APA Research Paper: PSYC 332

Agenda for May 10 WF Meeting

Writing Fellows Meeting Agenda May 10, 2012

Objective: Unite and Collaborate

Spring Numbers: How many workshops did our team facilitate? New Training Materials: Available in WRIT000 and also on the web-- Writing Fellows Overview Expectations for Writing Fellows Writing Workshop Venues Communicating with Professors Communicating with Students How to Create and Upload Your Workshops Blog: Please feel free to add articles, topics of discussion, and thoughts at: http://umucewcguestlecturepage.blogspot.com Open mic: Please share thoughts, concerns, suggestions.

Writing Fellows Training

Writing Fellows Program Overview History
The Guest Lecture program was begun soon after the founding of the Effective Writing Center in 2002 as a response to the desire of classroom teachers to bring writing instruction directly into the classroom. Today, the program is called Writing Fellows and advisers from the EWC visit 100's of online classrooms each session to assist students. Workshops usually focus on a current assignment that students are working on for that class. We help students analyze the instructor's assignment instructions, then devise a series of instructional threads that help students
build their response to the assignment step-by-step. These workshops often include helping students with outlining, thesis construction, introductory paragraph construction, body paragraph development, sentence style, grammar, citations, and any other writing skill needed for successful completion the assignment.  Our Mission As writing fellows, our goal is to assist students by first providing encouraging and constructive feedback on their submissions. Working in an online course can be an isolating experience. One of our main goals is to create an anxiety free zone, where students feel comfortable, valued and assisted in a timely manner (within a few hours of posting). Fear of judgment is a huge factor for students and it is our job to present our suggestions in a manner which reduces their fear and fosters constructive examples through careful, considerate language. The ultimate outcome of our visit is a classroom of confident and skilled writers. Feedback Hierarchy Our approach is to break down a longer assignment into a series of small parts. Usually each of our threads focuses on one small part, whether it be a short outline, thesis statement, body paragraph or a list of citations. Our feedback focuses on the main goals of each thread with detailed suggestions to the content posted by students. However, because we are writing advisers, we also take the time to comment on other aspects of the student's writing that may present issues down the road. So, for example, if a thread asks the student to submit a focused introduction paragraph that presents a clear thesis, the bulk of our feedback will be on the strategies the student chose to introduce the thesis and the adequacy of the thesis itself. However, if the student displays error patterns such as problems with capitalization, punctuation or proofreading, we would be remiss not to bring these briefly to the student's attention and suggest strategies for revision. Virtual Tour of the EWC

Writing Fellows Training

Writing Fellows Expectations 1. Before the Class Workshop Review the class assignment and instructor’s expectations that students will be working on. These are available from Michelle and David. They are also available in the target classroom in the Syllabus or Course Content areas once you are rostered in.  Identify materials in WRIT999 appropriate to help students with the assignment. If there is a pre-existing conference for the class assignment, it may be used. Modify instructional materials as needed or ask David to make the modification. Modification is most often needed in the Assignment Analysis thread and any thread that mentions the class or professor by name. Request from David any new materials needed to be created to help with specific needs that arise in a class. 2. After You Are Rostered Into the Class After you have been rostered into the class as a TA (Teaching Assistant), confirm with the instructor that you will create an EWC Workshop Conference with your instructional threads and set the conference to go live on the day the guest lecture is to begin. Notify the teacher that the EWC conference has been posted and invite him/her to provide feedback. Send a welcome email to students the day before the guest lecture is to begin. Identify yourself, why you are in the class, how long you will be there, where workshop materials can be found, and what your goals are for the workshop. 3. During the Workshop Check into the threads each day. All posts by students should be replied to in 24 hours. Please notify Michelle or David if something comes up and you are unable to do this. When responding to student work, please include the student’s name in the subject line. Respond first with a warm greeting and encouragement. Always comment specifically on what the student did well before addessing what the student needs to do to improve. If the student submits a portion (paragraph) of a draft, respond based on the goals you had for the assignment. However, don't neglect obvious problems, especially surface level concerns, that the student needs to be aware of.  Near the end of the workshop, post a note indicating what your last day will be and what the deadline is for a student to post in order for you to have time to review and respond. Maintain courtesy and respect at all times—no matter what. 4. After the Workshop Send a thank-you email to the host professor expressing appreciation for being allowed to work with the professor’s students and mention that to schedule future workshops, the professor can simply contact Michelle or David. Send a thank-you note to students, praising their hard work and accomplishments. Remind them of our 24-hour database advising service, WRIT001, and live synchronous advising. Encourage them to take advantages of these services for future writing assignments.

 

Writing Fellows Training

Writing Workshop Venues

There are a few main areas you should bookmark and visit frequently. These include the master schedule (Google Doc), Blog, Writ 999 NG conferences, writing fellows training area (here), and online classrooms you are assigned. My email address is michelle.bowman@umuc.edu.  David's email address is david.taylor@umuc.edu. 

Please Note: If you ever have difficulty opening the master schedule in Google Docs, I also send the updated schedule every week in a PDF form or Word document. I also email you all individually with assignment instructions from professors. Knowing the assignment instructions before you begin a workshop is essential so that you know what materials to choose and what goals the professor has for the students. 

Please see the links below and take some time to visit each venue and familiarize yourself with each. One of the most important areas to study is the NG conference area, where all the workshop materials are. David created these materials for a variety of workshops.

• Sometimes a workshop has already been created for the class and assignment you are covering.
• Other times you may need to pull materials from different areas.
• Finally, you may need to ask David to create materials to fit a specific assignment.

Read through some of these to get a good idea what we accomplish in our workshops, especially paying attention to the end of each thread. Students are most often given a small exercise to respond to the thread. The student's response to the mini-assignment is what you will most often be responding to.

Writing Workshop Schedules
https://docs.google.com/a/umuc.edu/?tab=mo#home

GL Blog
http://umucewcguestlecturepage.blogspot.com/

Writing Fellows Training

Communicating with Students

Since you have completed training as a database adviser, you have extensive skills for effective communication with students. You know the importance of being enthusiastic,warm and encouraging. You are used to replying with detailed information and examples presented in a suggestive rather than commanding manner.

These are the same skills you will use in our writing workshop threads. The only difference will be how much advice is given at once. For example, if you took a database advice template sent to a student, printed it, cut it into sections, (assignment requirements, thesis, intro, body paragraphs, conclusion, citations, grammar) and glued them in separate conference threads, you would have a typical writing workshop!

Breaking It Down

If you have browsed through the writing workshop threads in the NG conferences, you saw how our writing workshops break down essay writing into chunks or small steps. So, your advice in an "outline thread" will be about organization of the outline and whether it addresses assignment requirements. Your advice in a "thesis thread" will concentrate on an adequate controlling idea that fits the assignment. In an "introductory paragraph thread," you will focus feedback on employing an effective intro strategy. If the the thread presents information on citations and a small exercise on citations, you will provide feedback on citation format.

Surface Errors (Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling)

Regarding surface errors, when you see error patterns in a student's writing, it is important to comment on those, too, but limit comments to one or two error patterns only. By not commenting on obvious errors like sentence fragments, spelling, capitalization, comma misuse and such, we run the risk of reinforcing the errors for future submissions. If penalized later for such errors, the student may ask why these problems were not pointed out earlier. Not pointing them out can also damage our credibility with the professor and other students. So, when helping a student in this area, use the same technique as if advising a paper in the database: Pull an example from the student's writing, provide explanation and resources, then suggest revision strategies.

Reading Full Drafts in a Writing Workshop

During an in-class workshop, you are helping students prepare parts of an essay. If the student wishes the full draft to be reviewed, the student should be encouraged to submit it to our database service. Sometimes we look at full drafts within our workshops, but only in special circumstances and classes. The instructions at the end of each thread are what students should follow when submitting their draft "chunks."

Frequently Asked Questions Q: How long do writing workshops last? A: Usually as long as the professor requests. This can be anywhere from a week to an entire semester. The length of your workshop will be clear on the Master Schedule. A typical workshop lasts 7 days. Q: What is a typical turnaround time for feedback? A: Within 24 hours or sooner, if you have a dialogue going or a critical question being discussed. It's best to set aside a certain time each day to devote to a class. That way, you will be sure to provide feedback every 24 hours. Writing workshops exist to create a conversation about writing. For it to be successful, each participant must uphold his/her end of the conversation. We need to be available for back and forth interaction within the short timeframe we are in the class. Q: When are my days off? A: Your days off are usually the days students are still reading the workshop materials and not posting yet. This can sometimes be several days. If you are scheduled for other workshops simultaneously, you might not have the day off in another classroom. However, typically workshops run from either Sunday or Monday to Sunday or Monday. Some of the busiest days are often times on Saturdays and Sundays when students are posting at the last minute. Days off are more likely to happen on Mondays, Tuesdays, or Wednesdays. Q: What if I need a weekend off? A: Just let Michelle (or David in her absence) know. We can work around it. I can watch your lecture while you are away or ask another advisor who is not busy to cover for you. If you are asking all the time though, you might want to consider whether guest lecturing is for you. Q: When are the busy times? A: Some of our busiest times are the middle of semesters. Some of our slowest times are in between semesters. There are always projects to work on while things are slow. Just email Dan, Aimee, David, Anna or me and we'll put you to work! :) Q: If I am paired up with a guest lecturer and we are both assigned the same workshop, how do we split it up? A: This is where some awesome learning takes place and students really get some extensive feedback. Usually both advisors answer all students. So, the advisors have to read each other's posts to be sure they are not repeating anything. This is especially useful to students in our resume and cover letter workshops. The more advice students can receive, the better. This pairing also gives advisors the chance to learn from one another and work in a team environment. Q: What if a student posts the completely wrong information in the thread? For example, what if a student posts an entire draft to the "virtual tour thread?" A: Gently, kindly steer them in the right direction. Tell them that this area is not for full drafts. Ask them to refer back to the instructions at each thread. Explain that you are excited to provide feedback when they do! Q: If I am guest lecturing, can I still help work in the database? A: If you have three or four guest lectures, no. If you are scheduled in one guest lecture and it is slow and you need the hours, definitely. Q: How can I make my presence known in the classroom if it seems like I am invisible? A: Email the professor and ask if he/she will announce your visit on their announcement page. David has a generic Writing Workshop announcement that you can provide to the professor. You can also e-mail the students by clicking on "Class Members." You will see all of their email addresses next to their names. Down at the bottom, place a check in "Email All Students." Let them know you are excited to work with them and encourage them to submit their work. Be sure to tell them where to submit it. You can also offer a live WebEx "office hour." This way you can meet with students and answer questions live. David or I can help you get set up and practice using WebEx. Q: Do you ever need help with videos or audio? A: Yes. David loves to get everyone involved in this! Email him and ask how you can contribute. Please respond here with any questions I didn't cover! :)

 

Writing Fellows Training

Communicating with Professors

After you have been assigned a workshop, contacting the professor a week before the workshop begins is the next step to open communication. Professors are trusting us to visit their classroom and guide their students. They might feel nervous about our visit if it is their first time or might be "regular customers" who have already established a trusting bond with us. Below is a sample e-mail letter to a professor. Below that is a closing sample letter that can be sent when the workshop is finished. Feel free to modify these letters as you wish.

Note that the letter begins with thanking the professor, then confirms the specific dates of the workshop and the assignment to be covered.

SAMPLE "Hello" LETTER Professor Taylor: Thank you for having me in your Writing 394 classroom January 4th-12th to work with your students on their Project 1 papers.  The materials included in the workshop will be uploaded in your conference area a few days beforehand (can be more specific), so please feel free to take a look at them before they are visible to your students and send me and comments and suggestions. If you have any questions, please let me know. I look forward to working with you and your students. Best regards, Anna Dumonchelle EWC Advisor **************************************************************************************************** SAMPLE "Goodbye" LETTER Professor Taylor: Participation in the writing workshop was excellent. Your students worked hard and it was a pleasure assisting them. Sometimes writing can be less intimidating if the writing is addressed in small steps and the student is able to get some feedback and guidance along the way. Thanks again for having the Effective Writing Center in your class. I hope you will consider inviting us back in future semesters. In the meantime, your students can submit work to our 24/7 database service. They can turn in their full drafts and receive feedback by signing into their MyUMUC page, then clicking on "Submit to Writing Center" on the left side nav bar under "Academic Information." You can also request another writing workshop in your classroom by contacting Michelle Bowman at michelle.bowman@umuc.edu. Best regards, Anna Dumonchelle EWC Advisor

Below is a video we send faculty when inviting them to use our services. If you receive questions about our writing workshop services, feel free to send the link to the professor.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=xbHiIwbvXYY

Uploading Workshops

Preparing Conferences for Instruction: Scenario #1 and Scenario #2

In this thread we talk about the nuts and bolts of setting up your workshop in a teacher's classroom. Whenever you are assigned a writing workshop in a professor's class, you will find yourself in one of two scenarios: Scenario #1 In this scenario, the workshop you have been assigned has been taught for that professor's class before, and you will find an existing conference for it in WRIT999. In this case, you only need to ensure that the teacher is still doing the same assignment before you import the conference into the classroom.

Text Version: Scenario #1 You receive the following email from Michelle Bowman, coordinator of the Writing Fellows program: Dear Esteemed Writing Fellow: You have been rostered into Amanda Barnett's WRTG291 (7983) course for the week of April 30 - May 6 to help students prepare their final research essay. Attached are the current assignment instructions that Professor Barnett is using. Professor Barnett has been told that you have been scheduled to facilitate the workshop and is looking forward to hearing from you. If you would, please contact Professor Barnett and let her know that you are looking forward to conducting the workshop on the dates specified.  Also, please try to upload the workshop materials in the "Unavailable to Students" area of TychoNG at least 3-4 days before the workshop so that the teacher may review them and offer feedback. Best wishes for a great workshop. Please let me know if I can help in any way. Fond regards, Michelle Bowman Writing Fellows Coordinator Upon receipt of this email and assignment, you will first want to establish communication with the teacher, introducing yourself and projecting a sense of excitement about the opportunity to work in the classroom. In this communication, you should also let the teacher know that you will be sending out a welcome email to students. Techniques for and examples of doing this were covered in an earlier thread--"Communicating with Professors" One other important purpose of this pre-workshop communication is to determine where the teacher prefers that you post your workshop materials. We recommend that you suggest to the teacher that you create an EWC Workshop Conference in the conference area, and ask the teacher to let you know if he or she prefers otherwise. Ensure You Are Rostered In Your next step is to check your class roster in WebTycho to see if the assigned class has shown up yet. So let's do that. In this case we are looking for Amanda Barnett's WRTG291 class. Yes, there it is. I have been rostered in. You now want to confirm your status as a TA in the class. Open the class link and click on BIOS. Your should see your name listed. Click on Bio. If you have not yet done so, please fill out your bio and include a photo of yourself. You can do this by clicking on "Edit this Biography" at the top of the page. Check Course Schedule Next, check the Course Schedule in the Syllabus area to ensure that class assignments coincide with the dates of your scheduled workshop. It's also helpful to know the assignments leading up and following the one you will be working on. This provides you with the same context the students are working with. Under Project Descriptions, you should see the assignment instructions for the project that you will be helping with. Compare these assignment descriptions with any assignment instructions you have been given. You might also find additional assignment commentary in the Course Content area. Import Conference Next, open up the Conferences area. This is where you will post your materials unless you have been instructed otherwise by the professor. The first thing you will need to do is to import the conference. Recall that we are dealing with Scenario #1--doing a workshop in a class for which materials already exist. Here is how to do that. Click on the Conferences link Open the "Manage Conferences Console" by left clicking on its icon. Click on the Import Conference link. In the class list that appears, WRIT999 should appear on your roster. Select WRIT999 and click Next. Give Tycho a minute to load in the selections from WRIT999. Scroll down to the conference you wish to import. In our case, it is WRTG291- Barnett's Final Research Paper. Select the Conference. Since it is not a conference you created, you will NOT be able to import its threads, only its title. Click Submit.  Wait for the conference to be imported. It will show up as the last entry on the Manage Conferences Console. And there it is. Now you must Edit and populate the Conference that you just imported. Select it, then click Edit Conference. In the dialog box that appears, be sure to use the following settings: Students can Read and Respond Available to students--Select "On this Date" and use the calendar function to set the conference to become available on the day that the workshop is scheduled to begin. Give the Conference a Name--try to be as descriptive as possible so that students understand at a glance what the conference is for: For Example: EWC Workshop for Final Research Paper. When finished click Update. The conference will update and you should be seeing a red flag that indicates the conference is not visible to students. Click Update Conference List and Close Window. Back on the main Conferences interface, you now see that the conference is in the "Unavailable to students" area ready for the professor to review. The conference will automatically become available on the date you set for it. Your next step is to import the individual conference threads. To do this, you first want to set up a split screen view with the target classroom on one side, and the WRIT999 on the other side where the individual threads are. In the target classroom, with your EWC workshop open, click on "New Topic" and give it the same name (or alter to suit your needs) as the original thread. Some advisers simply copy and paste the title. Then, if you wish to copy design view, activate your cursor in the  window, and type CTRL A to select all, the CTRL C to copy all. Go to your target classroom, activate your cursor, then type CTRL V to paste all. Click on submit and you should see the conference thread reproduced. Since the thread is now posted under your name, you can also make whatever changes to it that you wish. A second option is for you to transfer the threads using html code. This is essentially the same procedure, but you are working with code only, not any object. Open the html thread. Activate cursor, and select all, the copy all. Go to your target conference in Professor Barnett's classroom. Click on New Topic. At the bottom, be sure to select the CODE tab. Now erase whatever is there, and paste in your html code. Add a subject, Click submit and you should see the same results. Follow these procedures until you have transferred the thread in 999 into your target classroom. Keep in mind that you name is on them, so you can alter the threads in any way you feel is justified. Scenario #2 A workshop for this professor has never been taught before and you will need to create a conference in 999, and add threads to it to create a unique workshop for your students. Text Version: Scenario #2 Now let's review the procedures for Scenario #2: you have been assigned a workshop for a class assignment that we in the Writing Fellows program have never taught  before. This means that you will consult the correspondence between David, Michelle and the classroom teacher, as well as study the assignment directions yourself, to put together a sequence of threads that teach the skills student need for the assignment. Creating a New Conference For Scenario #2, you follow all of the same steps as above, except for the importing options. Instead of importing a ready-made conference from WRIT 999, you will have to create a conference for that teacher and workshop in 999, then populate it with the threads you want. Create a conference in 999 using the same procedures described above. Open the "Manage Conferences Console" by left clicking on its icon. Click on Create Conference Fill in the blanks. If you would, please follow the established convention for naming your conference. four letter abbreviation for the department three number course designation instructor's last name short description of the assignment give Read and Write privileges set availability as that day's date After hitting submit, you will see your new conference at the very bottom of a long list. This means that you will need to left click and drag on it up to its alphabetical position. After you have the new conference positioned alphabetically, click on Update Conference and Close Window. Now you will work with tabs in Tycho NG to populate your new workshop conference. Left click on the new conference in the left-side pane. You see in the right side pane that the name of the conference appears in the tab at the top, but the conference is empty. No problem. Now you simply go and find the threads you need. Your Multimedia Welcome Message There are some threads which should appear in very workshop. The first one is a Customized Welcome Message. Click on it and notice that a new tab has opened in the right side pane and the threads of the conference appear.-- the welcome messages. Each adviser should have some type of multimedia welcome message to post. As you notice  here with Kevin's, it is paired with a virtual tour of the EWC. If  you do not have a customized welcome message, please see thread below and we will work together to build one for you. There are two ways to copy an existing thread into your new conference. Try this both to see which one you like best. First, you can work in design view. Kevin would double left click on his message to see it in full page form. then he would simply copy and paste what he sees. Click in the window. CTRL+ A to select all, CTRL + C to copy all, Close the window. Click on the tab for the conference you are creating. Click New Topic. Activate cursor. and CTRL + V to paste it in. Type in a title and click submit. Be sure to check to make sure that everything works. A second way is to copy and paste the html. I have found this to produce fewer problems when it comes to picking up and reproducing multimedia elements. In this method, you open the html version of the same thread. Select all CTRL A then Copy all CTRL C. Now click on the tab of your target conference. Click on New Topic. Then go down to the bottom and click on Code tab. Delete what is there, and paste in the code you just copied. Fill in the subject field and Click Submit. Assignment Analysis Thread A second thread you will need is Assignment Analysis. This is the key thread for most workshops.  Notice the blanks that must be filled in for this crucial thread. We consider helping students analyze assignment  requirements and outline a response to that assignment to be our first and most critical task in a writing workshop. We will cover how to modify this  thread and others in a subsequent video. "Generic" Section Finally, notice that Assignment Analysis is located in the section called "Generic"-- this is the area where you will find lesson threads on a large variety of writing topics  that your can pull from and adapt. If you don't see what you need, contact me, David Taylor, immediately. For other threads-- Generally, students will need help coming up with strategies for on an introduction and a solid thesis. Body paragraphs vary a great deal depending on the assignment, so it is usually a good idea to have a body paragraph thread so that the student can show he/she understands the assignment well enough to discuss one aspect of it in a logical paragraph. Citations styles can also vary, so make sure you choose the one that the teacher requires. Back in the Target Professor's Classroom Once your threads are in place and your new conference is complete, simply go to  the professor's classroom and follow the same import procedure as you did for scenario 1. After your conference is in the instructor's classroom, please notify the instructor. This serves two purposes: (1) to reassure the teacher that you are ready to go and (2) to give the teacher a chance to  review the materials. Welcome Message to Students Finally, the day before the workshop is to begin or the morning of, please send a welcome message to students. You do this by utilizing the Class Roster in the teacher's classroom. Log into WebTycho in the usual way. Look for the class that Michelle has rostered you into and enter that class. Look at the bottom of the left side menu and Click on Class Members. On the Class Members page scroll to the bottom and select the appropriate box. It's best to send your communications to everyone in the class, including the professor and other assistants.. Then click "Send an E-mail to Selected Class members." Next Video In the next video, we will talk about how to adapt any of our materials to best fit the assignment, students, and your teaching. See you there.

 

Have Any of You Tried AudioBoo Yet?

Hi team! My apologies for such a long absence here at our blog. I had talked with Dan sometime ago to discuss where we should place this meeting spot so that it was easier to see and post in. We had discussed possibly incorporating this space into our WebTycho classroom. We will see. But for now, I'm back. Feel free to post your thoughts, questions, or even jokes here. I originally created this to have a meeting and sharing place for us all. 

David Taylor's Advice on Presence: Be There or Be Square

Interesting New Communication Tool

Hi Guest Lecturers!

Please take a look at David's latest brilliant discovery: Voicethread.

Here is a link to his first crack at it in his Writing 390 class:http://polaris.umuc.edu/ewc/voicethread/vt_report1.html

Let's think about and discuss what ways this tool might help us in guest lecturing. Perhaps we could use one whole thread for questions using Voicethread. David might be able to create a specific thread to post in 999 we could use for each guest lecture that offers this for students.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Hi All :)

Hi GLers! 


I have been talking to some of you about how crazy the weather has been. It seems as if we had no spring. We went from blizzards to heat advisories in a matter of weeks. :) It's supposed to cool down here (Eau Claire, WI) by 30 degrees by tomorrow. We were at 97 degrees yesterday with 60 percent humidity. I'll bet we have storms with such a fast cool down.


Anyhow, how do you all like me contacting you with the assignment information through email? I like it better because I get a chance to chit chat with each of you more. I also feel that we are all more on the same page as far as what the professor wants because you see the actual conversations. It is a bit more busy work sending out separate emails, but I think it works best until we get a system going through a database. 


In addition to training Laura (she is a great addition to our team), I attended a lengthy meeting a week ago with John, David, Dan, and Aimee---along with a few others, to restructure a writing class to fit the 8 week format. I'm sure Dan will share more with you once the details are all worked out, but it has been fun helping structure a class that the EWC will be responsible for. 


I will be sending out the schedule soon....I have rostered you in up until the 25th. I still need to roster from the 25th on. How are the EXCL classes going? Soon some of you will be teamed up with Laura on the schedule. 


That's all for now! ;)
Have a great day!
Michelle

Update for Summer

Hi All :)

Summer semester is fast approaching and I wanted to let you know that we will be helping in the Excl classrooms again for the duration of the semester. I plan to assign you with the same professor you had last for spring term. These will be on the schedule soon.

Also, now would be a great time to let me know what kind of load you would like for summer. You will see the schedule changing each day and I need to know if any of you would want less than four a week or if four a week is fine. I'm not sure how busy we will be, but I will do my best to meet your needs.

I'll be in touch soon with a copy of the latest schedule.

Best,
Michelle

Passing Copyright Info on from David

In response to the recent discussion about copyright, generally speaking student use comes under the Fair Use Guidelines of the copyright law. "Fair Use" allows limited copying, distribution, and display of copyrighted works without the author?s permission under certain conditions

Here is the text of the Fair Use Statute of the U.S. Copyright Act, Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976: Limitations on exclusive rights/Fair use.

--

The Fair Use Statute

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified in that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.

Copyright law does not specify the exact limitation of fair use. Instead, the law provides four interrelated standards or tests, which must be applied in each case to evaluate whether the copying or distributing falls within the limited exemption of fair use.

These are the four Fair Use standards:

1.The purpose and character of the use.

Duplicating and distributing selected portions of copyrighted materials for specific educational purposes falls within fair use guidelines, particularly if the copies are made spontaneously, for temporary use, and not as part of an anthology.

2. The nature of the copyrighted work.

Fair use applies more readily to copying paragraphs from a primary source than to copying a chapter from a textbook. Fair use applies to multimedia materials in a manner similar if not identical to print media.

3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.

Copying extracts that are short relative to the whole work and distributing copyrighted segments that do not capture the "essence" of the work are generally considered fair use.

4. The effect of use on the potential market for or value of the work.

If copying or distributing the work does not reduce sales of the work, then the use may be considered fair. Of the four standards, this is arguably the most important test for fair use.

--

Following the "fair use" guidelines, segments of copyrighted electronic and multimedia materials may be captured, copied, digitized, transformed to another medium, or manipulated for educational purposes.

If any student goes on to try to make money (sell advertising space, for example) with their blog, then there would be a problem. But classwork is generally accepted as "fair use."

Updates

For those of you that don't have your picture up here and want it up, please send me your photo through e-mail. I don't want to leave anyone out!

If you get the chance, please join in me in congratulating Theresa Stevens for getting some of her work published. Congrats Theresa!

Kevin and Kathleen: Thank you for our input about blogging! It's fun to discuss our different experiences with workshops.

David has suggested some excellent tools for us to use in guest lecturing. Have you had a chance to check out Audioboo or Voicethread? Do you plan to try it out?

In other news, I have decided to discontinue using Google calendar for our schedule. I will still be using the Master Schedule in Google docs. Some of you have trouble opening it, but I will be sending it in a PDF or Word document via e-mail very frequently and I will be in touch with you all through e-mail whenever I have assigned you a lecture with the assignment details and any special requests the professor has for the workshop. In most cases, I will be forwarding you the email interaction I have with the professor. I believe this will prevent any miscommunications from happening and you will feel more on the same page when it comes time to retrieve the materials and post them/contact the professor. This will create more interaction in your inboxes. I apologize for that and I my suggestion would be to create a folder in your email account for all assignment details or guest lecture related information. I'm sure you all have your own methods to organizing your assigned lectures at home as well :)

Eventually, we should have a system more like John's to sort out GL requests and you will have your own GL accounts to sign into to retrieve those requests. In the meantime, I think using the Master Schedule and communicating with you over e-mail is the best way to continue on.

What does/will summer be like? Time will tell! For those that have looked at the schedule for summer so far, it's filling up slowly and this is before David and I have sent out invitations to professors. Once I notice classes starting to fill up in mid-May, we will begin contacting all the summer professors and filling up the schedule. If you get any free time, it would be great if you worked on your video messages (if you haven't perfected them already). Since you can embed an Audioboo message anywhere in David's materials, it might be fun to create a few different personalized messages that you could use for all of your guest lectures. I always begin by writing out a script and practicing it a few times first. If you need tips on this, David is obviously our audio/video pro! :)

Have a great weekend!
Michelle

Blogging Workshop Discussion

Hi All:

I would like to share this brief email from Ginna Babcock. Any input from you would be much appreciated.

Hi Kathleen,

You sure know a lot about Blogging!  Your advice and supportive comments were perfect!  I’ve already asked Michelle to set up a visit for my summer BEHS 210 and 343 classes. I hope you will be available!  I mentioned in my note to EWC that you, Anna, and Kevin have all given the workshop. Is it possible for you three to get together to debrief as it were? David made up great materials for the workshop, but I wonder if the same kinds of questions are coming up in the two classes and if so, if there are answers we can provide within the structure of the workshop?

The Critical Insight Blog is very popular with the students and I think they learn the material better in this way than in the traditional library paper. It also gives them skills to make their own family blog, which I think is important for this population. Anyway, I plan to continue to use the assignment in future, so any further materials from EWC would be well used! Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks again for your visit,

Ginna

Google Calendar Issues

Hi GLers!

I am having trouble with Google Calendar today. It won't load and when it does and I record a lecture, it responds with an error message. This happens from time to time. Have you noticed issues? Anyhow, Frances Fister Stoga's Writing 391 class needs to be recorded in the calendar (Alicia will facilitate it) for April 18-24th. This workshop is for proofreading, run-on sentences, subject-verb agreement, and fragments. I will keep trying to plug it into the calendar.

With that said, I'm considering sticking to just the master schedule in Google Docs for summer. I know there have been problems with this system as well at times (merely uploading can be an issue). If I do this, I will be emailing you the assignment details each time instead of plugging them into the calendar. I will let you know as it gets closer what I decide to do. 

Dan is looking into getting us a system similar to John and Anna's database. This would be wonderful. Stay tuned. 

Also, I have come to solely rely on your emails to roster you out of classrooms instead of Google Docs. I realize it is difficult for some of you to comment within the document. Please keep those coming so I can keep your class lists organized for you.

So far this spring semester, we have done 158 guest lectures. Wow! Keep up the hard work. You guys are amazing! Thank you for you patience with the technical glitches we sometimes encounter. 

Best,

Michelle

You All Think Alike :)

Tonight I received emails from the majority of you asking to be rostered out of a lot of classrooms. :) Thank you for doing that! I know that your class page can get really crowded and confusing if you let the older ones stick around for too long. I feel a sense of closure when I remove you from classrooms, like our job was completed!

Believe it or not, we are still steadily getting requests for the upcoming months of March, April, and May. We have already exceeded our number of lectures from last semester. I will let you know totals in May. I'm not so keyed in on a number, but just proud of all of us for how far we have come with this program! I really like that we are helping so many students and we receive so many compliments from the professors you help!

So, one big THANK YOU! Keep up the hard work!
Michelle

Hi Team!

It's been a while since my last blog update! We have been really busy!

So, you might notice that I finally figured out how to publish the Google Docs master schedule. I also embedded it to this blog. It might make it easier for some of you to check the schedule (or not). I'm working with what I have and thank you for your patience! I don't know why it won't go any bigger than that small little box, but there is a way to view the entire line by using the bottom scroll button.

Remember to let me know when you need rostered out of a classroom and to check with me if you were asked for an extension. Also, try to remember to have materials uploaded and the professor contacted about a week before your lecture starts. This eliminates any panic an instructor might be feeling about our visit and rightfully so---most instructors want to know exactly what is going on in their classroom and when. :)

We have really been getting a lot of positive feedback about the EWC and guest lecture program. It's because of your hard work! Thank you for reaching so many students.

As always, please let me know if you need any schedule adjustments or help in your classrooms.

Have a great day :)

Michelle

Questions and answers on EXCL

Hey Michelle!

I'm thrilled to see the schedule filling out.  I've never done an EXCL class before and it looks very interesting.  So I'm currently reading the syllabus and reviewing the materials etc.  But I'm a little confused... am I making one Guest lecture threat that's going to stay open from January through May?  Or am I making a bunch of shorter ones that will activate as the semester goes on... because if so it's not totally clear when the instructor wants them to begin and end?  I may have other questions about these EXCL classes too, but I figured this is a good starting point...

 

-Kevin

Glad to hear that, Kevin! :) The EXCL program enables those that have a lot of life experience to gain college credit for it. So, the purpose of that class is to build a portfolio. The contents of the portfolio are evaluated by EXCL professors and UMUC and they decide how many credits each person receives towards a degree. We are helping them with their materials, so they can be strong. Part of presenting strong materials and proving life experience has to come with strong writing skills. That is where we come in. We want to help them present their best selves. :)

So, yes....one conference area is fine....just present a thread or so at a time depending on what they are working on. I think there will be slow times throughout the semester when they are either in between projects or just beginning to absorb one. Just check in everyday for new posts. And yes...it stays open the whole semester. You are just there for them when they need you throughout. The instructors understanding of our role is that we are there to help all semester when needed...on standby. So, their beginning is when the class starts...and end is when the class is done. :-) 

I'm not sure if David has more materials to present to them in the works. If he does, I'm sure he'll let us know. 

I hope this helps! Feel free to keep asking questions! Honestly, I would love it if more classes wanted us to do this---especially required freshman courses. 

EXCL

Hi All! :) Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

Some of you may have noticed that you begin work with the EXCL classrooms beginning tomorrow (one begins a bit later). You will find the materials for this in NG 999. If you can, try to post the materials gradually according to what they are currently working on. Look at your assigned classroom's syllabus/course schedule and determine when they are working on what (narratives, resumes, ect.). These classes work on different things at different times (so, while one EXCL course might be working in narratives, a different section might be working on resumes during that time).

As you also may have noticed, you are in the EXCL classrooms until May! This is a great opportunity to work with students for a longer period of time and really assist the EXCL program. Let me know if you have any questions!

Please Note: Last semester, in Alicia's EXCL section(s), she created a "study group" for each student within the classroom. This created a private space for each student to submit their work. Some students were uncomfortable submitting drafts for all to see in the regular conference area. You are more than welcome to follow in Alicia's footsteps and do this. She had a lot of participation in her sections.

Also, these students will quite possibly be submitting entire drafts for you to look over. While most of our guest lecturing involves helping students with the process of compiling an essay (and usually involves small chunks of writing), EXCL students need feedback on full drafts some of the time. They will submit large essays. Try to remember the higher order concerns they will need help with when faced with a longer essay. Higher order concerns would be: clear thesis and/or argument, well developed paragraphs with topic sentences, ECT.

If you are unfamiliar with some of their assignments, please take the time to read through their classroom materials and syllabus and the materials David created in NG 999.

As always, let me know if you have questions! You will see that I am leaving notes to you in the Google calendar. If you are unsure about what materials to use, don't hesitate to email us! You can also look at the syllabus in most classrooms to see an explanation of the assignment details. If David doesn't have materials made for a certain assignment, he can whip some up pretty fast (I've witnessed it...it's like magic).

We are in for a busy semester :-) Happy guesting!

Michelle

New Semester Update

Hi All :) Happy New Year!

I'm so excited for the semester to begin! I am getting many requests and the schedule is filling up fast! Be prepared to make a huge difference (you always do and we have positive feedback to prove it) for students in all the classrooms you visit. They need us so they can feel confident and do well with their written assignments. Professors are excited for our visits as well.

Quick FYI:

Each of you need some sort of "introduction" in your workshops. Some of you have videos introducing yourself and others have avatars. If you do not have access to a web cam, video camera, or digital camera with video on it, please send a photo to David (or pick out an avatar if you are concerned about privacy) and write up a small introductory line or two. You can also record your message and send the audio to David. David can create something uniform that will look nice with the workshop. This is really important because students and faculty like to know who you are and why you are in the classroom. It is just a nice way to add to the "virtual tour" and allow others to become familiar and comfortable with your presence.

If you haven't already, please welcome Zoe, Theresa, and Kathleen to our team!

Best,
Michelle

Updates

Hi Everyone!

I am training three new guest lecturers: Zoe, Kathleen, and Theresa. I am excited to add them to our team! With three extra guest lecturers, we should hit 200 classrooms spring semester compared to our 115 last semester! (Not that numbers matter, but it still feels cool to say it). Please drop in Writ 999 under "conferences" and then "guest lecture training" and say hi to them! Please offer them any advice you might have under the thread titled: "Our Mission." They are really thrilled to start!

Also, I haven't asked for your feedback on the Excl classrooms lately. I did get some information from Alicia. Alicia said the visit went really well, but mentioned that students were submitting very long essays (over 25 pages). She also said she was able to give some really great advice and it was received well and with appreciation. Overall, how do you think the semester went? I believe we will be helping the Excl classes all of the spring semester as well. I will be checking in with the director of that program shortly to collect the names of professors who wish to have us with them. You will most likely be seeing Excl classes added to the schedule in the next couple of weeks.

Speaking of the schedule, you will also see it start filling up, especially in January. Please let me know how many guest lectures you are comfortable with each week. If I can schedule you each 3-4 workshops during the busy times, we would really be spreading our knowledge around and helping a lot of students. I understand it can get really busy at times, so please do let me know what you are comfortable with or how many hours you can fit in.

I believe I have rostered you out of all classes from the past, but if you still see any classes hanging out, it might be Webpsycho's fault. So, let me know if you have one loitering and I will do what I can to get rid of it! :)

Let me know if you have any questions or just drop a line and say hi :)

 Warmly,
Michelle