UWC Hiring for Fall 2009

The UWC has received quite a few calls about hiring, so I'll provide a bit more information for interested students.

The UWC hires in the spring for the following fall semester. At a minimum, applicants must be juniors or seniors and have at least a 3.0 GPA to be considered.

Applicants must also submit a writing sample. Usually, this is a substantial piece that gives us a good idea of your ability as a writer. Feel free to submit a paper from class or a publication. Applicants must also submit a faculty recommendation that speaks to your ability as a writer and potential as a consultant in the UWC. This can be as simple as a call or e-mail to the UWC Coordinator, Rusty Carpenter, at rgcarpen@mail.ucf.edu or 407-882-0076. Please call Rusty for more information.

Apply for fall 2009

KnightOWL Consultations During Limited Hours

Students will be able to schedule KnightOWL Phone and Online consultations on a space-available basis during finals week. To schedule, students must call the UWC at 407-823-2197 and ask specifically for a KnightOWL consultation. Students will not be able to book these consultations online on their own during finals.

UWC to Operate on Limited Hours Schedule

The UWC will operate on a limited hours schedule from Monday, December 8 - Friday, December 12. This means that the UWC will be open M-R 9-5 and F 9-3. Appointments are booking up fast. Please do your best to schedule in advance, as we anticipate a busy finals week. Remember that if you cannot schedule an appointment, you can always visit as a walk-in and meet with the first available consultant. Good luck on finals, and we hope to see you in the spring!

International Journal of Arts and Sciences Conference

The International Journal of Arts and Sciences Conference will be held February 16-19 at UCF-South Orlando. Every year, the conference features a Teaching and Education track, but writing center researchers and administrators from across the country were invited to submit their research this year as well. This should be an exciting conference with writing center appeal.

Length of Appointments

UWC appointments take place on the hour and half-hour. We're extremely busy, and we must limit students to one hour for papers over seven pages and a half-hour for anything less. Students will need to keep this in mind when scheduling. The UWC reserves the right to cancel any appointment longer than one hour or multiple hour-long appointments in a given day.

Making the Most Out of Your UWC Visit

Although the UWC will remain busy through the end of the fall semester, there are a few things you can do (or remember) to make the most of your time:

• Schedule an appointment far in advance. This will help limit the amount of time you're waiting on the walk-in list.
• Bring specific ideas and questions that you would like to discuss.
• Come prepared with a copy of your paper ready to begin. (During these difficult budget times, please do everything you can to print your paper in advance.)
• Remember to cancel your appointment if you're not going to be able to attend. This will free up valuable time for other UCF students.
• Consider booking KnightOWL consultations, if you're having trouble visiting face-to-face.
• Plan your visit ahead of time, even if you're coming as a walk-in. Please do not try to sign in as a walk-in at the last minute. There's a good chance that we will not be able to see you if the UWC is busy.
• Be patient. Walk-ins are seen at approximately five minutes after the hour or half-hour. Consultants will have to wait for their next appointment to show up. If the student with the appointment does not show, the first walk-in will be seen. You must be present when your name is called.

For additional information on UWC policies and helpful information about using this resource, please visit http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~uwc/Scheduler/scheduler_policies.html.

IWCA Conference Held in Las Vegas

The International Writing Center Association (IWCA) conference was held this past week in Las Vegas. Many writing center scholars assembled from across the nation to discuss "new directions in writing center work," the conference theme. There were so many incredibly informative and interesting presentations, some of which were related to new technologies. Some discussed Second Life and Inspiration, for example, and we'll be able to bring much of what we learned at IWCA back to the UCF UWC.

UWC Remains Busy through Midterms

The UWC has remained busy through midterms. Few appointments are available for undergraduate or graduate face-to-face sessions, and KnightOWL is booking up quickly. We encourage students to visit, but please be flexible as we approach the end of the semester. Remember that you can always visit as a walk-in, but you will meet with the first-available consultant.

A few tips for using the UWC this fall:

• book your appointments as far in advance as possible
• leave yourself time to spare if you visit as a walk-in
• show your support for the UWC by completing a comment card at the front desk
• remember that KnightOWL Online and Phone appointments are available if it's not convenient for you to visit face-to-face
• schedule your appointment as soon as you receive your assignment

UCF UWC Wins IWCA Grant

We're excited to announce that the UCF UWC was awarded the 2008 International Writing Centers Association (IWCA) Research Grant. The IWCA grant will allow the UWC to continue its valuable work in the community by supporting research related to "Writers on the Move," a joint effort between the UWC and Literary Arts Partnership at UCF. Thank you to the IWCA and our community partners for your support.

SLUWC Virtual Presentation

What: Virtual Worlds in Education Conference presentation, “The New Great Good Place: Building Virtual Worlds for Education”

Where: In SL at East Carolina University’s Island or in person at the UWC (MOD 608)

When: November 10, 2008 from 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm, Eastern Standard Time at http://slurl.com/secondlife/East%20Carolina%20University/33/158/26 on East Carolina University’s virtual campus. Please keep in mind that Eastern Standard Time is three hours ahead of Second Life (Pacific) Time.

Description: Virtual words, like Second Life, offer distinct advantages for online education over purely textual spaces. Importantly, the virtual world has the ability to be more interactive, which encourages collaboration. Whereas users were previously limited to textual exchanges in online chat, they can now take part in immersive visual displays as viewers and creators.

During a University Writing Center (UWC) consultant seminar, consultants were asked to map their ideal Online Writing Lab (OWL). Consultants’ maps were incredibly revealing, depicting everything from avatars to beach scenes. The primary users of our current synchronous chat space, consultants claimed that something was missing in the virtual spaces we use to teach students about writing. Consultants’ maps revealed that there is an interpersonal connection missing in the textual writing space of the chat room. If the UWC tries to emulate Ray Oldenburg’s “great good place,” a public place at the heart of the community, it has become clear that we cannot limit our online work to textual spaces. Second Life, however, offers improved opportunities for building virtual collaborative communities. The research discussed here suggests that textual spaces will disappoint, if we hold them to such high standards. As a response to this research, we built the Second Life University Writing Center (SLUWC, coordinates: 57, 104, 23), an environment developed primarily for students at our university but also available to all Second Life participants.

The SLUWC was built as a true virtual home for our UWC, a place where writers can engage each other in their scholarly pursuits in a virtual public space, much different from the isolated textual spaces of the chat room. Our goal was to build a truly public virtual meeting space that promotes a sense of community among visitors, especially our student writers. Much like they would use the face-to-face UWC, we wanted students to have access not only to virtual writing consultants but also resources like handouts and document exchange software like Google Docs in one convenient virtual location. We also wanted students to be able to hear or see the interaction taking place around them, in an attempt to create a true virtual public sphere. Research suggests that students will be more engaged in the virtual world than in the textual online chat space that we currently inhabit. In building the SLUWC, we attempted to use interactive visual elements to promote learning. Marcel O’Gorman might call these interactive visuals “hypericonomies,” a neologism meshing hypertext, icon, and economies.

Merging theory with practical building applications, this presentation will discuss the importance of hypericonomic visuals that promote learning within the SLUWC and how these visuals, ultimately, allowed us to build the SLUWC. Further, this presentation will discuss social functions held within the SLUWC that promote learning and writing instruction. SLUWC events include virtual writing consultations, student and staff meetings, presentations, interactive writing support areas, and the implementation of a virtual sign-in and student visitor kiosk that interfaces directly with our existing online scheduling system and allows us to track and schedule SLUWC consultations. Finally, this presentation will discuss our current research on writing instruction and support within Second Life and where we should go from here.

Second Life UWC Now Open!

The Second Life University Writing Center (SLUWC) is now open and ready for you to explore! Second Life is an immersive multi-user world in which millions of people interact. In fact, many colleges and universities are building entire campuses in Second Life.

Through the SLUWC, you can access writing-related resources from anywhere in the world. We are also offering consultations on a limited basis at the SLUWC. For more information, contact Rusty Carpenter at rgcarpen@mail.ucf.edu.

Finding us is easy, if you're already in Second Life. You can enter our coordinates: 48, 99, 23; or you can simply teleport to the SLUWC now.