Originality/value

Embedding librarians throughout the course with a writing specialist, as well as involvement in grading, is novel – this may be the first example in the literature of “deep integration”. The concept of “embedded librarianship” can be enhanced by expanding librarian and other support roles in a course.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 45 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 November 2017

Latisha Reynolds, Amber Willenborg, Samantha McClellan, Rosalinda Hernandez Linares and Elizabeth Alison Sterner

This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of…

7084

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to present recently published resources on information literacy and library instruction providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2016.

Findings

The paper provides information about each source, describes the characteristics of current scholarship and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.

Originality/value

The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 45 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

Keywords

11 – 20 of over 105000