Writing Together: Ten Weeks Teaching and Studenting in an Online Writing Course

As more and more college writing instructors are asked to teach online courses, the need for practical, day-to-day advice about what to expect in these courses and how to conduct them has grown.

Scott Warnock, an experienced writing instructor and online writing instruction mentor, hears the questions constantly: What do I do each week that specifically constitutes an online course? How do students participate and engage in an online writing course (OWC)? Writing Together: Ten Weeks Teaching and Studenting in an Online Writing Course narrates the experience of an asynchronous OWC through the dual perspective of the teacher, Scott, and a student, Diana Gasiewski, who participated in that OWC.

Both teacher and student describe their strategies, activities, approaches, thoughts, and responses as they move week by week through the experience of teaching and taking an OWC. This narrative approach to describing teaching a writing course in a digital environment includes details about specific assignments and teaching strategies, with the added bonus of the student view. Through the experience of the student author, OWC instructors will better understand how students perceive OWCs and navigate through them—and how students manage their lives in the context of distance education.

After a decade serving as the Director of the University Writing Program, Dr. Warnock became Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education in Fall 2021. This role that allows him to expand his keen interest in teaching and involves him closely with the overall experience of CoAS students.

Dr. Warnock’s scholarship focuses on technology and writing instruction, especially online learning. He has authored or co-authored five books and numerous chapters and articles, and he has spoken at many institutions and conferences. He co-founded the Global Society of Online Literacy Educators in 2016 and served as President from 2018 to 2020, and he was Co-Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication Committee for Effective Practices in Online Writing Instruction from 2011 to 2016. A dedicated faculty member, Dr. Warnock teaches writing and courses such as The Literature of Business; The Peer Reader in Context; and Language Puzzles and Word Games: Issues in Modern Grammar. He has won the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2020, the Outstanding Online Faculty Award for National Distance Learning Week in 2013, and the Allen Rothwarf Award for Teaching Excellence in 2009.

Dr. Warnock has committed to improving his local community in Riverton and Palmyra in South Jersey. He was the founding President of the Palmyra High School Foundation for Educational Excellence, served as an elected member of the school boards of both the local elementary school and high school, and has coached the children of Pal-Riv for decades in several sports. He also facilitates writing workshops for high school students.

He co-founded Subjective Metrics, Inc. a company created to develop Waypoint writing assessment and peer review software

Scott Warnock and Diana Gasiewski co-authored Writing Together: Ten Weeks Teaching and Studenting in an Online Writing Course.