Proposal

Establishment of an On-line Writing Lab at The Ethiopian Civil Service College

1. Description
The Ethiopian Civil Service College's commitment to incorporating computer technology in higher education makes it an ideal location for the development and implementation of an Online Writing Lab (OWL). The OWL will focus on the following objectives: 1) establishing an on-line writing center that provides easily accessible help for students who desire help in their classroom writing assignments; 2) establishing an on-line resource center providing faculty with professional consultation in implementing writing in their classes; 3) reaching out to the community by developing and implementing an asynchronous learning based technical writing certificate program: and 4) providing a vehicle for faculty to monitor student writing problems and reinforce the writing principles they are emphasizing in their classrooms.

Implementation of the OWL will serve to re-emphasize the importance of writing in all academic areas and provide the kind of support that is needed to establish a strong writing consciousness fundamental to higher education. Faculty in all disciplines will have access to information and assistance in all aspects of teaching writing. Conversely, students undertaking writing tasks in their classes will have access to assistance. Consequently, faculty who utilize the OWL will become more aware of the teaching efforts of other faculty members, leading to more discussion of the problems and successes of writing throughout the entire university.

2. Rationale
In a world where communication abilities are vital, the university writing center plays an essential role in developing fundamental communication skills. However, few if any university writing centers take advantage of the computer-mediated forms of communication that are rapidly transforming higher education and the world. Business, government, and education are incorporating the speed and convenience of computer-mediated communication (CMC), and written communication is becoming increasingly important.

The computer network at The Ethiopian Civil Service College presents an ideal environment for establishing the OWL. The OWL will take full advantage of ECSC's networking capacity: high speed servers will transmit students' messages to faculty and tutors and return responses; all messages and responses can be stored on network disks for future reference.

Although other universities have on-line writing centers, The Ethiopian Civil Service College will be the first to implement an online environment to provide extensive writing support for faculty members and students who are exclusively non-native English speakers. Since writing courses, as well as many other courses, are already being taught using ECSC, a writing center using computer technology would be a logical extension. In addition, almost without exception, the faculty are computer literate and will easily adapt to the use of an OWL.

3. Process
The Online Writing Lab will have two facets: one for faculty and one for students. The success of the OWL will be reinforced by this two-faceted approach. The two components are described below:

Student OWL:
This online facility will be attended primarily by a native English speaking OWL Coordinator who will answer any questions via e-mail regarding writing, ranging from simple grammar to advice with a dissertation. More specifically, the OWL helps students and professors (a) understand an assignment, (b) generate ideas, (c) pre-write, (d) develop a thesis, (e) analyze an audience, (f) organize and develop ideas, (g) revise earlier drafts, (h) improve proofreading and editing skills, and (i) discover their own writing process. However, tutors do not proofread, edit, ghostwrite or research any writer's work.

Faculty OWL:
The purpose of the faculty OWL is to encourage, implement, and facilitate the use of writing in courses throughout the university. The OWL Coordinator will be available to help faculty members research writing in their disciplines, to devise appropriate writing assignments for their courses, to suggest a variety of evaluation approaches, and to assist in locating further electronic sources for enhancing their courses. In addition, the consultant/directors will work with faculty members to adapt the OWL to fit their diverse needs.

As an incentive, faculty will be encouraged to develop detailed writing strategies for their classes. Faculty members submitting proposals for these grants must demonstrate a willingness to incorporate writing in at least two courses, and be willing to present their plans for incorporating writing at a faculty conference. Each proposal must include a description of the evaluation measure that will be used to determine success.

4. Staffing
The On-line Writing Lab Coordinator
The On-line Writing Lab (OWL) Coordinator is responsible for encouraging faculty and students to use the OWL, providing pedagogical assistance for the faculty, developing and implementing an asynchronous learning based technical writing certificate program, and maintaining day-to-day operations. In particular, the Coordinator is responsible for implementing the following services:

• On-line and face-to-face tutoring. Native speaking English tutor(s) answer any questions via e-mail regarding writing, ranging from simple grammar to advice with a dissertation. More specifically, the OWL helps students and professors (a) understand an assignment, (b) generate ideas, (c) pre-write, (d) develop a thesis, (e) analyze an audience, (f) organize and develop ideas, (g) revise earlier drafts, (h) improve proofreading and editing skills, and (i) discover their own writing process. However, tutors do not proofread, edit, ghostwrite or research any writer's work.
  
  
• Faculty services: Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC). The OWL encourages, implements, and facilitates the use of writing in courses throughout the university. The OWL Coordinator will be available online daily and for face-to-face consultation to help faculty members research writing in their disciplines, devise appropriate writing assignments for their courses, suggest a variety of evaluation approaches, and assist in locating further electronic sources for enhancing their courses. The OWL Coordinator will work with faculty members to adapt the OWL to fit their diverse needs.
  
  
• Technical Writing Certificate: The OWL is developing a 8 unit-credit technical writing specialization delivered via asynchronous learning that introduces students to the technical writing profession and also provides them with tools relevant to a range of writing situations. While focusing on technical communication as a set of problem-solving strategies, the Technical Writing Certificate program provides students the opportunity to create a writing portfolio that demonstrates their strengths and abilities.
  
  
• Curriculum development: The Chinese Technical Writers Series. In line with the Certificate of Technical Writing delivered on-line, the OWL develops technical writing curriculum materials for asynchronous-based learning, known as "The Chinese Technical Writers Series." The Series seeks to provide a sound technical writing curriculum and, on a more practical level, to provide valuable reference guides for Chinese technical and managerial professionals. The Series concentrates on aiding Chinese technical writers in the following areas:
  Writing style
  The books in the Series seek to transform archaic ways of writing (often result-
  ing from literally copying phrases from other texts) into a more active and
  direct writing style that makes the author's maid ideas easier to identify.
  Structure and content
  Another issue facing technical writers is how to organize the structure and
  Contents of manuscripts and other common forms of writing in the workplace.
  Quality
  Technical writers must inevitably prepare their manuscripts to meet the
  Expectations of editors, referees and reviewers, as well as to satisfy journal
  requirements. The books in this Series are prepared with these specific needs
  in mind.
  
  
• In-service training: Ministry of Education approved technical writing course delivered by asynchronous learning. The OWL has developed a Ministry of Education approved technical writing course delivered by asynchronous learning that can be used as a tool in graduate level seminars to help doctorate students satisfy their English language requirements. Instead of teaching a course on technical writing, the OWL serves as a virtual English tutor assistant to the instructor of the graduate level seminar to ensure that a graduate student can organize, write and revise his or her thesis prior to graduation.
  

5. Approach
The The Ethiopian Civil Service College Online Writing Center will begin operating during the Fall 2001 semester. During the first semester, the entire campus community will be introduced to the OWL.

The OWL will be intensively promoted among faculty in the other academic areas during the Spring 2002 through orientation sessions, in which the focus will be on active participation by all academic areas. Faculty members who are interested in devising appropriate writing assignments for their courses will be offered assistance.

6. Evaluation
The effectiveness of the OWL will be measured by several means. Attitudinal surveys will be issued to determine faculty acceptance of the OWL.

Detailed user statistics will be collected. The number of inquiries to the OWL will be logged. Specific information on the types of inquiries will also be collected. Student users will be surveyed upon their first inquiry to the OWL and again at the end of the semester.

7. Space and Equipment
The OWL will be located inside of ECSC. The OWL requires a computer, a desk and work space.