Welcome to Teaching Writing Online
Most online courses at Pitt are offered by the College of General Studies, which has instructional designers who work with teachers to develop online asynchronous courses that meet their standards. However, increasingly Dietrich departments are offering online courses in the summer. Since some of these courses are writing-intensive (W) courses, we wanted to offer some resources for teachers designing online courses for summer. Our thanks to Sara Watson, Teaching Associate Professor in the English Department, for creating these pages.
Even though online summer courses offered in Dietrich are distinct from CGS's courses, CGS is offering DIetrich teachers some support. Their course designers have created a template for an online course that makes it easy for you to build out your course. The template has modules that you can adapt, links to resources, and offers guidance. If you would like to use it, please send your name, department, and name of the course to writing-institute@pitt.edu and we will pass your name along to the CGS course designers. In addition, if you are a faculty member, the CGS course designers can consult with you on your course development; just email the Writing Institute and we will route your request. If you are a graduate student teacher, you can consult with the Center for Teaching and Learning.
The materials on teaching writing online collected here are designed to help you to develop an online W course or adapt an existing W course for online, asynchronous delivery. If you are already teaching such a course, you will find useful materials—including best practices—within these pages. Offered here is a collection of resources and ideas intended to help you create an online, asynchronous W course that best serves you and your students. You can review these pages in whatever order makes sense to you.
After reviewing these materials, you will be able to:
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Design course objectives that support writing in the disciplines
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Create engaging online lectures and other content delivery materials
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Craft and/or adapt assignments to take advantage of digital affordances
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Respond to writing assignments in ways that support learning and revision
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Build community in your online, asynchronous course