The Web Site of the COWL Project

Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams directs the Centre for Academic Writing (CAW) at Coventry University. Formerly the Co-ordinator of Academic Writing for the University of Warwick Writing Programme, Lisa has taught Academic Writing courses for undergraduate and postgraduate students in a variety of disciplines. Lisa has also had considerable experience as a writing centre tutor in US universities and has worked with the Royal Literary Fund to set up one-to-one tutorials in Academic Writing in UK universities. Lisa serves on the boards of three major Academic Writing organizations, EATAW, EWCA, and IWCA. Her publications include a landmark report (RLF 2004) and edited book (Palgrave Macmillan 2006) on the teaching of Academic Writing in the UK context, as well as articles in Rhetorica, The Writing Center Journal, and Computers in Composition.

Mark Childs joined Coventry University as a Teaching Development Fellow in e-learning in July 2008. Between 2001 and 2008 he worked at the University of Warwick on externally-funded e-learning projects, following five years working on national and international collaborative e-learning projects at the University of Wolverhampton. Most recently these projects include setting up a telematic teaching facility within the Learning Grid at the University of Warwick. Between July 2004 and July 2008 Mark was the chair of DIVERSE , the leading international group of practitioners in the use of visual technologies in education and he is also on the editorial board of Innovate , an online journal of e-learning published by Nova South-Eastern University.

Sharon Simkiss is manager of CSHE and an experienced manager, who has worked in both commercial and educational organisations.  After an initial career in retail management, she moved into education, initially within the Further Education sector.  She joined Coventry University eleven years ago to assist in the development and growth of the University’s Technology Park, working within CUE Ltd, the commercial arm of the University, in a variety of management roles, most recently as Technology Park Manager.  During her time in CUE Ltd she was involved in a diverse range of project activity.  She joined CSHE, the Centre for the Study of Higher Education, just over a year ago, where she is responsible for all aspects of the Centre’s operation.  She is trained in Prince2 methods.

Dr. Mary Deane is a Senior Lecturer at Coventry’s Centre for Academic Writing (CAW). Her research specialisms in the field of Academic writing include online peer review, written feedback, and cultures of writing in institutional and disciplinary contexts. Prior to specialising in rhetoric for contemporary HE students, she taught Medieval and Renaissance Literature, Middle English Translation, and Seventeenth Century Literature at the University of Warwick. In 2008, Mary was awarded a Teaching Excellence Award for her writing consultancy with staff and students. She runs successful Writing Retreats for academics whereby she fosters effective planning and execution of publication plans. She also promotes student writers’ independence and seeks to enhance their performance by raising levels of motivation. Her current initiatives include work to improve retention rates at Level 1 in Law and Economics and to respond to Widening Participation through explicit Academic Writing instruction. These relate to her recent publications, which reveal a strong commitment to ‘Writing in the Disciplines’ (WiD), a pedagogical approach that recognises the role of writing in cognitive development and the distinctive qualities of writing in subject studies at HE. She is currently writing a volume called Writing in the UK Disciplines to raise awareness of this research field (forthcoming 2010) and has published in Teaching in Higher Education (2007), Maths, Stats, and OR Connections (2008), Zeitschrift-Schreiben (2008), and Writing Research Across Borders: Proceedings of the 2008 Santa Barbara Writing Conference.

Ray Summers is the Learning Technologist at CAW. He conceptualises and designs digital and multi-media resources to facilitate the Centre’s staff development remit and to enhance learning and teaching environments at Coventry University. Ray leads CAW’s web-based projects which promote writing pedagogy, including a popular site with a range of downloads enabling students to be independent in their research and referencing for academic papers. Ray also provides training to colleagues seeking to extend their knowledge of learning technologies. He has been particularly successful in the design and development of audio visual materials teaching the conventions of Academic Writing in disciplinary contexts, including sample student papers which help students to engage with marking criteria.

Billy Brick is Languages’ Centre Manager at Coventry University. After an initial lecturing career in building management he turned his attention to EFL teaching and subsequently to the wider area of academic writing. He has long experience of working with students whose first language is other than English. He has experimented with and researched a number of applications of technology to supporting and assessing students in their writing activities including work with voice tools embedded in VLEs, podcasting and, latterly, screencasting for giving feedback.

John Tutchings. After graduating from Coventry University with a Honours Degree in Computer Science John started working in the university’s Computing Services Department. Within CSV he has worked in most sections, from systems administration to software development. Eventually he settled in the Applications Section where he was responsible for the configuration of various web sites including caring for the University’s installation of WebCT. John is now the Technical Specialist in e-learning systems within the e-Learning Unit and he will be responsible for integrating Echo360 with CUOnline and other university systems. He will also lead the development of the prototype IPTV system.

Mark Garrett is Programme Manager for paramedics course at Coventry University. Mark has been working closely with Mary Deane on a strand of our ‘Writing in the Disciplines’ initiative.

Jon Guest is First Year Tutor for undergraduate economics courses. Jon has won a number of awards for his pioneering work in teaching first year economics including implementation of “experimental economics” teaching and development of communication skills. In this he has been working closely with Erik Borg in another ‘Writing in the Disciplines’ strand.

Erik Borg teaches undergraduate modules on academic writing and leads the Centre for Academic Writing research project into the development of student writing. He also works with staff in the disciplines on cascading the teaching of writing and on their own scholarly writing. He has published articles in Art, Design, and Communication in Higher Education, ELT Journal, the Journal of English for Academic Purposes, and Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, and given presentations at conferences on topics related to intertextuality and plagiarism, the assessment of writing, and writing in art and design. He is a successful co-applicant in a series of ESRC-sponsored seminars (2008-09) discussing alternative forms of the doctoral thesis in the light of multimodality and e-learning research.

Christine Broughan is a pedagogical researcher at Coventry University. She has a two year secondment to the iPED [inquiring pedagogies] network and has a key role in exploring the issues of student retention. She is interested in research that explores the student experience at university and a key aspect of her role is to support academic staff in evaluating curriculum design and pedagogical practices. She has extensive project management experience and has developed a number of evaluative tools and reports for institutional research.