The Web Site of the COWL Project

Present: Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams, Mark Childs, David Morris, Penny Gilchrist A project update was given:

• The second interim report has been submitted to JISC.  Lisa Gray and her colleagues will be offering feedback to Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams next week.
• Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams and David Morris will be attending the JISC programme meeting on 11 May 2010.  They have been asked to prepare for a ‘Dragons’ Den’ activity, where they will have to describe the product, what it is and how we plan to market it and sell it.  Laminated copies of the COWL maps/models have been prepared for presentation at the programme meeting.
• There will be a Steering Group meeting on Tuesday 18 May.  This will be a large meeting as representatives from Economics and Paramedic Science have been invited, along with the CAW Academic Writing Tutors and the CAW Learning Technologist.  This will give an excellent opportunity for discussion around the pilots and the CAW Academic Writing Tutor training on online tutoring which has recently taken place.
• The third Cluster Group meeting, due to take place in Newcastle, has not yet been scheduled.  The three projects involved in the Cluster have many commitments over the summer months and it is proving difficult to find a mutually convenient slot.
• The three projects involved in the Cluster Group have been asked to attend a JISC Learning Experts conference in October in order to disseminate the projects.  Further details will follow once they are available.
• Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams has had two telephone conversations with parties interested in the COWL project.

-   Rhona Sharpe is involved in a Learner Engagement Project and suggested we look at the resources available      on the website (http://www.mw.brookes.ac.uk/display/jiscle2 ).  Rhona commented that our interim report mentioned ‘learner generated content’ and asked what that will be for our project.  Discussion ensued around this topic and how to encourage students to participate.

                 -   Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams took part in a telephone meeting with Kwansuree Jiamton from the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Health Sciences and Practice, who suggested ways to advertise and disseminate the COWL project to members of this subject centre community.  As the COWL project is not yet at the stage for this type of dissemination, Lisa has arranged to make contact again when we are ready.

• The COWL Project now has a page on the JISC Design Studio website
• Fiona Secondino in the Business Development Support Office has raised the question of ethics clearance for the project.  We do not have ethics clearance as we did not realise it was necessary.  The need for ethics clearance is currently being investigated, and ways of obtaining this if necessary were discussed.

• An update on workpackage progress was given:

                -     Workpackage 4 - As John Tutchings was unable to attend the meeting, Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams gave an update on his behalf.  From the pilots it was evident that staff and students did not find Riffly and the bespoke asynchronous programme to be user friendly.  We are currently using two different platforms (Moodle and Riffly) that do not connect from one website.  It has been agreed that the way forward is to use Moodle and have access to synchronous and asynchronous tutorials linked from it.  A sub-group of the COWL project team will be meeting in order to move this forward.

                 -     Workpackage 5 – The pilots have finished, and the interim report looked at the differences between the four iterations.  Data was collected throughout the pilots and the process of evaluating this data is underway.  Random pilots may be conducted when the platforms are merged if it is felt necessary, and for Academic Writing Tutors to try out the new platforms and technology used.

                 -     Workpackage 6 – Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams, Mary Deane and Dimitar Angelov have developed a training course for CAW Academic Writing Tutors on online tutoring.  This consists of nine hours of training over six weeks and includes seminar discussion time, relevant readings, a demonstration, and hands-on practice.  The first three weeks were dedicated to synchronous tutorials, and the second three weeks to asynchronous tutorials.  However, in practice these crossed over.  A discussion followed around the finer points of the training and how the attendees’ feedback would be captured.  Lisa and Mary will be planning sessions for faculty based academic staff, which will consist of five two hour sessions to be offered in July and/or September.  They will also be writing a good practice guide and a roll-out plan.

                  -     Workpackage 7 – Christine Broughan was unable to attend the meeting and will be meeting with Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams next week to give her a full update on the evaluation workpackage.

• A5 flyers promoting the COWL project have been designed and printed.  Members of the COWL and CAW teams will take the flyers to the conferences that they are attending throughout the summer and autumn.

Present: Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams, Mary Deane, Christine Broughan, Mark Childs,  John Tutchings, David Morris, Catalina Neculai, Penny Gilchrist

A project update was given:

• The next interim report is due at the end of March.  Penny will be contacting all workpackage leaders shortly for information for the report.
• The Cluster Group meeting took place on 13 November 2009 at Coventry University.  This was very successful with useful ideas and feedback being exchanged.  The next Cluster Group meeting will take place in the spring in Newcastle.
• The pilots have now finished and are currently being evaluated.  The project team are considering whether we need to conduct further pilots.
• The number of appointments offered for synchronous and asynchronous tutorials for both Paramedic and Economics students were reported [should you insert these numbers?], along with the take-up of these appointments.  The take-up was disappointing.  A discussion around the possible reasons for poor take-up ensued.
• Although few Economics students made use of the appointments, this was still more Economics students than CAW would normally see.
• Feedback has been received from the September interim report.  Overall, JISC were impressed with the level of detail in the report.  A few suggestions were made, including asking that we consider using Pebble Pad.  A discussion around Pebble Pad took place but it was decided that CURVE is better suited to the project and JISC’s requirements.  JISC also offered details of a WIDGET working group and project management training.  Lisa made the amendments to the report and this is now available on the JISC and COWL websites.

 Workpackage progress was reported:

• Workpackage 4 – There have been a couple of issues with Riffly.  As Riffly is an external site and CU does not control it, the issues were out of our hands.  At a later date, when an appropriate server is available, it is possible that Riffly will be brought in-house.  All issues with Riffly will be reported in the interim report.
• Workpackage 5 – Mary updated the meeting on the pilots.  Issues experienced were identified as an unnecessary concern amongst Economics students about plagiarism during peer review, a need for technical support for staff and students, and issues with PCs and running the technology, and where in CAW to conduct the tutorials (i.e. in Tutorial Room, in Staff Room).    Throughout the pilots the asynchronous tutorials were less popular than the synchronous tutorials.  However, asynchronous tutorials are a good way to extend provision, accessibility and scalability.  It is hoped to simplify the platform and bring the synchronous and asynchronous functions together in Moodle in the future.  Colleagues in the disciplines were receptive and supportive of the pilots. 
• Workpackage 6 – Work has just begun on this workpackage, and Lisa is working closely with Mary.  They are working on producing staff development materials, offering workshops for faculty staff in using COWL and also producing a training course for Academic Writing Tutors (AWT).  Initially, these resources will be used within CAW, but will then be rolled out externally.  Work has started on a good practice guide for online tutoring, which will eventually be published on the COWL project website.  Ideas were offered from the project team as to how this good practice could be embedded.
• Workpackage 7 – Christine distributed a brief report on evaluation activities.  Currently, only 8 paramedic students have completed the feedback questionnaire.  However, those who have responded have given positive feedback.  Feedback from Economics students is being pursued.  Focus groups were arranged for the Economics students, but none turned up.  Nine staff interviews have been completed and transcribed, with two interviews outstanding.  Student demographics of these students taking part in the pilots have not been compiled as the pilots were not random.  If further random pilots are conducted, demographics for these students will be collected.

Present: Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams, Penny Gilchrist, Christine Broughan, John Tutchings, Erik Borg, Ray Summers, Mark Childs

• Further training on synchronous and asynchronous online tutoring technologies and pedagogies for the CAW Team and the Economics Lecturer has taken place. It was decided to include the support staff as well as the academic staff to give them an overview and enable them to support colleagues with the technology. Due to further problems with MegaMeeting during the second phase of training, it was decided to commence the pilots using Skype and Mikago, and introduce MegaMeeting either further into the pilots or during random pilots in the spring term.
• The COWL pilots with Paramedic students commenced the week beginning 26 October. Initial problems were experienced with the technology, but solutions were found. The Economics pilots commence the week beginning 2 November. Discussion took place around the technology being used and the problems encountered.
• The COWL interim report to JISC has been submitted. Initial feedback has been received, and a conference call with more in-depth feedback will take place on Friday 6 November. Once amendments have been made, the interim report will be uploaded to the COWL website.
• A Steering Group meeting took place on 22 October. The notes will be uploaded to the COWL website
• The next Cluster Group meeting will take place at CU on Thursday 12 November. Details will be circulated as soon as they are available.
• Lisa and David attended the JISC Programme Meeting in Manchester on 13/14 October. The two items from the meeting that have most relevance to COWL were the Curriculum Lifecycle Diagram and the Design Studio.

An update was given for each workpackage:

• Workpackage 3 - Mary Deane was unable to attend the meeting to give an update. The workpackage is on target.
• Workpackage 4 is on target and going well. John Tutchings informed the meeting of a new version of Moodle that is currently in development. Once released, both synchronous and asynchronous tutorials should be able to be conducted in Moodle.
• Workpackage 5 - Mary Deane was unable to attend the meeting to give an update. The workpackage is on target.
• Workpackage 6 is due to start in January. This workpackage relates to pedagogy, and Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams will work closely with Mary Deane.
• Workpackage 7 is on target. Christine Broughan gave a brief overview of the evaluation methods undertaken so far, and those planned for the future.

Present: Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams; Penny Gilchrist; Erik Borg; John Tutchings; Mark Childs; Ray Summers; Catalina Neculai, Anne Dickinson

 -       Penny Gilchrist has taken over the role of Project Manager from Sharon Simkiss due to a restructure within the University.

-       Dissemination Activities:

o   COWL flyers will be sent to the Alt-C Conference to promote COWL as part of the JISC presence there

o   COWL exhibited at both the ELATE and EATAW conferences, with a questionnaire about Academic Writing Tutors’ experiences of/attitudes to online tutoring being conducted at the EATAW conference, and two papers about the project presented.

o   A cluster meeting involving the COWL Project, St George’s University in London and Newcastle University will be held at CU in November. 

-       The interim report for the Project is due at JISC by 30 September 2009.

-        Aspects of Moodle that will be used for students to submit assignments and for Academic Writing Tutors to give feedback were demonstrated.  Possible customisations were highlighted.

-       A report on implementing the technologies for this project was received.  A discussion took place on the strengths and weaknesses of these technologies, and the reason for deciding to trial two tools for synchronous feedback i.e. MegaMeeting and Skype.

-       A report on the Pre-PilotsTraining was received and the issues highlighted in the report were discussed.  As a result of the training, it was decided that a 20 minute 1:1 synchronous tutorial is not practical, due to the time implications of initiating the online meeting and downloading the appropriate documents.

-       All workpackages are on target.  The user guide for the technologies used for the Pilots is currently being written.  This has been delayed due to a recent decision to trial two tools for the synchronous feedback.  The user guide for the pedagogy of conducting the synchronous and asynchronous feedback will be written and honed during the Pilots.  The analysis of the questionnaires carried out at the EATAW conference is still taking place.

-       A possible risk to the project was identified as the dismantling of CSHE, and whether EC and HLS will commit to members of their staff continuing in working with the project.  Ways of minimising this risk were discussed.

-       A booking system for the synchronous tutorials is not yet finalised.  It is hoped to use the electronic booking system currently used in CAW (AccuTrack).  However, problems are being experienced and CAW staff are working with Engineerica, the software’s manufacturer, to solve these.

Present: David Morris; Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams; Sharon Simkiss; Mary Deane; Christine Broughan; John Tutchings; Mark Childs; Erik Borg; Caterina Neculai

 - An update was provided with regard to the programme meeting in May and the requirement for a baseline report to be submitted with the interim report, now due by 30th September 2009 as opposed to 29th August 2009.

 - A decision was made to explore the availability of the JISC consultants to visit the project to advise on baseline evaluation.

 - A report was received from the pedagogic workpackage with regard to the potential tools to be used in the delivery of the learning activities identified via the COWL modelling process. Discussion ensued which resulted in the following decisions being taken:

Student welcome and filtering:  Moodle would be trialled as the filtering tool and to  host the diagnostic element.  Integration of the current Accutrack booking system was to be investigated.  Also consideration was to be given in the filtering systen to allow students on return visits to skip the diagnostics element.  Use of Agents for welcoming was discussed, but not felt essential for the project in its pilot phase.  Capturing of  current CAW tacit knowledge in terms of current face-to-face filtering and diagnostics was already underway.

COWL reusable writing resources:  Link to be provided to existing resources i.e. CU Harvard Reference Style Website, existing OWLS, CAW’s existing materials and EAP Toolkit.  Moodle to be used for text and integration, CURVE for storage, Kibbitzers for re-usability, Echo360/Wimba Classroom for capturing CAWs activities. 

Individualised feedback on students’ writing: Riffly is to be used for asynchronous individualised feedback and ‘Ask the Tutor’ , which could be linked to Moodle and managed by a queuing system which would involve booking on the day for 20-minute appointments and in advance for 50-minute appointments.  Highlighted the need to look at how the student would identify where they were in the queue.

Synchronous 20 and 50 minute individualised feedback appointments: To be managed via Megameeting supported by a range of resources including corpora and visualisations.

Social Learning:  Protected Writing Time for Students:  Megameeting was the preferred option for this activity, although it was felt that for the pilot phase this activity would not be trialled.  CAW Workshops and Add+vantage modules:  Wimba classroom was the preferred option here.

The decision was also made that in developing the model, then the pilots would concentrate on trialling both the asynchronous and synchronous 1:2:1 activities only.  The paramedic students would participate in two face to face synchronous tutorials each and the Economics students in asynchronous peer review activities, across three assignments. 

 - The CAW tutors will be trained on all the tools in August.  The idea would be to look at developing the 1:2:1 online provision in the first instance, looking at other learning activities at a later date.

 - The results of the analysis of CAW’s existing student demographics was presented, in terms of gender, disability and ethnicity. It was felt that a comparison in terms of demographics would only be able to be made once COWL had been rolled out to the wider university population.

 - Discussions followed with regard to measuring how COWL may change modes of study i.e. are existing CAW users using COWL services and vice-versa.  Also need to measure pedagogic change, has the project changed how students act in terms of their academic writing i.e. are they becoming more self-sufficient/independent, revising ahead of submission etc?  Identified that an inherent change that the project will achieve via the pilots is the way in which the curriculum will be delivered.

 - All workpackages are on schedule and it was confirmed that the COWL website would be ready for the pilots in September/October.

 - The loss of the project manager due to potential redeployment was identified.  Actions to mitigate this risk are to be considered by the project director.

 - It was confirmed that project dissemination would take place at the University’s ELATE and the international EATAW conference, both  in June.  A survey on Academic Writing Tutors’ attitudes to online sessions would be undertaken at EATAW, along with the presentation of two papers by project team members.  A presence at Alt-C  and the iPED International Conference in September are also to be arranged.  Other potentials include the European Writing Centre Conference in May/June 2010.

Present: David Morris; Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams; Sharon Simkiss; Mary Deane; Christine Broughan; John Tutchings; Mark Childs; Erik Borg; Penny Gilchrist; Ray Summers

Feedback was provided from the project visit in March and events attended by members of the project group:
Cluster Meeting: This was a useful opportunity to find out about other projects in the cluster and to receive useful feedback/advice on the COWL project, including:
-COWL should investigate whether visual feedback may reduce learning outcomes
-Advice that the ‘Ask the Writing Tutor’ facility should require the student to identify the focus of feedback required in advance of submission
-The potential use of VUE (concept mapping software) for student mapping of assignments
-There was particular interest in how COWL will filter students on entering the site. Felt that once this was developed online it could be trialled at other Universities - dissemination potential!

Inclusive Workshop: Mark C participated and raised awareness of the need for an accessibility audit of COWL by the end of the project.

Existing and projected model maps were presented by Lisa G-W. The general feeling was that these were positive and provided greater clarity of the way forward for the other workpackages. Suggestions for improvements included:
- Protected Writing Time for Students’ (PWTS) sessions could potentially be delivered within COWL via a conferencing system - this should be trialled
- Concern that the existing model map seemed to end when the student attends the service - but what happens then? There is also the question of why the student presents in the first place? Suggested that links could be put into the existing model to plug these gaps/provide better integration/understanding
- Consider that the interface on COWL could be used for both online and face-to-face initiations - the face-to-face option may become the last option offered on COWL
- Test both visual and audio feedback -suggestion that visual may distract from learning outcomes?
- The staff development element of COWL could be an additional outcome of the project - in terms of potentially being able to provide resource elements (generic academic writing materials) out to colleges and schools e.g. via the Phoenix Partnership for supporting students pre-University entry
- Concern was expressed re potential demands of a-synchronous service offerings - would need to be queued - needs to have clear boundaries and expectations managed.

Advised that initially synchronous services would be trialled. The need to prioritise what was to be trialled was recognised.

Benefits and shortcomings of the existing model and potential advantages to be provided by COWL were also presented and discussed.

Progress reports were provided on each of the workpackages. Workpackage 1 is now complete.

The issues log was updated.

There were no changes with regard to the Project risks log.

Present: David Morris; Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams; Sharon Simkiss; Christine Broughan; John Tutchings; Mark Childs

Lisa G-W to attend the JISC meeting at Loughborough on March 11th, which will showcase new technologies.

Steering Group feedback was discussed:

Drawing up of a matrix to examine current pilot profile could be picked up by the pedagogy workpackage. Suggested that the psychology group from HLS may be a suitable additional group to consider if greater representation required.

Corpora tools: These could be made available as an additional resource on the COWL site.

Lisa G-W reported that the research element of her literature review was now completed and as a result the online model that was emerging looked likely to include:

synchronous and asynchronous/real time writing tutorials
online ‘drop-in’ writing tutorials
real-time and downloadable ‘captured’ writing workshops
electronic writing guidance

The model may also include a ‘middle ground’ form of tutorial that would allow students to submit draft assignments and to receive written/oral feedback from a CAW Writing Tutor within a specified period of time (e.g. 48 hours). The value of this would need to be explored further. Queuing of assignments could possibly be handled by streaming.

 Present:  David Morris; Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams; Sharon Simkiss; Erik Borg; Mary Deane; Penny Gilchrist; John Tutchings; Billy Brick

Background was provided with regard to the JISC ’Transforming  Curriculum Delivery Through Technology’ programme, under which the COWL project sits.  Within this area the project is  clustered with three other Universities:  Middlesex, Newcastle and St George’s University of London.

Also highlighted the support and synthesis project www.circlespace.net, which provides an information and communication hub for all projects within this strand, along with key support resources. An RSS feed to the circlespace site from the COWL project site has been provided.

David Morris to provide a link from the COWL project site to CURVE  to give access to project team publications.

A discussion followed around the initial review of current practice.  Online writing pedagogies and technological interventions currently in use were under review. Decided that a process map/s recording current practice within CAW should be developed - useful benchmark.

Various technologies were suggested for potential use on the project.  Discussion took place around the need to consider the different implications of the OWL, from face to face technologies, logging and administration capabilities, feedback communications, document sharing etc,  and the importance of matching appropriate tools to these.

A recent presentation at a website conference attended by Erik Borg, which looked specifically at the needs of Online Writing Environments, was thought to be interesting and worth further pursuing with the presenter to explore his experiences.

The group decided that  a workshop on the software package ‘Theme Edition’ would be useful to inform the project. David Morris to organise.

The requirements of the project plan were explained and key deadline dates discussed.

David Morris to chase outstanding steering group members and review workpackages.

Sharon Simkiss to review existing project dates and provide details of key project activities.