[Submitted by the CCCC Committee for Effective Practices for Online Writing Instruction and adopted by the CCCC Executive Committee on March 13, 2013.]
Click here to download a PDF version of the complete position statement.

Establishing a Statement of Principles for Online Writing Instruction (OWI)

OWI Principles and Effective Practices

For each of the OWI Principles stated below, the Committee describes a rationale for that principle and provides example Effective Practices that can be adapted to varying institutional contexts. With the exception of the first one, these principles are not presented in order of importance but rather a sequence that addresses pedagogy, institutional level concerns, teacher concerns, and research.

Overarching Principle

OWI Principle 1: Online writing instruction should be universally inclusive and accessible.
Rationale for OWI Principle 1
Example Effective Practices for OWI Principle 1

Instructional Principles

OWI Principle 2: An online writing course should focus on writing and not on technology orientation or teaching students how to use learning and other technologies.
Rationale for OWI Principle 2
Example Effective Practices for OWI Principle 2

OWI Principle 3: Appropriate composition teaching/learning strategies should be developed for the unique features of the online instructional environment.
Rationale for OWI Principle 3
Example Effective Practices for OWI Principle 3

OWI Principle 4: Appropriate onsite composition theories, pedagogies, and strategies should be migrated and adapted to the online instructional environment.
Rationale for OWI Principle 4
Example Effective Practices for OWI Principle 4

OWI Principle 5: Online writing teachers should retain reasonable control over their own content and/or techniques for conveying, teaching, and assessing their students’ writing in their OWCs.
Rationale for OWI Principle 5
Example Effective Practices for OWI Principle 5

OWI Principle 6: Alternative, self-paced, or experimental OWI models should be subject to the same principles of pedagogical soundness, teacher/designer preparation, and oversight detailed in this document.
Rationale for OWI Principle 6
Example Effective Practices for OWI Principle 6

Faculty Principles

OWI Principle 7: Writing Program Administrators (WPAs) for OWI programs and their online writing teachers should receive appropriate OWI-focused training, professional development, and assessment for evaluation and promotion purposes.
Rationale for OWI Principle 7
Example Effective Practices for OWI Principle 7

OWI Principle 8: Online writing teachers should receive fair and equitable compensation for their work.
Rationale for OWI Principle 8
Example Effective Practices for OWI Principle 8

OWI Principle 9: OWCs should be capped responsibly at 20 students per course with 15 being a preferable number.
Rationale for OWI Principle 9
Example Effective Practices for OWI Principle 9

Institutional Principles

OWI Principle 10: Students should be prepared by the institution and their teachers for the unique technological and pedagogical components of OWI.
Rationale for OWI Principle 10
Example Effective Practices for OWI Principle 10

OWI Principle 11: Online writing teachers and their institutions should develop personalized and interpersonal online communities to foster student success.
Rationale for OWI Principle 11
Example Effective Practices for OWI Principle 11

OWI Principle 12: Institutions should foster teacher satisfaction in online writing courses as rigorously as they do for student and programmatic success.
Rationale for OWI Principle 12
Example Effective Practices for OWI Principle 12

OWI Principle 13: OWI students should be provided support components through online/digital media as a primary resource; they should have access to onsite support components as a secondary set of resources.
Rationale for OWI Principle 13
Example Effective Practices for OWI Principle 13

OWI Principle 14: Online writing lab administrators and tutors should undergo selection, training, and ongoing professional development activities that match the environment in which they will work.
Rationale for OWI Principle 14
Example Effective Practices for OWI Principle 14

Research and Exploration

OWI Principle 15: OWI/OWL administrators and teachers/tutors should be committed to ongoing research into their programs and courses as well as the very principles in this document.
Rationale for OWI Principle 15
Example Effective Practices for OWI Principle 15

Conclusion

References

Appendix A: Definitions and Acronyms

Visit the Online Writing Instruction Open Resource – the OWI OR. This new resource site will be organized around the overarching categories that the OWI Committee used to structure the position statement below. In addition to the principles themselves, this site will provide examples of how each principle might be applied in real teaching and learning situations.

Interested in submitting a resource to the OWI OR? Visit the Call for Submissions.