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Humanities Scholars Wrestle with Grammar in Writing Minor Smackdown
Can you smell what the Minor in Professional Writing is cooking?
Professional Writers and Writing Minor Staff Brainstorm about Semister Opportunities
Writing and Dancing Across the Curriculum
Outreach Designs Enjoyable Literacy Curriculum for Fifth Graders
Writing Minor Alumni Return to Campus
Research Fridays
Free Social Media Event
Actions Speak Louder than Words
The Minor in Professional Writing Gets Artistic
Brookhaven High School Students Discover How Writing and Science Can Mix
Preview DMSW2011 via YouTube
Second-Level Writing Students Map Columbus Through Their Writing
Award Winner Juhi Kim on Writing Center Research
Interns Market City's Martin Luther King Day Celebration
First Student-Written Writers Talk
The "Great Debaters" at Whetstone High School
Pedagogical Approaches to Student Portfolios
Students Role Play to Reach Technology
CSTW's Writers Talk Continues Frightening Tradition
From Quarters to Semesters
Student Works and Learns at the Writing Center
"No One Way to be a Writer" at Africentric
Electronic and Other Resources
WAC at Teaching Orientation @ Ohio State
Ohioana Book Festival 2010
Internship Provides Bright Opportunity
Middle School Newswriters Address Societal Issues
A New Leader for the Student Technology Consultant Program
A Year in the Life of a WAC Consultant
Writing Intern Explores Pioneering Woman Cartoonist for Library’s Web Site
Adolescent Voices on Literacy Transformed into iMovies
Going Commercial
Doug Dangler Selected as Distinguished Staff
Workplace Professionals Share Advice with Writing Minor Students
Exploring Digital Media as a Tool for Composition: WAC Spring Seminar
“Vocabulation” Day at Africentric Elementary
PodCamp Ohio is June 19
Studying Writing
Born to Fly
Telling Stories
Breakfast Gathering Explores the Changing Work World
Writing Center a Conduit to Research
Talking About Student Research
Technology Workshops for Arts and Humanities Faculty and Staff
High School Freshmen Write Tough About Life Choices
Writing Minor Students Compose King Script
Fall 2009 STC Graduation
A Walk in My Shoes
Professional Writing Minor Expands Workplace Internship Opportunities
Writing Center Satellite Serves Students
Grammar Girl Visits During Beat Michigan Week
Building the Classroom, Rubric by Rubric
Donor Funds are Value Added to Writing Center
STC Program: Get Your Tech Help Here
WAC Wiki Resources Helping Teachers to Listen to their Students' Learning
Humanities Scholars Wrestle with Grammar in Writing Minor Smackdown
What do the Biffel Beaters, the Terminators, and the Structural Linguists all have in common? They were the top three winning teams, respectively, of the Grammar Smackdown held on October 28, 2011 for first-year Humanities Scholars. These teams accurately corrected the most error-ridden sentences and raced their answers across the Royer Activity Space to the Smackdown Judges’ table in the least amount of time. The Minor in Professional Writing, which prepares undergraduates for the diverse types of writing they will encounter in the 21st century work world, facilitated the event as a quirky, high-energy way to enable the scholars to practice their writing skills on a sunny Friday afternoon before the OSU Homecoming festivities.
But what exactly is a Grammar Smackdown? Good question. The competition, developed by Deborah Gump of Ohio University and Ron Hartung, Associate Editor of the Tallahassee Democrat, is a two-round event that tests participants’ knowledge of English punctuation, spelling, grammar, syntax, and style. The Minor in Professional Writing staff concocted sentences that contained errors most common to undergraduate writers. In the first, qualifying round, students grouped into fifteen teams of five people and competed against each other to edit eight incorrect sentences. The eight teams with the most correct answers (and in the case of a tie, the faster submission of the answer sheet) were admitted to the second round: The Smackdown Round. At that point, the competition increased in difficulty. The eight teams edited five faulty sentences in a relay-style race, with each team selecting a person to run answers to the judges’ table at the center of the room. The team to turn in the most completely correct sentences in the least amount of time won the competition, and the top three teams received prizes including candy, medals, and program pens.
Ben Fortman, Program Manager of the Humanities Scholars who helped coordinate and judge the event, invited the Minor in Professional Writing staff because “the Grammar Smackdown is a unique and fun way to promote the importance of writing to any student. The example sentences used during the game serve as a helpful reminder about common grammatical errors.” He went on to discuss the relevance of strong writing skills to the students he advises: “I believe that students forget that their writing can have an instant impact on their reputation. College students of any major can always benefit from a little extra writing practice.” These sentiments align well with the Minor in Professional Writing’s goal to help students from across the university complement their primary academic study with an internship and coursework that will help them prepare for work-world writing in the Twenty-first Century. This common understanding of the importance of writing to all students bodes well for the two programs and their students; continued collaboration is expected in the future.
Can you smell what the Minor in Professional Writing is cooking?
Staff of the Minor in Professional Writing cohosted a Grammar Smackdown with the OSU Arts and Sciences Humanities Scholars on May 11. The 25 scholars were excited about competing for the title of Grammar Smackdown Champions.
During the first round, the teams were shown a series of erroneous sentences and told to make the sentences grammatically correct. Each team earned points for correct answers.
Then came the brutal second round. Teams were scattered around the vast Royer Activities Center living room, equally distant from the judges’ table on the opposite side of the room. Each team chose a runner to sprint to the judges’ table and grab questions for his or her team. As soon as the teams completed their question, runners dashed back to the judges with their answer. With a total of five questions in round two, it was not only important to be grammatically correct, but also quick, fierce, and agile.
At the culmination of the Smackdown, all the teams were deemed successful by the judges. The final tally of points revealed the teams to be within four points of one another.
The first- and second-place teams received gold and silver medals, along with candy. The Gold Team lived up to its name by claiming gold, but at a very close second was team Tiger Blood, missing gold by only one point.
The event was fun, educational, and entertaining for all involved, says minor coordinator Trish Houston. Amidst a little friendly yet fierce competition, students learned about misplaced modifiers, sentence fragments, pronoun agreements, and more.
Professional Partners and Writing Minor Staff Brainstorm about Semester Opportunities
Writing and Dancing Across the Curriculum
Outreach Designs Enjoyable Literacy Curriculum for Fifth Graders
Writing Minor Alumni Return to Campus
Research Fridays
- Kate Comer presents “Narrative Designs: Rhetorical Autobiography in Composition Studies” on Friday, April 15 at 11 a.m.
- George Newell, Alan Hirvela, and Allison Olsen present “How Context Shapes Argumentation: Teaching and Learning Argumentative Writing in Three High School English Language Arts Classrooms” at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 29.
- Moira Konrad and Terri Hessler present “Effects of Spellography on Spelling Skills of Students with Learning Difficulties” at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 6.
- Melissa Wilson presents “Nonfiction Writing in the First Grade Classroom” on Friday, May 20 at 11 a.m.
Free Social Media Event Explores Topics for Education and Business
Actions Speak Louder than Words
The Minor in Professional Writing Gets Artistic
Professional writing may not seem relevant to the visual artist, but it is. On Friday, January 21, 2011, Brea Heidelberg, graduate assistant for the Minor in Professional Writing, gave a workshop on writing artist statements to students in the Arts Scholars undergraduate program.
Brookhaven High School Students Discover How Writing and Science Can Mix
seniors write college-level research papers on environmental topics such as bio-fuels, hybrid cars, and alternative energy sources. The CSTW team also includes graduate students Shiao-Chen Tsai and Betina McNeil, and undergraduates Courtney Davenport, Tonya Lowery, and Drew Sullivan.Preview DMSW2011 via YouTube
What do an OSU Distinguished Professor in English, the Marketing/Multimedia Coordinator for the Ohio Union, a professor in Women’s Studies, and the Assistant Director of the Foreign Language Center have in common? They are all presenting at CSTW’s Digital Media in a Social World conference on April 1 and 2, 2011, and they all star in YouTube videos to promote the conference.
Second-Level Writing Students Map Columbus Through Their Writing
The goal of Simpson’s Landscape Architecture/Natural Resources 367 course is to have students examine different landscapes in the United States and consider how human forces shaped them and what they tell us about our past, present and future, as well as how insights about our landscape can improve our lives. Columbus—the city where the students live, work, and study—became the focus of their exploration. Simpson and his graduate teaching assistants divided students into four groups and sent them out via COTA bus routes in different directions across the city. They asked students to look at features in the landscape that highlighted the issues they were discussing in class, noting that after they researched and wrote up their findings, they would write an abstract of their projects for an online audience.
The idea for the assignment, Simpson says, came from a discussion between university and workplace professionals last winter sponsored by the Minor in Professional Writing and Writing Across the Curriculum.
“Listening to my colleagues at the university and from the work world, I was struck by how composing for the Internet, composing digitally, was becoming more and more important, and how different that writing would have to be from the long-winded, academic writing I was having my students do,” he says. “That conversation triggered a lot of the changes I’ve made to my class.”
After developing the project idea with his graduate teaching assistants, Simpson approached the WAC team to get their feedback and to ask for resources for his students to help them write for online audiences and to add tags to categorize their posts on the site.
After researching and writing their papers, students posted the short 250-word abstracts of their projects to the course website. The project sites are marked on a map of Columbus and accompanied by a photo of the landscape feature they responded to. Markers corresponding to student projects spread across four major transects of the city: east and west across Broad Street and north along both High Street and Cleveland Avenue. The projects cover a wide range of topics, from the history and role of spaces like Franklin Park in a city, to common weeds that grow in abandoned urban areas, to the repurposing of buildings built over the two centuries the city has grown.
Simpson sees a lot of value in the writing students did. The fact that it is public brings a lot of crucial issues forward for budding student writers, he says.
“Writing in the digital world takes on a life of its own. It’s out there in the public forum, and students need to take ownership of their writing in a way that they might not in a regular classroom assignment.”
In the end, he says, it’s a lot more fun for him, his graduate teaching assistants, and his students. “Students—well, we all write better when it’s personal, when it’s based on our first-hand experience, when we believe that what we’re writing about is really important.”
1/18/11
Award Winner Juhi Kim on Writing Center Research
Interns Market City’s Martin Luther King Day Celebration
Trying something new takes the right mixture of blind faith, enthusiasm, and the ability to adapt. Three Minor in Professional Writing students — Alexandra Criss, Megan Smith, and Samantha Wiethe — rose to the challenge of becoming the first student marketing team for the City of Columbus’ annual celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. In the process, they forged new partnerships with campus organizations, contacted university VIPs, and even arranged for a student shuttle from campus to the event.
First Student-Written Writers Talk to Air Week of December 20
"Everyone was really energized for this project," says Kevin Bauer, Executive Director of Eighth Floor Improv. “The students delivered far more material than could be used on the show, including skits about how a parent would react to a child asking for a hippopotamus for Christmas and what the aftermath of seeing mommy kissing Santa Claus might be.”
"Offering a student organization the opportunity to work on a project that blends their personal passions with practical, out-of-the-classroom learning truly celebrates the spirit of the university’s mission," says Eighth Floor advisor Krystyne Savarese.
Doug Dangler, host and producer of Writers Talk, agrees. "Writers need a real audience, which is, unfortunately, not something they often get at OSU. WCBE and WCRS value student voices, gave them the opportunity to be heard, and that's great.”
The show will have several broadcasts: Monday, December 20, 3:30 pm., WCRS radio, 98.3 & 102.1 FM, and Wednesday, December 22, 8:00 p.m. and midnight December 24th on WCBE radio, 90.5 FM. The midnight WCBE show will revive the traditional of telling ghost stories at Christmas by rebroadcasting the Writers Talk Halloween show.
“The Great Debaters” at Whetstone High School
Pedagogical Approaches to Student Portfolios
• They can be process oriented. What we ultimately value about learning is less about students regurgitating all of the “facts” they learned than helping them take up the processes of inquiry we want them to practice. Portfolios give instructors both a more complete picture of students’ learning and an opportunity to structure assignments in a way that teaches students process.
• Portfolios can create room for student self-representation and self-reflection. They can allow students to take comprehensive stock of what they’ve learned and come to new insights about their work. Furthermore, we want our students to learn how to think like professionals in our fields. Portfolios allow students to work out their identities as professionals and scholars. As they enter their professional, civic, and personal lives, this self-awareness is a crucial skill.
• Portfolios can allow for flexible assessment. When we see a more comprehensive picture of students’ work, we can talk with our colleagues in a more informed way about what we really value about the work our students do. These conversations can be extremely valuable because you can discover unexpected areas of consensus and disagreement about program values and outcomes.
• Portfolios can be directed toward multiple audiences and can contextualize student work in different ways. Portfolios can give us a framework for allowing students to present their work not just to us within the classroom, but to other audiences as well: their classmates, your colleagues in your department or program, professionals in their fields of interest, or others. Plus, students can bring in their work from outside the classroom as evidence of their learning, making crucial connections to their course of study.
“Professor Tim Rhodus made an important point during the portfolio workshop I’ve been thinking about since then: the classroom is a safe place for students to learn and practice ‘real world’ activity; it is, in fact, part of the ‘real world,’ as much as we and our students tend to imagine it as separate from it,” Manion says. “Portfolios offer a number of ways to break down the false distinctions we make about what belongs in the classroom and outside it, and open up a number of opportunities to bring our teaching and learning into greater focus.”
Here is a short bibliography of scholarship on portfolios and assessment from the perspective of composition studies:<?xml:namespace prefix = o />
Broad, Bob. What We Really Value: Beyond Rubrics in Teaching and Assessing Writing. Utah State University Press, 2003.
Belanoff, Pat and Marcia Dickson, ed. Portfolios: Process and Product. Boynton/Cook, 1991.
Yancey, Kathleen Blake and Irwin Weiser, ed. Situating Portfolios: Four Perspectives. Utah State University Press, 1997.
11/29/10
Students Role Play to Teach Technology
Each fall the Student Technology Consultant program trains another group of undergraduate consultants to help CSTW address the technology requests we receive from across the university. We run about eight workshops in the fall, most of which involve learning new technologies. This year included two sessions in which training consultants simulate an actual faculty tutorial session. Tim Jensen, Assistant Coordinator of the STC program, sends out “fake” faculty/staff requests via email. STCs, as they do when real requests come in, responded immediately to the one they feel most competent to take on, and then do some background research into the technologies in their request, in order to be prepared. During the class session each STC has 10 minutes to conduct a support session. If you'd like to know what our requests look like and get a bit of a chuckle, take a look at the fake requests Tim sent out (below).
CSTW Director Dickie Selfe, Tim, and STCs Angelo, and Jennifer (all experienced at STC work) assume the roles of “learning” teachers. They have great fun playing the part of Russell Sprout, Alli Catraz, etc. The session ends with a discussion of the subtle ins and outs of helping people learn new technologies, while, at the same time, making them feel good about the session and confident going forward.
If you have questions about the program, please contact Dickie Selfe. If you would like to request help, please fill out the form.
CSTW's Writers Talk Continue Frightening Tradition
That’s how Doug Dangler described the third annual Writers Talk Halloween show, broadcast the week of October 24. But the show itself, a ghost story by local horror fiction author Gary Braunbeck wasn’t the most frightening part.
“Getting all the voice actors, most of them students, recorded and then adding the sound effects and music: that’s the part that kept me up at night,” said Dangler.
The show was an experiment in adapting media from one form, a short story, to another, an audio show. This presented a number of difficulties, according to Dangler, such as dropping text descriptions for sound effects or dialogue.
“It really gave me an appreciation for the way that sound changes the experience of the story, how it can bring the listener into it or make them feel distant from it. Doing the adaptation was one of the most educational things I’ve done with digital media and writing in a long time.”
To listen to the show, go here.
From Quarters to Semesters
Change affects everyone differently, instilling fear in some, while invigorating others. A particularly relevant example of the polarizing effects of change is the news of the impending conversion to semesters. While news of the conversion has caused many anxiety, Trish Houston, Coordinator of the Minor in Professional Writing, isn’t one of them. ”From the start, I was excited about the opportunity that the semester conversion presents for students in the professional writing minor,” Houston stated in a recent interview.
Student Works and Learns at the Writing Center 
“No One Way to Be a Writer” at Africentric Elementary
Electronic and Other Resources
During a recent training session for all CSTW graduate and undergraduate staff, Director Dickie Selfe asked folks to recommend resources. We share them with you here.
- Spore Print Info Shop is a non-hierarchical, volunteer-run, not-for-profit social center. This is a safe space for independent thinking, face-to-face communication, skill sharing, community-building projects, and the distribution of alternative media to further social, political, and environmental consciousness.
- This is a good space to get involved with some of Columbus's great activist projects, including RedBird Books-to-Prisoners and Food Not Bombs. Check it out at on the web or at 172 E 5th Ave!
- Harvard Writing Center
- Writing Qualitative Inquiry by H.L. Goodall Jr.
- OSU Digital Union is an invaluable learning and support resource for a wide array of technological needs.
- OSU Urban Arts Space
- Wcenter listserv
- Newspapers on campus: Central Classroom Building has a lot of free newspapers, like The Other Paper, Columbus Alive, The Lantern, and Buckeye Sports Bulletin. Also, the business school has free copies of The Wall Street Journal.
- Columbus Metropolitan Library
- Florida Technet: Shortcuts to Florida DOE Adult Education Webpages
- http://www.vocabulary.com/ has lists of vocab words and a variety of exercises.
- Versatile PhD is good for job postings and conversations about non-academic careers that are good for PhDs.
- Small Business Beanstalk is a free card that provides discounts if you go to small businesses in the Columbus area.
- ASFS (American Society of Food Studies)
- The listserv is interesting, but you get a lot of emails. I also saw that you can search the listserv archive if you are looking for something in particular.
- TechRet
WAC at Teaching Orientation @ Ohio State
The Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program at CSTW has long partnered with UCAT to facilitate sessions at the conference on topics related to writing instruction, including sessions on responding to student writing and the connection between writing and critical thinking. “The workshops at the conference are often our largest and most diverse,” explains Chris Manion, the WAC program coordinator. “We’ll lead three or four sessions over the day with around 40 participants each, most from entirely different departments on campus.”
Designing workshops for a group this diverse can be a challenge, since each of the instructors are teaching often radically different kinds of classes, from small recitations of 15-20 students all the way up to lecture sections of upwards of 50 students, and are bringing the values of very different disciplines to the conversation. In designing workshops for the conference, the WAC team has tried to use this diversity to its benefit, by using the sessions as an opportunity for participants to unpack the differences between their disciplines and to explore a range of approaches to teaching writing.
For instance, participants in the “responding to student writing” workshop look at a variety of responses to a sample piece of writing and reflect on which approaches would be most effective and efficient for them. The WAC team also strives to highlight diverse perspectives from participants, as Manion did in his workshop on writing and critical thinking.
Each year, the conference participants express their appreciation for the WAC workshops offered at orientation. On her evaluation, one participant this year commended the positive tone Manion set for workshop: “Chris did a great job of identifying positive ways to comment on students’ writing.”
Ohioana Book Festival 2010
After the festival, Sawan came back to CSTW to produce the Writers Lounge series.
Sawan finds the production process as interesting as the interviews themselves. “Once done editing, we were able to upload each video to You Tube for worldwide access. The Ohioana experience showed how, in today's technological age, we are able to take a great event such as the Ohioana Book Festival and within a few weeks produce hours of professionally edited footage and made it available to anyone in the world via the Internet.
Internship Provides Bright Opportunity
Who wouldn’t love the opportunity to earn college credits while playing games all day? Alex Yue, a graduating senior from the English Department, got to do just that—and much more—at his professional writing minor internship this summer. Alex’s work activities were a far cry from solitaire, Internet Sudoku, and updating his Facebook status. Instead, Alex combined his expertise in graphic novels and video games with his writing skills to market games for Brighter Minds Media, a publisher of online and multimedia materials aimed at “creating a wholesome online environment for children and the family.”
Middle School Newswriters Adress Societal Issues
Middle school students engaged in intensive, creative newswriting on societal issues at a three-week summer campfunded by the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation. The camp was conducted in the computer lab at the Columbus Africentric Early College K-12 School.
A New Leader for the Student Technology Consultant Program
nts, and teaching staff integrate new technologies into their classes. Our goal is, in this way, to engage students and increase learning in classes across Ohio State’s campus.It’s an ambitious goal, and we are lucky next year to have Tim Jensen, PhD candidate in the Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy Studies program in the Department of English, as the Assistant Coordinator of the STC program. He's taking over from the wonderful Genevieve Critel, who took the program in new and important directions. Tim's personality, as you can see in these pictures, includes both a serious intensity and great good humor. We're looking forward to working with him as he applies both to the STC program this next year.
A Year in the Life of a WAC Consultant
In January 2009, Katie Linder, a good friend, colleague, and Writing Across the Curriculum consultant, asked if I might be interested in applying for an assistantship with WAC at CSTW. At the time, I believe my response was something like this: “um no. Why would I? I don’t teach a writing class like 367. I don’t know how to teach writing. And, to add to all that, writing is the part of my job that makes me the most anxious. Bring on the teaching, endless reading, and hours of dialogue with my colleagues, but keep the writing!”
Dialoguing Across Disciplines
As a graduate student and instructor, working as a WAC consultant has provided me with the opportunity to engage in dialogue with others about topics like evaluation and rubric design. These conversations have been especially helpful to me as a graduate student trying to balance time spent on teaching-related activities with my own research and deadlines. One of the most useful conversations I engaged in over the last year took place with a group of graduate teaching associates in the Department of Anthropology. I met with Jennifer Spence, the department’s Graduate Teaching Fellow. She felt a workshop addressing writing and assessment would be most helpful for her and her colleagues. Together we designed a workshop titled “Grading to Learn,” where we explored the relationship between course goals, assignment design, and evaluation. We talked about the variety of ways concepts such as “feedback,” “evaluation,” and “grading” are defined not only among colleagues within a single department, but across the university campus. Through this conversation, a number of instructors, myself included, began to think more critically about the relationship between our course assignments and our course goals. Do our assignments reflect the goals we have set for our students or the objectives of the course? And, what is the relationship between an instructors’ strategy of assessment and our course goals or even our individual teaching goals?
What have I incorporated into my teaching since joining the WAC Team?
Writing Intern Explores Pioneering Woman Cartoonist for Library’s Web Site
Adolescent Voices on Literacy Transformed into iMovies
High school students turned their thoughts about literacy into movies at a one-week camp hosted by CSTW’s Outreach program. The theme of the fourth biannual camp was “Metaliteracies: New Directions in 21stCentury Classrooms.”
Ingram-White Castle Foundation provided funding for the summer phase of CSTW’s 2010-2011 high school writing collaborative project.
Students digitally composed two-page reflective essays that they transformed into visual pieces using multimedia software. “We taught students how to do audio and video editing on the Macintosh using iMovie. Students also learned Garageband to add music to their movie on the topic of literacy reform,” Hill-McClary says.
Student feedback on the camp was positive. “The camp has been a lot of fun…I wish it could have lasted at least another week,” says one student. Another added, “This camp taught me a lot about how to expand my writing and make a movie to go with it.” “Learning more facts about literacy was interesting because we dove into more about the whole theme of the camp,” and “I actually liked the recording process because it allowed me to voice my thoughts about this topic,” two students reported.
The closing ceremony was a student movie showcase attended by more than 40 parents, family, and friends, followed by a reception and refreshments.
The four-member teaching team included two Ohio State Ph.D. students, Erica Womack and Tamara Butler, Ohio State MFA Angie Romines, and Chad Weiss, a 2010 Ohio State B.A. graduate and CSTW Student Technology Consultant.
The camp was held on the Ohio State campus in the Learning Collaboration Studio at the Science and Engineering Library. Megan Troyer, manager of the studio, and Alex Wilkerson, collaborated with CSTW.
July 19, 2010
Going Commercial
The Digital Media and Writing Program at the Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing produced its first television commercial during spring quarter. Its purpose is to advertise Writers Talk on BuckeyeTV, the student-run television station that plays in campus dorms and streams online at http://www.buckitv.osu.edu/.
The commercial was an opportunity for CSTW digital media undergraduate consultant Chris Sawan to work with new technologies, such as using a green screen and secondary video clip motion within the work.
Doug Dangler Selected as Distinguished Staff
Workplace Professionals Share Advice with Writing Minor Students
Exploring Digital Media as a Tool for Composition: WAC Spring Seminar
In its second session the seminar was joined by guest speaker Ben McCorkle, professor of English in the Rhetoric, Composition & Literacy program at the OSU-Marion campus. Professor McCorkle gave a presentation on how he uses digital media in his class to get students to think about composing in different ways (follow this link to his presentation with examples of his students' work on prezi, an online composing tool for presentations). In this digital media composing course, he introduces students to the concept of Internet memes, catchphrases or concepts that spread rapidly from person to person via the Internet, largely through Internet-based email, blogs, forums, social networking sites and instant messaging. He also focuses on the issues associated with creating digital media content, including its formal and social properties.
Participants in the seminar were, like Professor McCorkle’s students, asked to consider the practical, rhetorical, and ethical dimensions of composing in a digital world. During the session, participants were asked a series of questions which prompted them to consider how digital media and technologies are changing their research and teaching, and ultimately how they should respond in the classroom: What is important for students to know in order to be prepared to use digital media in their professional, civic, and personal lives? One participant responded, “Students should know how to assess online sources. They should also be able to investigate these questions: Who published the information? What is the publisher’s interest or perspective? How do you assess the accuracy of the information? Also, while digital media may allow for more informal writing, students should be aware of audience and of how to write more formally, if needed.”
This session on using digital media for composition gave WAC a lot of helpful ideas about the possibilities that digital media provides for teaching composition across disciplines. Incorporating digital media composition doesn't mean that teachers need to jump in and grab the latest gadget or adopt the most recent application to generate buzz. If they carefully consider how technology affects our teaching and our students' learning, they can find ways to help students not only enhance their written work through technology, but also provide them with the capacity to adapt and innovate in a rapidly changing environment.
6/2/10
“Vocabulation” Day at Africentric Elementary
PodCamp Ohio is June 19
It's PodCamp Ohio time again — Saturday, June 19, in Mendenhall Lab on the Ohio State campus. CTSW is once again 
sponsoring the annual new media unconference dedicated to podcasting, blogging, Twitter, audio and video production, photography, web design, and other new/social media technologies that reach an interactive, engaged online audience. In this, its third year, PodCamp Ohio is combining with WordCamp Columbus, an unconference dedicated to blogging and WordPress.
According to organizer Angelo Mandato, the focus is on “learning and networking, with experts from around the world speaking side-by-side with local bloggers and podcasters, together making Columbus and Ohio a center for tourism and technology.” PodCamp attendees are teachers, local government officials, small business owners, members of the media, and the technology crowd, he says.
The free event will be held from 9 AM – 5 PM. Please visit the PodCamp Ohio website for more about registration, sessions, and becoming a sponsor.
“During the conference, we plan to record and, where available, live stream to potentially thousands around the world, so the actual attendance and impressions will be far more than the 250-300 we are estimating on-site,” Mandato says. “The recorded audio and/or video will be available for repeat play on numerous websites after the event.”
Here is a sampling of proposed sessions: Podcasting and WordPress Sitting in a Tree… Optimizing a WordPress site for your podcast; Finding Clients and Customers Using LinkedIn; Intro to Audacity; Podcasting For a Technical Audience; and Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses.
5/14/10
Studying Writing
Look for more presentations next year!
May 2010
Born to Fly 
Telling Stories
“If you don’t know where you’ve been, you can’t know where you’re going,” commented lifelong Hilltop resident and Kiwanis historian Alan Gates, in noting the value of oral histories in maintaining identity and community.
CRR: Shared Responsibilities in a New Digital Economy
You won’t find a definition of the word unconference in the dictionary, but that didn’t stop CSTW from hosting the Compose, Read, and Research Unconference (CRR) during the university’s spring break.
- Community knowledges and literacies
- What does it mean to be a 21st century citizen-learner?
- What is the role of literacy in a recession economy?
- Mobile technologies for access; written language & structuring social relationships
- Creativity and social action
- Creating a culture of learning in corporate environments & non-student situations
April 2010
Breakfast Gathering Explores the Changing Work World
Workplace and university professionals met February 26, 2010, to discuss how the work world is changing in response to digital media and what those changes imply for how we work, teach and learn. Hosted by CSTW’s Minor in Professional Writing and Writing Across the Curriculum programs, the breakfast meeting included participants from across the Ohio State curriculum and various work sectors, including from science and technology, the arts, nonprofits, multinational corporations, and media (print, radio, and online).Writing Center a Conduit to Research
In addition to the tutoring services the Writing Center provides to writers in the university community, it is also a vibrant site of research and publication.
Kathryn Terzano, assistant coordinator and tutor, conducted research on tutoring sessions in satellite centers, where appointments last 20 minutes instead of an hour. Her experience with short-time tutorials led her to write an article about structuring time and negotiating expectations. The article is forthcoming from The Writing Lab Newsletter.
Alexis Stern Martina, a former writing center tutor and assistant coordinator and current graduate associate for the minor in professional writing, collaborated on a research project with fellow assistant coordinator Sharon Estes. Together, they developed online tutor training modules that allow tutors to develop their skills at their own pace. Their article, "Taking Tutor Training Online" is forthcoming from The Writing Lab Newsletter.
Seth Reno, tutor and assistant coordinator, focuses his research on online tutoring. In addition to face-to-face tutorials, the writing center offers online tutorials for students who are either not on campus or who would prefer to work online rather than come to the physical center. During Reno's first year as a writing center tutor he worked often with online clients, and during his second year he decided to begin a research project comparing and contrasting the methods and techniques that work best for face-to-face and virtual clients. Reno applied a critical framework based on a well-known book in his own field of British romanticism to the dynamics on online tutorials. The issue that Seth examines in his essay, "The World of Ideas and the World of Practice: Romanticism and Online Writing Centers," is online clients' consistent use of "Internet-speech," that style of online writing that ironically disregards capitalization, punctuation, spelling, grammar, coherence — many of the same problems present in the clients' more formal, academic papers.
As Reno writes, "There is often a distinction between clients' own 'natural' language of common, everyday use (to borrow Wordsworth's phrase) and the 'artificial' or academic language in which they are required to write their papers. This distinction intensifies during online tutorials as clients tend to use Internet-speech rather than formal English."
Reno presented an initial version of this project at the East Central Writing Centers Association (ECWCA) meeting at Ohio State in 2008, and he revised this presentation into an article that has been accepted for publication by The Writing Lab Newsletter. In the essay, Reno outlines various techniques to work better with online clients, including annotating clients' papers using the comment function in Word in order to establish a more formal, "academic" discourse.
Tutor Catherine Sacchi is observing sessions that concentrate on personal statements in order to identify and evaluate strategies that tutors use to talk about genre and audience. She will present preliminary findings at the ECWCA meeting in April.
February 2010
Talking About Student Research
The Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program recently hosted a seminar on "Making Research Meaningful" with a team of brilliant teaching and learning experts from the library who wanted to explore how to effectively guide students through the research process. Participants, who came from departments such as English, linguistics, and women's studies, brought their enthusiasm, and satiated by morning refreshments, fostered a lively discussion.
Many of the questions raised came from the "Project Information Literature Study," a survey that was conducted in fall 2009. Two questions in particular that instructors and librarians tackled were: To what extent do students rely on "familiarity and habit" when it comes to engaging with course content and How can instructors encourage them to move beyond that.
An overwhelming number of participants agreed that students rely heavily on research habits that are familiar when it comes to engaging with course content. One 367 instructor explained, "Often times students don’t utilize the resources that they have access to because they are unaware of what is here. When I talk about research, students often reduce it to books and articles. However, as an instructor I know better and it's my job to make them aware of other sources of information."
Another participant, a librarian, said, "I want students to come to me and ask questions. This research process can be fun once students get involved and move beyond the use of convenient and nearby information resources."
Many of the seminar participants agreed that developing assignments that require students to move beyond their safety zone and beyond limited notions of how to acquire knowledge provides an opportunity for them to meet this challenge. One suggestion was to direct students to go to a specific or new space to study and then write a reflective piece about that experience. Another suggestion was to introduce students to different types of research and writing - such as an editorial on drilling in Alaska from the perspective of different geographical regions, as one of the librarians had developed with an instructor - so that students can see the utility of research and also how they can develop a particular rhetorical structure that gives credence to their voice.
Overall, participants received helpful feedback and ideas about how to approach research inside and outside of the classroom. This was mostly due to the collaboration that took place. New ideas were developed and some current ideas were reaffirmed, leaving this collaborative group optimistic about the process of making research meaningful for their students.
February 2010
Technology Workshops for Arts and Humanities Faculty and Staff
The Student Technology Consultants (STC) Program in the Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing invites you to participate in our winter quarter events. The Student Technology Consultants (STC) Program in the Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing invites you to participate in our winter quarter events. The STC program trains undergraduates to support instructional technology use by faculty, staff, and graduate students in the College of Arts and Humanities.
In addition to a lineup of exciting workshops, we're rolling out a few new demonstrations this quarter. Each demonstration will focus on a comparison of key programs used to do a certain task. We're beginning the quarter with a workshop that will demonstrate Photoshop and Picasa. If you're not sure whether you need to learn Photoshop to do necessary image editing or could get by with a simple program like Picasa, this demonstration is for you! These demonstrations will offer an extended question and answer period to generate ideas about how to use technology and what technology is the best for a particular purpose. As such, they are not extensively hands-on workshops. If you want hands-on training, please attend a workshop.
Because we are aiming for a 3-1 ratio (participants to STC) in workshops, participation will be limited based on the number of STCs available. We hope this will ensure that everyone gets the most out of the workshop.
The event schedule is listed below. You may sign up for any of these events by filling out the appropriate form linked on our website: http://cstw.org/stc/wi2010events.html. Please note that enrollment is limited, so register soon.
February 8: Demonstration of Photoshop and Picasa
February 10: Intro to Photoshop workshop
February 15: Intro to Photoshop workshop
February 17: Introduction to Picasa workshop
February 22: Photoshop - Image Repair workshop
March 1: Photoshop - Publication Prep workshop
March 10 (date tentative): Demonstration of Twitter and Facebook
Date TBA: Demonstration of iMovie 9 and Final Cut Pro
Date TBA: Demonstration of Web applications for instruction)
February 2010
High School Freshmen Write Tough About Life Choices
"It is always challenging to create a curriculum or a workshop that will both successfully engage students and relate to them," says Melissa Crum, CSTW Outreach Consultant. Considering some of the issues ninth graders may have in high school, she developed a "Writing Tough" workshop focusing on what it means to be "tough" and the pros and cons of maintaining this type of life approach. "I used the writings of Stanley 'Tookie' Williams in my workshop, which I conducted some years ago with middle school students. That workshop was arts-based and focused on gang activity in the school," Crum said.
"Tookie" Williams is noted as the creator of the Crips, a notorious gang established in Los Angeles, California. After being imprisoned on murder charges, he spent his time writing children's books telling youth to refrain from joining gangs. He also wrote two autobiographies: one for teenagers and one for adults. Because of his work, he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
"Some of the students knew about Williams. Some did not, but they all knew who the Crips were," Crum says. "Columbus ranks high in the nation regarding gang activity, so I knew students could relate in some form or at least it would peak their interests."
She told her students how the founder of the infamous gang died, knowing that the organization he created should no longer exist. When Crum asked these ninth graders whether such a consequence was worth displaying toughness, the class was mostly silent, with the occasional "no," but now student faces reflected deep thought . . . contemplation. They were thinking, these same students who at first may have thought such a lifestyle might be necessary.
Later, Crum asked the class to write an example about being tough and explain the outcome of the decision. "I received stories ranging from having to 'step it up' on the volleyball court to having to physically fight for their family," Crum said. Following this writing exercise, volunteers were selected to create a skit about being in a tough situation.
"It brought humor to the space and the students had fun, but I left Linden McKinley STEM Academy knowing that my students may have thought a little longer about their life choices. And that is an important part of being a teacher, helping students become better people," Crum says.
Note: Linden-McKinley STEM Academy moved to Columbus North on Arcadia for grades 7-12. The school will reopen with newly renovated classrooms, auditorium, gym and athletic facilities, and modern safety systems in 2011. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math.
January 2010
Writing Minor Students Compose King Script
For the fifth year, a team of professional writing minor students has composed the script for the City of Columbus' annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. This event features local actors portraying important local, national, and international civil rights activists whose work has been influenced by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Julie Brown, Lindsay Johnson, Lee Masheter, and Ashley McAtee completed the script during their autumn quarter 2009 internships under the leadership of Dan Willis, director of the celebration.
Willis said the purpose of the show is to "educate, inspire, and empower our audience about the legacy of Dr. King, our responsibility to uphold that legacy, and our interest in discovering and rediscovering how his legacy manifests itself through local, national, and international history." Mayor Coleman noted that this event enables Columbus citizens to "learn about the history we all share as a people of hope and action."
This year's program, "Celebrate the Legacy: A Voice in the Crowd," will be performed before an audience of 1200+, televised live that day, and aired 15 times during Black and Women's History months on the city's cable-access channel, GTC-3. Additionally, the students were interviewed for Writer's Talk, an Ohio State public access radio program that focuses on the writing process across genres.
Trish Houston, writing minor coordinator, believes these interns receive an especially unique experience: "This unusual internship not only gives students the chance to be especially creative, but, perhaps more importantly, to be civically engaged."
Free and open to the public, this year's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration performance will take place at 6:00 p.m. on January 18, 2010, downtown at Veterans Memorial, 300 W. Broad Street. It will commence immediately following the annual commemorative march led by the mayor across Broad Street from City Hall.
January 2010
Fall 2009 STC Graduation
After a term of learning from and teaching each other new technologies on Friday afternoons, Genevieve Critel added several new Student Technology Consultants to the six experienced STCs who have been carrying the load this fall. In the winter of 2010, we look forward to trotting out a whole new set of demonstrations, small group workshops, and individual consultations for faculty and graduate student teachers across the College of Arts and Humanities.
I, Dickie Selfe, pause here to thank the Digital Media Project in the English Department for providing the digital space for our class, all those experienced STCs who participated in the training classes this fall, but mostly Genevieve Critel who planned the training workshops and kept this extraordinary group of young people motivated and interested in the STC program.
December 2010
A Walk in My Shoes
Storytelling need not always involve words. Ninth graders at Columbus City Schools, Linden McKinley STEM Academy on Arcadia, designed their own sneakers on paper in order to tell a story about themselves.
Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing Outreach consultant Christina Bush conducted the activity to encourage students to think about unconventional ways to engage in the literacy process. She asked students to think about stories, how they know the stories, which stories speak to them, and why. After the students did a brief writing reflection, Bush showed them a pair of red suede Jordon V Toro Bravo shoes and asked two questions: What type of shoes are these? What do the symbols and colors on the shoes represent?
"Although it may seem that sneakers serve no purpose other than as functional apparel, they are actually important accessories to many people's identity," Bush says. "The enthusiasm that greeted the activity suggests that sneakers have a lot of cultural currency in this high school community."
After Bush helped the students establish the bridge between shoes and the narratives that accompanied them, she gave them a piece of paper printed with the outline of a sneaker. She told the students to refer to their writing reflection and design their own sneakers to tell a story about themselves through the use of color and images. Students completed the assignment by sharing their sneaker designs and accompanying stories with their classmates.
December 2010
Professional Writing Minor Expands Workplace Internship Opportunities
In the past two quarters, the Minor in Professional Writing Program has added nearly a dozen new workplaces to its roster of internship sites, including the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society, Ohio State's Urban Art Space, BalletMet, the YWCA, and BNP Media.
In addition, Heritage Ohio, a nonprofit addressing preservation of the state's historic buildings, and Ohio State's Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity contacted the program seeking professional writing interns. Leslie Shortlidge, editor of the Kirwan Institute's journal, hopes to find an editorial assistant who has "an interest in social justice."
Students who earn the professional writing minor include majors from English and communication to electrical engineering, dance education and film studies. When working with a student from a new area of study for the program, Trish Houston, coordinator of the minor, helps identify what site will best fit the student's career goals.
This fall, a biomedical sciences student who had worked on related research indicated interest in working with the MS Society. Houston contacted the staff there, visited the office, and set up the first internship with the agency for winter quarter. "They are delighted to get the help," Houston noted.
Other times, a workplace contacts the writing minor. Kelly Stevelt Kaser, deputy director of Ohio State's Urban Arts Space, wrote: "We are always looking for help writing and editing copy for our promotional materials as well as researching and drafting grant applications." She, too, will host her first intern winter quarter.
In its six years, the writing minor program has worked with more than 120 Columbus area workplaces, from athletics organizations and community service nonprofits to corporations, government agencies, and multimedia publishing groups. "A good match between a workplace and one of my students feels like magic," Houston said.
December 2010
Writing Center Satellite Serves Students
Students panic when they see blue on the Writing Center schedule. It means all of the available appointments for the 48-minute tutorials are taken. But they breathe a sigh of relief when they hear about the walk-in hours for writing tutorials at the Science and Engineering Library.
The university's satellite writing center is on the third floor of the library and offers 20-minute consultations on a first-come, first-served basis. It's open for business Monday through Thursday evenings, 5:30 - 7:30, and Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 12:30 to 2:30.
"We've made two major changes in the last several years," says Kathryn Terzano, assistant coordinator of the Writing Center. "We moved from the Younkin Center to the more centrally located Science and Engineering Library, which greatly improved our accessibility and visibility. And last winter quarter, we added the afternoon hours."
Tutoring sessions at the library writing center differ from those of the main location in Mendenhall Lab, which last 48 minutes. The 20-minute sessions force both client and tutor to focus, says undergraduate tutor Jessi Forman.
"The tutoring session is most productive when the client comes with a specific problem in mind," she says. "The library hours also give us the opportunity to build up good relationships with the students we tutor because we get to see them more often and in a more relaxed setting."
Many of the students who supplement their once-a-week scheduled Writing Center appointment with visits to the Science and Engineering Library location show a serious interest in improving their writing over the long term, Forman adds.
"We like that, since it's our goal to make students better writers," Terzano says.
November 2009
Grammar Girl Visits During Beat Michigan Week
You've listened to her podcasts, read her book, checked your grammar on her Web site, and seen her on Oprah. See Grammar Girl, Mignon Fogerty, in person on Thursday, November 19, at 11:30 when she talks with students and the public in room 90 of the Science and Engineering Library. Her newest book, The Grammar Devotional, will be available for sale and signing after the event.
Fogarty began her Grammar Girl podcasts to address the frequently asked grammar questions she came across while working as a copy editor. Providing simple, smart tips in five minutes or fewer, her Quick and Dirty Grammar Tips became an iTunes sensation, and her last book, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, was a bestseller. Oprah put it best: "Mignon has come up with clever ideas to help even the most grammatically challenged person remember the rules."
"We are really fortunate to have Grammar Girl visit Ohio State," says Doug Dangler, coordinator of the university Writing Center and associate director of the Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing. "Everyone is writing more than ever thanks to social media sites, blogs, and the explosion of email in the past decade. Reading her tips and listening to her podcasts can help make that writing more polished and professional."
The event is sponsored by the Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing, in partnership with the Columbus School for Girls, with book sales by Barnes & Noble at Lennox Town Center.
November 2009
Building the Classroom, Rubric by Rubric
An interdisciplinary group of instructors met on campus in late October to discuss ways they might use rubrics (statements of the criteria by which student work will be evaluated) to teach students in second-level writing courses (367) what their expectations are and how to achieve their learning goals.
Convened by the Writing across the Curriculum (WAC) program, the participants came from Slavic language and literature, art education, history, linguistics, English, and women's studies. They used a sample rubric developed by the WAC team as a springboard to discuss which characteristics of writing would be helpful in communicating writing goals and expectations to their students. The diverse perspectives of the participants revealed different approaches to common criteria used to evaluate student writing.
"It was clear that while most instructors recognized such phrasing as 'claims and evidence' as important criteria, they understood them in very different ways," says Chris Manion, coordinator of WAC. "Instructors from each department brought different types of evidence to bear on claims writers in their field might make and had varying methods for evaluating and interpreting that evidence."
The result of the gathering was a lively conversation about how instructors might use rubrics in their classrooms. Among the ideas: give the students a blank rubric so they could participate in their own assessment and give the students one category at a time so they could concentrate on improving specific writing characteristics. Additionally, the conversation highlighted the need for using rubrics to help instructors improve their own teaching. One participant from Slavic studies observed, "As a teacher, I like the specificity of rubrics because it holds us to accountable levels of excellence and is flexible enough to adapt to multiple assignments."
WAC offers workshops about topics such as using writing to promote critical thinking, making research meaningful, and the uses of digital media assignments in the classroom. The group in October especially valued the interdepartmental conversation about teaching, Manion says. One participant from history commented, "We need to keep meeting because it is so helpful to hear other instructors talk about their own methods and problems in order to troubleshoot ideas."
Join the exciting conversation -- contact the WAC team and tell them how you are using writing in your teaching.
November 2009
Donor Funds are Value Added to Writing Center
Writing skills are the key to success, says Ohio State history alumna Susan J. Bonnell, whose recent gift to the Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing (CSTW) created the Students First/Students Now Scholarship. Half of the funds, $2,500, are being used to fund undergraduate Writing Center tutor Jessi Forman.
"The great thing about this money is that its benefits are so widespread," says Doug Dangler, associate director of CSTW and coordinator of the Writing Center. "Jessi continues to gain valuable experience as a writing tutor, and her clients benefit from her expertise. In addition to the undergraduate tutor training course she's taken [Hum Col/Eng 467], she's exceptionally well-prepared for all kinds of tutoring."
This is Forman's third year with the Writing Center.
"I enjoy working at the Writing Center because it is rewarding to help clients learn to create writing that is clear, comfortable, and effective," she says. "Often they leave much more confident in their work than when they arrive, and it is encouraging and fun to know I contribute to this. I also really enjoy the opportunity to meet with so many people from such various backgrounds because I learn something new from each new person."
Bonnell also created the Susan J. Bonnell Endowed Fund to support the center's outreach programs. A former vice president and regional director for the Lincoln Financial Group, Bonnell retired in 2006.
October 2009
STC Program: Get Your Tech Help Here
Not only do humanities instructors need to stay current in their academic fields, they must also stay up to date on computer technologies, especially those used for instruction. To help them out, the Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing (CSTW) offers the services of students in the Student Technology Consultant (STC) program.
"This is a valuable experience for everyone involved," says Dickie Selfe, director of CSTW and creator of the STC program. "The students have an opportunity to become proficient in a range of technologies, to work closely with instructors, to lead workshops, and to be paid for their service. And instructors are grateful to receive help that addresses their specific needs."
This fall, the STC program is training 20 new consultants through a nine-week class taught by graduate student and STC assistant coordinator Genevieve Critel. "We’re focusing on the major instructional technologies used by humanities faculty and graduate students: Carmen, Media Manager, Dreamweaver, iMovie, Audacity, Flash, and a few others," says Critel. "Students who successfully complete the training course will be invited to begin working for the STC program in winter quarter."
Students in the class come from a variety of majors, including fine arts, Japanese, design, English, anthropology, computer science, Spanish, and history. Consultants working now are studying English, astronomy, business, psychology, communications, and philosophy.
The STC program offers a variety of services to humanities faculty, graduate students, and teaching staff. Consultants go to classrooms and offices to help instructors learn new technologies that will improve the academic experiences of their students. Consultants can also provide information on labs, studios, support people, online systems (like wikis, blogs, survey engines), online tutorials, and other resources. Workshops with hands-on practice in software programs are also popular.
October 2009
Blog is New Resource for Dissertation Writers
The October 12 post on the Writing Center's Dissertation Blog is titled "Things I am loving...". It's all about a bookstand that the blog's author has discovered, purchased, and fallen in love with.
The newest resource on the Writing Center website touches on a wide range of topics in addition to being a narrative of the author's writing experience. Dissertation writers will relate to the "Things I am looking at when I should be writing..." posts.
We posed questions of the blog's creator (alias Amelia) and received these responses.
Q: Why a blog?
A: Why not? Blogs, in general, have two functions and both were appealing to me when I started this project. First, a blog allows a writer to chronicle and share his or her experiences, musings, etc., and developing this archive alongside the dissertation project is pretty interesting. Second, blogs create community and dialogue -- the ability to comment and respond to comments adds a really important layer to the blog.
Q: How does writing the blog help you?
A: Dissertation work is a fairly isolating pursuit. The blog is a means of connection, and if my insights can help other writers along the way, then that makes it all the more worthwhile.
Certainly writing the blog also gets me writing on days when I really don't want to write the dissertation, and the blog also provides me a space in which I get to use my other writing voices, voices that tend to get neglected when working on the dissertation. Furthermore, it is nice to have a writing space that has no stakes attached to it, no pressure -- this blog will not decided whether I get my degree or not or tenure later on or not.
Q: How does the blog help others?
A:I think that the blog provides a point of connection. Whether or not the various readers comment, it is a site they can come to and not feel so alone in the dissertation process. Plus, unlike the hours you spend reading other blogs when you should be writing your dissertation, reading this blog makes you feel less guilty because it is dissertation related, so you can almost justify it. Almost.
October 2009
Young Journalists Speak Out
This past summer the 2nd Africentric Middle School Summer e-Writing Camp was held on site at Africentric Early College School in the school's computer lab room. CSTW summer outreach consultants worked three days a week 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. with 25 to 30 students for five weeks.
Our students produced news articles that were published weekly in The Nubians Info newspaper. "We provided writing and revision support, which did a great deal for their psyche in a positive way," says Nancy Hill-McClary, CSTW Assistant Director and Outreach Coordinator.
Students worked in large groups for the "Theme Talk Day" session and in smaller groups of four to five students with an assigned OSU graduate student consultant. The writing themes were social change agents, positive affirmations for creative growth, and hip hop culture.
"The students exhibited great energy throughout the camp writing passionately about the diverse themes for the week. This project definitely gave our young student writers a sense of accomplishment," Hill-McClary added.
October 2009
Writing Minor Students Value Old, Appreciate New in Writing Technologies
"It's a very revolutionary time."
This statement, from Columbus Dispatch writer Todd Jones to professional writing minor interns this summer, set the tone for an interactive discussion of the impact of new media on journalism. Jones, along with fellow Dispatch writer Aaron Portzline, talked with students about the rapidly changing work world of traditional news media.
Portzline, a Dispatch beat writer and sports blogger, addressed the unique challenges and opportunities in maintaining blogs for the paper. He characterized writing on the web as less formal than writing for print. He also revealed that Dispatch bloggers self-proofread, a concept that surprised many of the students.
Jones, whose specialty is long form journalism, explained that "new media is forcing [him] to write longer pieces differently." Although he writes mainly for print, he finds himself writing to audiences used to the faster pace of online writing. Jones explained that he creates "short, snappy" introductions that "fool" the reader into continuing to read his piece.
Other writing tips that emerged from the conversation included: use headlines that search engines like Google pick up, get to the point quickly, and always remember your audience.
But what about the fate of print journalism in the world of RSS feeds and Twitter? Both Jones and Portzline agreed that while print journalism will not disappear, it will continue to evolve as new technologies emerge. Jones and Portzline's emphasis, not on what gets left behind in the wake of new media, but on what new possibilities new media creates for both print and online journalism, resonated well with the students. One student's comment, in particular, underscored this. Looking at Portzline, Dispatch sports blogger, she said: "I appreciate the service you provide...but I need him [Jones] in my life, too."
October 2009
WAC Wiki Resources Helping Teachers to Listen to their Students' Learning
Often when busy teachers sit down to grade student papers at the end of a course, they can get frustrated when a number of students "miss the mark" and don't seem to have understood an assignment or grasped an important concept. "Why didn't I see," a teacher might think, "that these students were struggling?" Evaluating student responses to an assignment at the end of the process only tells teachers so much about what students are learning, and usually tells them very little about how they are learning. Informal, reflective writing can give instructors a window into student learning: how they go about tackling a problem or question, what challenges they face in an assignment, and what about their work sparks their personal interests and passions.
The Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) team has been hard at work developing a new resource for teachers at Ohio State and beyond that encourages instructors to think about using writing for assessment in new ways, to get at just what and how students are learning as they are learning. WAC has created a new resource wiki, which includes a whole section on writing and assessment, with tips, resources, rubrics, and sample assignments. Take a look at this new resource here: https://carmenwiki.osu.edu/display/osuwacresources/Assessment+and+Writing.
As educators and institutional partners maneuver through the WAC Wiki, they will find hyperlinks to help them navigate the many resources provided. Instructors interested in assessment should find the rubric page particularly interesting because here they'll find an opportunity to learn about different types of rubrics, tips on how to use a rubric, as well as sample rubrics from Ohio State instructors. From there, instructors can get advice on how to develop rubrics that coincide with their course learning objectives.
Teachers can also find tips on the wiki such as ideas about how to incorporate an icebreaker into a lesson plan that allows students to respond to a set of questions about the course toward the beginning of the quarter. They might ask students for the most memorable idea from last class, to describe an aspect of the material that they are finding confusing, or their favorite part of the reading for the day. Not only can short one- to five-minute writing assignments help prepare students actively participate in discussion, small group sessions, or other in-class activities that you have planned for the day, but they can also help instructors listen more closely to how students interact with their teaching methods, decisions, and course content.
How can we know how students are learning? We can ask them — and writing gives us a window into that learning.
July 2009
Summer Students Publish e-Newsletters
Students at Africentric Middle School became summer journalists to produce five newsletters on selected topics during a CSTW-sponsored camp. Outreach consultants worked with 25-30 middle-school students three mornings a week for five consecutive weeks this summer at the e-Writing Camp. Students were instructed and coached in writing and revision of news articles that were published weekly in The Nubians Info.
The writing themes for the newspaper included introduction of the news reporters, social change agents, positive affirmations for creative growth, hip-hop culture, and the great literacy debate. Students worked in large groups for the "Theme Talk Day" session and in smaller groups of four to five students with their consultants.
"It did a great deal for their psyche in a positive way," says Outreach Coordinator Nancy Hill McClary. "They exhibited great energy throughout the camp, writing passionately about the diverse themes for the week."
Learning from the Writing Pros
Freelancing demands networking and Web writing requires exactness. These were among the lessons learning from the "Exploring Professional Writing" panelists on Thursday, May 28.
Professional writing students in the Writing in Organizations class (HUM COL 450.02) hosted the event, which featured four guests: Alice Duncanson, development writer and editor at the Center of Science and Industry (COSI); Alicia Kelso, editor of The Publishing Group Ltd.; Kelly Kinzer Malone, vice president of media and content at Real Living, Inc.; and Dan Willis, marketing consultant for First Class Events. Student Ashley McAtee moderated the symposium.
Duncanson defined nonprofit writing as mission-centered communication, noting that writers give "voice to the organization" and play a "forward thinking role." She emphasized that writers working at nonprofits need to be flexible, especially since most nonprofits run on a shoestring budget and lack adequate staff. Developing strong interpersonal skills will serve aspiring nonprofit writers well, Duncanson said, as writers often serve as a liaison between administrators and program directors.
Malone discussed ghost writing, stressing that writers need to know the style and tone of the person they are representing as well as the medium in which they are writing, which can range from articles and magazine columns to thank you notes, blogs, and letters of recommendation.
Willis talked about freelancing, drawing on his experience in the public sector to emphasize the importance of understanding the big picture. He underscored that writers need to be aware of three factors: the person they are representing, the audience, and how their own writing skills can produce a dynamic presentation. Willis encouraged aspiring professional writers to seek out freelance work. "Always look for opportunities," he said. "If you can write on behalf of somebody else, that's a great gift."
Kelso spoke about writing for the Web, emphasizing the importance of learning RSS feeds and blogging, as well as Web sites such as Facebook and Twitter. In spite of technological advances, she noted that strong writing skills and accuracy are essential components of all professional writing.
A question-and-answer session gave students a chance to ask professionals about the worlds of work. Each writer had advice for aspiring professional writers. Duncanson emphasized that students should seek out internships and freelance work, which could lead to contract or full-time employment. Kelso recommended that students focus on building their portfolios, and also to be patient and "coachable." Malone advised students to reach out to advisors and teachers. "Go for what you're passionate about," she said. Willis emphasized that students should connect with people as much as they can and always ask the question, "Do you know of anyone who can use my skills to get me started?"
McAtee summed up what she and her classmates gained from the program: "... [T]he biggest impact, for me was the way being in a room with writing professionals made me feel like my career goals are realistic ..., and it is much clearer to me now that professional writing is a rich, multidimensional field."
The Minor in Professional Writing allows students in any major to add writing credentials to their résumés and offers a one-quarter internship at a business or organization.
June 2009
Hilltop Women Tell Their Stories
A group of about 15 librarians and Hilltop patrons attended the "Celebration of Hilltop Stories" on May 5 at the branch library on South Hague Avenue. While munching on fruits, cheese, and bread, the producers of digital stories talked about the value of creating an archive of Hilltop history or "herstory" (all of the produced stories were created by local "older" women from the Hilltop area). The digital stories are the culmination of a research project called "What is Your Hilltop" that trained library clients to collect and document points of neighborhood pride, such as individual histories, active citizens, creative individuals, and important community events.
"These aren't Hollywood productions, thank goodness," says Dickie Selfe, CSTW Director and leader of the project funded by a grant by the State Library of Ohio. "But they certainly are interesting, local digital storytelling that documents moments of the Hilltop's history and community."
Topics included the yearly Hilltop Bean Dinner (view on YouTube), the diverse racial and social nature of Hilltop, the welcoming nature of the Hilltop to working-class, independent thinking individuals, and a family of custom builders in the area
Selfe and doctoral student Cormac Slevin also collected one-time stories about OSU football games (in 1940); young people's lives in the shady parks; black families listening to Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech and riding on Columbus buses in the 1960s; Hilltop protest events against drug activities in the 1980s; the Greenlawn Cemetery; and the experiences of a teacher of young troubled men in the 1970s. All stories (with permission) will be archived and found (in video and audio formats) on OSU's Knowledge Bank.
The grant was awarded by the State Library of Ohio that administers the LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) program, funded through the independent federal agency IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services).
For more information, Contact Dickie Selfe at CSTW, 614-688-5960, selfe.3@osu.edu.
June 2009
Grammar Smackdown!
It wasn't as down and dirty as wrestling, but for the students in Trish Houston's Writing in Organizations class it was a fight to the finish.
The Humanities 450.02 students demonstrated their knowledge of English syntax and grammar in a Grammar Smackdown on May 18. Developed by Deborah Gump of Ohio University and Ron Hartung, Associate Editor of the Tallahassee Democrat, the Grammar Smackdown has been used in both academic and professional settings to hone students' and professionals' writing and editing skills, Houston says.
Four teams - "The Witnesses," "The Conkerers," "Los Bobcats," and "The Defenestrators" - competed in a two-round test of syntax, grammar, and punctuation. In Round One, teams corrected five sentences with errors ranging from passive voice to comma splices. In Round Two, each team's appointed "runner" raced to collect their team's sentence, conferred with their teammates to correct the mistakes, and returned the corrected sentence. After completing five sentences, teams were ranked according to accuracy and speed. The winning team in both speed and accuracy, "Los Bobcats," consisted of Syra Arif, Mark Bradley, and Ashley McAtee. Arif says "the Grammar Smackdown doubled as a workout and a practice of our grammar skills."
Humanities 450 prepares and qualifies students to enroll in Humanities 589, the Professional Writing Internship, the capstone quarter for the Minor in Professional Writing. Says Houston, "Professional writing interns are often asked to edit and proofread all kinds of text in their workplaces. The Smackdown is a way to enhance students' professionalism-and it's a fun way to do it."
May 2009
RL Stine So Popular It's Scary
"I really like this part of my job," says CSTW Associate Director Doug Dangler of his time spent with children's book author RL Stine in May. "It's refreshing to meet writers of all types, but getting to know the authors before the interview makes the interview so much better."
After picking Stine up at the airport and taking him to lunch, the two visited Worthington Kilbourne Middle School where 100 eager seventh and eighth graders were waiting with questions for the Goosebumps series author. Stine says that "Goosebumps cast a spell upon children by transforming even the most reluctant students into avid readers."
After talking to the students, Stine gave a video interview in the College of Humanities studio, before going to a Faculty Club reception for Ohioana authors. The following day at the Ohioana Book Festival on May 9, loads of kids were on hand to meet Stine. "The line was very long for him," Dangler says. "His books sold out twice before the organizers had to give up." The day ended with a reception at the Governor's mansion, but not before Stine, a Bexley native and Ohio State graduate, talked Dangler into a drive past his childhood home. "I suggested that we install a commemorative plaque," said Dangler, "But Mr. Stine thought that the new owners might find that odd."
Dangler's interviews with Stine can be heard on WCBE's Writers Talk program and WDEM-tv.
May 2009
Professional Writing Students Host Work-World Writers Symposium
Professional writing students in the Writing in Organizations class (HUM COL 450.01) this quarter will host "Exploring Professional Writing" on Thursday, May 28, 9:45 a.m., in 060 Science and Engineering Library.
Open to anyone interested in professional writing, the event features a panel of guests from the professional world that represents industries from nonprofits to publishing. Confirmed guests include Alice Duncanson, development writer and editor at the Center of Science and Industry; Alicia Kelso, editor of The Publishing Group Ltd.; Kelly Malone, vice president of media and content at Real Living, Inc.; and Dan Willis, marketing consultant for First Class Events.
Panel guests will address the ins and outs of ghostwriting, writing for nonprofits, bridging the divide between print and online media, and the advantages and disadvantages of freelancing in today's business world. A question-and-answer session after the discussion will give those in attendance a chance to ask real-world professionals questions about the worlds of work.
The Minor in Professional Writing allows students in any major to add writing credentials to their résumés and offers a one-quarter internship at a business or organization.
May 2009
New PowerPoint Resource Helps Writers Edit their Work
"Can the Writing Center proofread my paper?" is one of the more common requests we hear from students at CSTW. The answer is "No, but a consultant can help you learn to edit your own work." A new PowerPoint resource lets students reinforce their sessions at the Writing Center by reviewing slides that address common errors.
"Our culture appreciates resources that are visually appealing," says Katrina Peterson, who created the PowerPoint. "The text is easy to read and allows users to skip ahead to the parts they need while still getting the big picture."
The slides ask these major questions:
Have I followed the requirements of the assignment?
Have I checked organization?
Have I considered audience issues?
Have I edited for style?
Other slides address run-on sentences, subject-verb agreement, which vs. that, and using action verbs.
Peterson is working on a slide show about integrating quotations into writing, something she says she knew little about until graduate school. The slides will encourage students to think about how to integrate and merge quotations with their own sentence structure and show them how to use tags to introduce the quotations.
"I think students who want to become better writers will appreciate these types of resources," Peterson says. "I hope they help people."
May 2009
CSTW Supports Dissertation Writers
Few activities on a campus as large as Ohio State's attract graduate students from 33 different disciplines for discussion and peer assessment. But that is what happens in Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing dissertation writing groups.
Since spring 2007, 52 students have met in groups of three to five to provide feedback to one another as they write their dissertations. Rachel Clark, Writing Center assistant coordinator, schedules the groups and leads one.
"The groups are meant to be interdisciplinary to allow members to focus on developing their writing skills and their ability to explain their dissertations to non-specialists," she says. "Ideally, groups stay together for three quarters, and the third quarter they meet without a writing center facilitator. Our goal is to model how a successful group works so that the groups can sustain themselves."
Participants may join at the beginning of any quarter. They take turns sharing their written work at meetings. The consultant moderates the discussions and manages email communications among the group.
"It is a really encouraging environment, being in a room with people who are having the same problems," says Eugenia Gonzales, who runs a weekly group. "I see a lot of collegiality and even friendships form. And the group holds its members accountable to deadlines, which keeps the dissertation writers on schedule with their work."
"From my perspective, accountability is the importance of the dissertation writing group," says a member of Gonzales's current group. "After I finished the candidacy exams and was on my own to complete my dissertation, it was very easy to prioritize other things above it. Having a deadline has been enormously helpful making progress. Additionally, knowing that I will need to explain my writing to others who are not in my discipline encourages me to think through the clarity of my writing and to make it applicable to a broader audience. Finally, I have found inspiration from others in connecting concepts in their topics and academic disciplines to my own work. I have also found models in writing style that have refined how I communicate through the process of writing.
April 2009
CSTW Partners with Ohioana to Learn from Ohio Authors
CSTW will be on hand when readers of all ages gather at the third annual Ohioana Book Festival on Saturday, May 9 from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm in Columbus. The festival will be held at the Ohioana and State Library of Ohio's facility in the Jeffrey Mining Center at 274 E. First Ave., in the historic Italian Village and Short North Arts District of Columbus. The event is free and open to the public.
"We share the festival's interest in Ohio authors," says Doug Dangler, CSTW Associate Director. "I'll be there with our student digital media assistants to record author interviews for the website and the Writers Talk radio show on WCBE (90.5 FM)."
Ten writers will come to Columbus early to participate in outreach programming in schools and other community venues and the media. In Worthington, Margaret Peterson Haddix will visit Wilson Hill Elementary, and RL Stine will talk to 100 middle school students interested in writing. The Ohioana authors, all stars in their chosen literary field, include:
- R. L. Stine, a Columbus native, is one of the best-selling children's authors in history and most well known for his Goosebumps and Fear Street series.
- Jeff Smith, who grew up in Columbus, is the creator of the award-winning graphic novel series Bone.
- Peter Mansoor, an OSU graduate, is current Chair of Military History at Ohio State. A recently retired US Army Colonel, his 26-year military career culminated in his service in Iraq as the executive officer to General Patraeus, Commanding General of the Multi-National Force in Iraq. His acclaimed book, Baghdad at Sunrise, is a memoir of his experiences.
- Thrity Umrigar, professor of creative writing and literature at Case Western Reserve and former Washington Post and Cleveland Plain Dealer contributor, is a Bombay, India native. She is a highly acclaimed bestselling author of three novels and a memoir, First Darling of the Morning.
- John Scalzi, a California native and current Bradford, Ohio, resident, is an award-winning science fiction novelist best known for his debut novel Old Man's War. His newest release The Last Colony hit the New York Times Bestseller list last year.
- Erin McCarthy/Erin Lynn of West Lake, Ohio, sold her first book in 2002, and 24 books later she is still entertaining readers with contemporary and paranormal romances. She also writers young adult novels under the pen name Erin Lynn.
- Jaime Adoff, grew-up in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where he currently makes his home, is an award-winning author of popular books for children and young adults. A poet, rock-and-roll musician, and author, Adoff received the 2006 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award for his book Jimi and Me.
- Margaret Peterson Haddix, grew-up on a farm near Washington Court House, Ohio, and is the award-wining author of more than 20 books for children and young adults, including the popular The Shadow Children series. Her new book, Found is the first in her new series The Missing.
- Ann Hagedorn, a Dayton native currently a resident of Ripley, Ohio, is a former Wall Street Journal staffer and investigative report with the New York Daily News. She is the author of a number of award-winning nonfiction titles, including Beyond the River and Savage Peace.
- Phil Brady, a New York City native, is Youngstown State University Distinguished Professor, award-winning poet, essayist, editor, and musician, and community organizer. His most recent work is By Heart: Reflections of a Rust-Belt Bard, a collection of essays.
During the festival, the featured authors will do individual readings and presentations, including taking part in five panels, including "The Writing Life" with R.L Stine and Thrity Umrigar; and "Why We Write, What We Write" with Erin McCarthy and Jeff Smith. Other panels include special interest topics such as writing for children and how to get published.
April 2009
Writing Center Veteran Wins Teaching Award
Alexis Stern was pleasantly surprised when Dean Osmer and his delegation from the Graduate School walked into the Introduction to Fiction class she was teaching on Monday. They were there to present her with a Graduate Associate Teaching Award.
"Dean Osmer talked to my students about what this honor means," Stern says. "I had to hold on to the chalk tray for support."
Nominations for the Graduate Associate Teaching Award (GATA) are solicited from students, peers, faculty and staff. The Graduate School notifies eligible nominees, who then prepare an application portfolio for review by the GATA selection committee, comprised of the Graduate School's Award Committee, undergraduate honors students, Council of Graduate Student representatives, previous GATA winners, and faculty Distinguished Teaching Award winners. The committee reviews all submissions and selects up to 10 award recipients.
Stern has a four-year history with the Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing. She tutored in the Writing Center for two year and has been a Writing Center assistant coordinator for two years.
"My work at the Writing Center brings me into contact with such a great variety of students from all over the university," Stern says. "I get to talk to them about how they feel about writing, learning, school in general, their plans in life, etc. I think it helps me understand where my students are coming from, and I know that it helps me develop exercises and assignments based on what I see working with students at the Writing Center."
Stern has taught seven different courses at Ohio State, from First-Year Composition to Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Writing Centers. Teaching is her passion, Stern says.
"It's the reason I'm in grad school, and certainly the reason I've stayed in grad school. Students are smart; they surprise me every quarter and teach me new things. I love to teach."
The GATA winners will be formally recognized at the Graduate School Awards Reception.
April 2009
4th Graders Reminisce about Literacy
"I liked sitting in that tall chair with those big, puffy but comfortable headphones on," reads a letter from a fourth-grader at Windermere Elementary School in Upper Arlington.
He and five other young students had their recording debut on April 1, 2009, when they visited Ohio State in a program organized by CSTW Associate Director Doug Dangler. The children read from literacy narratives they had written, which recounted how they learned to read and write.
The recording session were done as part of CSTW's digital media outreach and in conjunction with the Digital Archives of Literacy Narratives (DALN) project, a publicly available archive of literacy narratives that collectively provide a historical record of the literacy practices and values of contributors (to contribute, visit http://daln.osu.edu/). The recording was done at Humanities Information Systems' Digital Media Services Studio, assisted by Scott Sprague and Paul Kotheimer.
The students' narratives, in addition from being included in the DALN project, were edited into a five-minute radio program by the digital media group at CSTW for broadcast on Writers Talk, which airs each Wednesday at 8:01 pm on WCBE, central Ohio's NPR station. To listen to this and other Writers Talk programs and CSTW podcasts, please visit http://cstw.osu.edu/podcasts.
The class of 24 students spent time in the media studio and shared a tour of Ohio State and a sack lunch with Dangler and student digital media assistant Anne Adoryan.
"It's never too early to get them thinking about college," says Dangler. "I hope this unique experience will stick with them."
It likely will. Another student writes: "It was fun to see a college classroom. There are so many people in one class. College seems like fun. I wish I was in college."
If you'd like to know more about CSTW's podcasts and programs with Ohio writers, please contact Doug Dangler at dangler.6@osu.edu.
April 2009
Hands-on Facebook: Instructional Uses and Reflections
CSTW's Anne Adoryan shares her Facebook expertise in a recent workshop. "No matter your personal feelings about social networking sites, students are using it on, around, and in your classes," says Dickie Selfe, Director of CSTW. Twenty-four faculty and staff from the Colleges of the Arts and Sciences and other university venues learned the basics of Facebook (FB) in a workshop on April 3, 2009.
The goal of the workshop, led by CSTW student employee Anne Adoryan, a six-year user of FB, was to explore FB as an opportunity for making education and learning a more social experience, both inside and outside the classroom. A panel of students talked with the group about their uses of the site, and Adoyan showed participants how to set up their FB sites, manage their privacy setting, and navigate the many FB options.
One attendee was associate professor Anne Fields, a subject specialist for English at OSU Libraries. She is working on a project to provide all library student assistants with basic education in library research, in addition to the job training they already receive. "Students at Ohio State do not necessarily receive any formal instruction in library research while they're here," she says.
"Students are unprepared to deal with information they need for their classes, and they're unprepared to enter the larger world of information once they've graduated," Fields says. "I'm interested in exploring how we might use Facebook to communicate with that huge group of student assistants, perhaps subdividing them according to their more specialized needs and interests by the library department they're working in."
Nancy Golden started using FB when she was hired as a program coordinator with the Melton Center for Jewish Studies.
"We wanted to establish a group on FB to network with Ohio State students and potential new recruits and to advertise for our educational and cultural events, which cater to both campus and the larger Columbus community," Golden says. "We also thought that social media, like FB, would go a long way toward humanizing academia and helping us bolster the Melton Center's identity on campus."
Golden says the workshop was especially helpful in setting privacy settings and improving her navigating skills.
Workshop attendees represented departments of art, English, African American and African studies, women's studies, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, music, theatre, and others. Selfe says he was unable to accommodate everyone who registered for the workshop and expects to offer it again at the end of spring quarter. If you'd like to be notified, please send an email to kauffeld.1@osu.edu.
April 2009
What's Your Hilltop?
It's not unusual to see people lined up at Hilltop Branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library when it's time to open for the day. The locals are anxious to use the 44 computers, and there simply are not enough to go around.
A research collaboration that partners CSTW with the OSU Libraries and Ohio State's Goldberg Center will bring 12 laptop computers, 12 digital audio recorders, and 10 digital still cameras to Hilltop's library in a project named "What's Your Hilltop?
The project trains library clients to collect and document points of neighborhood pride, such as individual histories, active citizens, creative individuals, and important community events.
"What we're doing is creating a population of media producers - not just consumers," says Dickie Selfe, Director of CSTW. "National organizations and research studies indicate that media production is an important 21st century literacy skill. The explosive growth of archives of online personal histories indicates that, given support and access to digital media equipment, communities are hungry to tell and archive their local histories." This spring and summer, evening classes will target under-resourced and underserved adults and teens, those who are unfamiliar with audio production, photo manipulation, and video editing. Selfe and CSTW graduate associates and undergraduate employees will teach participants how to plan stories, interview subjects, take digital photos, and produce audio and video. These skills will help participants tell the stories of important people, organizations, and events in their community.
The grant was awarded by the State Library of Ohio that administers the LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act) program, funded through the independent federal agency IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services).
For more information, Contact Dickie Selfe at CSTW, 614-688-5960, selfe.3@osu.edu.
April 2009
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