Creating a Virtual Writing Center to Support Self-Regulated Learning

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted traditional approaches to education and forced educators to adopt and adapt technologies to allow institutions to remain open, offer courses and other services to enable students to continue their education. This rapid shift to online teaching and learning has shone a light on the need for institutions to support students in working out how to maintain autonomy through meaningful interaction in the online world. In this paper we discuss the transition of a face-to-face university writing center to a synchronous online writing center that is hosted in the videoconferencing application Zoom. In doing this we explain the rationale that informed our thinking throughout the transition process and how sound pedagogical principles and a focus on the student experience guided our decision-making. Preliminary findings regarding how self-regulated learning was maintained and nurtured in the virtual writing center are presented and discussed.

The Future Role of Online Consultations Within Self-Access Learning

“…By April 2020, most university self-access consultations for oral and written communication in Japan were conducted online synchronously. Since then, there has been a surge of publications from SALCs both in Japan (e.g., Davies et al, 2020;Harwood & Koyama, 2020) and around the world (e.g., Al Ghazali, 2020;Anas et al, 2020;Kelly et al, 2020;Navarro Cira & Carrillo López, 2020;Schneider, 2020;Uzun & Guven-Yalcin, 2021) relating to all forms of online teaching, including classroom environments and SALCs. Yet, most related publications discuss SALC's experiences and strategies for handling the situation with no data gathering.…”

Challenges and Opportunities of COVID-19 Confinement: Integrating Families and Students’ Emotions into our Virtual Classes

“…This new reality not only brought uncertainty and fear, but also triggered creativity and allowed us to reflect, prioritise and rethink ways of approaching learning practices at the university. As Harwood & Koyama (2020) note, this rapid shift to online teaching and learning has shone a light on the need for institutions to support students in working out how to maintain autonomy through meaningful interaction in the online world.…”