Disciplinary Resources

Literature Courses

Consider limiting large group discussions and focusing more on small group conversations focused on student readings and student papers (something like the tutorial system in the UK)

Use reading questions that students answer individually and then discuss asynchronously in Digital Dialog (Learning Suite) or together in Breakout Rooms (Zoom).

Emphasize student outcomes—what do students produce?—and organize activities that lead them step by step toward that (e.g. break down how to write a literary analysis: introductory paragraph, body paragraph, a conclusion and have them work in groups writing samples of each in Google Docs or in Digital Dialog).

This writing guide from the French and Italian Department shares ideas of how to teach writing in a literature or culture course.

Writing Courses

Setting expectations and avoiding overload

Take advantage of moments when you are addressing the entire class (synchronous class sessions, group emails) to create clear expectations, focus on general principles or problems, and explain assignments. Create a class FAQ for assignments and provide examples of sample work. If one student emails you with a question about an assignment, consider sending the response out to the entire class (keeping the original sender anonymous, of course). Save yourself the dozens of individual emails from students all asking the same question!

Use regular informal writing as a way to create community

Writing can help create a sense of place for students and can help them feel that they belong to a group. Use discussion boards, chats, Google docs, Slack, and other online formats to facilitate interactions between you and your students and between students and other students. Written communication can be especially helpful in building community if your writing is warm, inviting, and conversational.

Use regular informal writing to assess learning

In online classes, you’ll see more of your students’ writing than ever before—formal and informal assignments and daily communication through email, chats, and other messaging platforms. You can use these interactions to assess learning. For example, you might ask students to send you a memo about their learning after a synchronous meeting or a short progress memo reporting on their paper or project. Intentionally designed communication assignments give students opportunities to write in new genres and give you important information about their learning. You can find ideas for exploratory, write-to-learn activities online or in John Bean’s excellent book Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom.

Pay attention to all student writing

Because you’ll see more of your students’ writing, you can get a better sense of who they are as writers. As you see more texts (and more variety of texts), you can note patterns in students’ writing. Use these patterns to guide your responses to their formal writing assignments. Look for patterns to praise and areas where they can improve.

Respond promptly and often

Giving prompt feedback on drafts and graded assignments is even more important in online classes than in face-to-face classes. Students need a sense of where they should be going with a paper, how close they are to getting there, and what they should do next to reach the goal. Frequent feedback can keep them on track. This feedback can be short, focusing only on what students need at that point in the writing process. All feedback should be a conversation between you and your student. If you give written feedback or record feedback for asynchronous viewing, ask students to respond to your comments. Design activities that direct students to do something with your feedback. And then respond again.

More ideas

Here is a collection of useful tips for online teaching put together by BYU University Writing: https://uwlibrary.byu.edu/resources-for-teaching-online/

Other resources

• Great Writers Inspire – A series of resources organized by writers and by themes that include links to e-books, images, talks, videos, and other materials that can be freely incorporated into courses under Creative Commons licenses.
• Open Access Textbooks on Writing
• Readings on Writing (Volume 1, Volume 2)
• Writing Commons – An “encyclopedia” of information about various aspects of writing, including the composing process, genre, information literacy, rhetoric, and style. Also includes links to course materials and assignments from courses on business writing, technical writing, and others.