Author: ksuchor

The Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) recognizes the need to promote inclusive approaches and praxes responsive to the needs and experiences of disabled people. Committing to full access and inclusion guarantees the rights of those with disabilities in classrooms and in the profession and energizes practical and intellectual discussions regarding inclusive space-making, especially as disability inclusion is enmeshed with other forms of access and accessibility. This document describes concepts and processes intended to assist members of the field practice active inclusion across the discipline beyond mere compliance measures.

Read the full statement, Disability Studies in Composition: Position Statement on Policy and Best Practices [March 2020 (replaces A Policy on Disability in CCCC, November 2006, Reaffirmed April 2011)]

Resources by Topic

Rights and Resources for Anti-CRT, Anti-trans, Anti-2SLGBTQ+ Censorship and Workplace
*Note: Neither CCCC nor NCTE can dispense legal advice and this document does not constitute legal advice. For legal support specific to your situation, please seek out a qualified lawyer in your region.

CCCC Strategic Action Task Force Resource
The Strategic Actions Task Force was charged with supporting CCCC members and their efforts to create inclusive and publicly oriented Composition and Rhetoric programs. The goal was to support faculty and administrators who actively work towards the success of all students across heritages, genders, classes, and legal status. In effect, our aim was to enable programs that worked to the full promise of all students.

The goal of this website is to provide the resources which will allow graduate students, adjunct faculty, full-time faculty, and program administrators to speak effectively to the public on the value of their pedagogical, curricular, and civic work.

CCCC Labor Liaison

Cross-Generational Connections White Paper, May 2014–May 2018 (pdf)
The CCCC Task Force on Cross-Generational Connections was created in 2014 as a joint initiative between the Retired and Retiring Faculty SIG and the CCCC Newcomers’ Committee based on recommendations from a cross-generational session organized at the 2013 CCCC convention by Shelley Rodrigo and Louise Phelps. Its goal was to explore the different “generational” needs of graduate students through retirees and the benefits that can result from cross-generational connections. Such benefits include mentorship at all career stages, recognition of the need for differing levels of contribution to the field at different career stages, and preservation of knowledge from early generations. This White Paper (pdf) outlines the task force’s activities and findings.

Intellectual Property

• Top Intellectual Property Developments by Year
• Reports from the IP Caucus

Online Writing Instruction

• 2021 State of the Art of Online Writing Instruction
• The State of the Art of Online Writing Instruction Follow-Up Survey Report (June 2023)
• State of the Art of Online Writing Instruction Focus Group Transcripts (May 2024)

Status of Women in the Profession

• History of the Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession by Heather Bruce
• Womens’ Lives in the Profession Project
  • Start-up Kit for Women’s Lives in the Profession Project
  • Sample Interviews for the Women’s Lives in the Profession Project
• Web Resources compiled by Jordynn Jack
• Resources for Women in Community Colleges and Adjuncts in Community Colleges compiled by Jody Millward
• List of Journals in Rhetoric and Composition and related subareas: Visit Byron Hawks’ well maintained list of links.
• Feminist-oriented journals in Rhetoric and Composition: Peitho (past issues)
• Interdisciplinary Feminist Studies/Gender Studies journals compiled by Violet Dutcher
• General Journals in the Humanities that may be of interest and that occasionally publish scholarship on feminist studies/women’s issues compiled by Violet Dutcher
• Useful introductory volumes that address feminist composition studies/gender and professional status issues
• Bibliography in Feminist Research and Gender Issues in Rhetoric and Composition assembled by Kirsti Cole

Writing Major

• Writing Majors at a Glance (listing of 141 writing majors, updated 2015)
• Bibliography of sources for those interested in the writing major

Publications

• College Composition and Communication (CCC)
• CCC Online
• Studies in Writing and Rhetoric (SWR)
• FORUM: Issues about Part-Time and Contingent Faculty

Position Statements

These statements on educational issues are approved by the Conference on College Composition and Communication Exeucutive Committee.

Not finding the information you need? Research the complete database of NCTE position statements.

Grants and Awards

CCCC offers numerous grants and awards for travel, research, publications, programs, and service, to name a few. All CCCC awards are given annually and are presented at the CCCC Convention each year. Please see the detailed information for each award including criteria and submission deadlines.

Committees

CCCC accomplishes much of its work through the use of committees. It is because of committees that we have position statements, award programs, even a conference itself. Please visit the committee website to learn more about current charges and activities being undertaken by these hard-working groups of CCCC members.

Writing Studies Tree (WST)

The Writing Studies Tree (WST) is an online, crowdsourced database of academic genealogies within writing studies; in other words, it is an interactive archive for recording and mapping scholarly relationships in Composition and Rhetoric and adjacent disciplines. Explore the network of people and institutions, create new nodes within that network, or participate in discussions about what you’ve discovered or where to go next! Learn more.

The following resolutions and sense of the house motions were passed at the CCCC Annual Business Meeting held on Saturday, March 18, 2017, in Portland, Oregon.

Resolution 1

Whereas Carolyn Calhoon-Dillahunt fostered a highly interactive, participatory Convention that not only involved CCCC members in peer-reviewed presentations, posters, and workshops but also introduced new conference features such as Think Tanks and Cultivate Sessions for conference attendees to get involved in thinking together, making their concerns known, and creating change;
 
Whereas she has been a teacher of writing and literacy at many levels, including the community college, middle school, and high school, and has committed herself and the 2017 Convention to broadening participation in strategic ways that highlight the relevance of teaching writing across various constituencies, including two-year colleges, high schools, colleges, and libraries, and in democratic ways that create broader access to events such as free post convention workshops;  
 
Whereas her approach to convention design, from the Call for Proposals to the inventive Saturday programming, has promoted not only active engagement but also thoughtful reflective practices that will enrich and sustain us as individuals and as a collective beyond the convention days;   

Whereas even at the very last minute, in her late-night epiphanic moments, Carolyn displayed her positive, improvisational attitude, tirelessly working to ensure that every opportunity was made available to conference participants, including teaching-centric sessions and action hub festivities;
 
Whereas she has committed numerous years in active service to CCCC, TYCA, and other professional organizations and has actively participated in and led the development of several position statements related to academic preparation for teaching English in the two-year college, qualities of an effective two-year college instructor, and qualities of effective concurrent enrollment programs;
 
Whereas she is not only a passionate advocate for students but also a student herself, frequently taking classes on her campus and regularly learning from the students she teaches and the writers she tutors in the Writing Center; and
 
Whereas even her and her spouse’s wine label, Dos Maestros, celebrates teaching and teachers;

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the 2017 Conference on College Composition and Communication thank Carolyn Calhoon-Dillahunt for her many contributions to us and to the profession.

Resolution 2

Whereas Hildy Miller, Chris Nelson, and the Local Arrangements Committee have provided a beautiful Local Arrangements Website highlighting an array of ways to enjoy the cultural, edible, and drinkable elements of this fine city, as well as a wealth of other information about the conference venue and surroundings;

Whereas Hildy Miller, Chris Nelson, and the Local Arrangements Committee members have made themselves readily available to attendees as resources for getting around the city, including providing tickets for public transportation and a guide to the literary features of this bookended city;

Whereas Hildy Miller, Chris Nelson, and the Local Arrangements Committee have continued to support the CCCC tradition of collaborating with the Committee on Disability Issues to develop a detailed and useful Accessibility Guide, provided in multiple formats, with pertinent details and relevant images; and

Whereas Hildy Miller, Chris Nelson, and the Local Arrangements Committee have helped conference attendees feel a little more like Portlanders with their detailed descriptions of the area’s sites and cultural hubs, their notes about special events, and their advice about appropriate weather-related attire;

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the 2017 Conference on College Composition and Communication express our heartfelt appreciation to Hildy Miller, Chris Nelson, and the Local Arrangements Committee by applauding their energy and efforts.

Sense of the House Motions

S1. In light of attacks on journalism and the rise of fake news, teachers face new challenges when helping students use sources. I move that CCCC encourages writing programs to collaborate with librarians and colleagues in mass communication to share expertise and provide teachers with professional development to address this problem.

The following resolutions and sense of the house motions were passed at the CCCC Annual Business Meeting held on Saturday, April 9, 2011, in Atlanta.

Resolution 1

Whereas NCTE/CCCC has shown a commitment to establishing fair labor practices for its own members and adjunct instructors of Composition;

Whereas unions and fair labor practices for all workers are increasingly under assault; and

Whereas socially responsible event planners can negotiate competitive rates and labor-friendly contracts that protect CCCC in the event of a labor dispute;

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that CCCC consult with the hotel workers union and other labor organizations to schedule meetings and conferences in hotels and convention halls with fair labor practices or contract with vendors which practice fair labor practices; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the CCCC commit to offering housing at conference rates in at least one hotel with fair labor practices at every meeting.

Resolution 2

Whereas Mary Hocks and the Local Arrangements Committee have assembled a rich list of Atlanta’s historical, cultural, and entertainment attractions;

Whereas Mary Hocks and the Local Arrangements Committee have helped to foster a collegial environment in which to engage in discussions that often rapidly move from professional to disciplinary to social, then back again; and

Whereas Mary Hock and the Local Arrangements Committee have demonstrated a personal commitment to ensuring every conference attendee leaves Atlanta with a rich cultural and intellectual experience;

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the 2011 Conference on College Composition and Communication applaud Mary Hocks and the Local Arrangements Committee for their hard work and generous hospitality.

Resolution 3

Whereas Malea Powell has worked as program chair to ensure all the voices in the profession are provided a platform to share their traditions and insights;

Whereas she has organized our time together to not only foster dialogue among ourselves, but also with individuals and organizations whose work and insights can inform our classroom and disciplinary practices;

Whereas her scholarship on Native American rhetorics and support of the Native American caucus has been an invaluable service to both young scholars and our profession; and

Whereas she has done all this work in a spirit of generosity, good will, and collaboration;

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the 2011 Conference on College Composition and Communication thank Malea Powell for her many contributions to us and to the profession.

Sense of the House Motions

S1. Be it resolved that Basic Writing is a vital field and its students and teacher scholars a productive force within composition; is under attack by exclusionary public policies; and therefore must be recognized and supported by CCCC as a conference cluster and with featured sessions.

The following resolutions and sense of the house motions were passed at the CCCC Annual Business Meeting held on Saturday, March 19, 2005, in San Francisco.

Resolution 1: Honoring Judith (Jay) Wootten

Whereas Judith (Jay) Wootten has raised the visibility of two-year institutions and the teaching, research, and scholarship of two-year college teachers; and

Whereas she has demonstrated a commitment to first-year – especially first-generation – college students, and to encouraging under-represented and diverse populations to become active in the profession on both the regional and national levels; and

Whereas, in keeping with CCCC’s history of progressive action, she successfully enabled the relocation of the convention in light of an ongoing labor dispute involving hotel workers; and

Whereas her love for animals, especially dogs, has increased our awareness for causes beyond ourselves;

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the 2005 Conference on College Composition and Communication honor Judith (Jay) Wootten for her leadership and tireless efforts on our behalf.

Resolution 2: Thanking Sallyanne Fitzgerald and the Local Arrangements Committee

Whereas Sallyanne Fitzgerald and the entire Local Arrangements Committee have opened the gates of San Francisco to the members of the 56th CCCC Annual Convention, from Haight Ashbury to Alcatraz, from Union Square to Fisherman’s Wharf, from Chinatown to Nob Hill; and

Whereas Sallyanne Fitzgerald – cordial, hardworking, hands-on, and dedicated to the scholarship of teaching within the two-year college – generously volunteered her time and energy to conference goers; and

Whereas her inadvertent omission from the program is no indication of our gratitude for her efforts;
 
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the 2005 gathering of the CCCC acknowledge and applaud Sallyanne Fitzgerald and the entire Local Arrangements Committee for so successfully realizing the theme of the conference in our experience of this beautiful city.

Resolution 3: Thanking Doug Hesse

Whereas Doug Hesse has demonstrated leadership, scholarship, and singing skills that we can all aspire to; and

Whereas he was especially steadfast during the hotel labor dispute;

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the 2005 CCCC thank Doug Hesse for his excellent Chair’s address, “Who Owns Writing?” and his unwavering dedication to the conference and to composition studies.

Resolution 4: Thanking Kent Williamson, Jacqui Joseph-Biddle, Eileen Maley, Judith (Jay) Wootten, Doug Hesse, and Kathleen Blake Yancey

BE IT RESOLVED that we thank Kent Williamson, Jacqui Joseph-Biddle, Eileen Maley of the NCTE Staff as well as Program Chair Judith (Jay) Wootten, Chair Doug Hesse, and Past Chair Kathleen Blake Yancey for successfully negotiating the relocation of the 2005 CCCC Annual Convention in ways that minimized problems for the membership and that are consistent with the values of the organization.

Resolution 5: Composing with Nonprint Media

BE IT RESOLVED that the Conference on College Composition and Communication

• encourage general education and professional development programs to focus on a broadened concept of composition and literacy, including multimedia composition;
• encourage research and develop models of higher education classroom policies that promote multimedia composition;
• encourage integrating multimedia composition in English studies curricula and its assessment at the local, state, and national levels; and
• renew the commitment expressed in the NCTE 1983 Resolution of Computers in English and Language Arts to achieve equity of access to the full range of composing technologies.

Sense of the House Motions

S1. Open debate in classrooms, universities, and the public sphere is an essential function of a democratic society.  CCCC therefore supports students’ and instructors’ right to express ideas which may be objectionable to certain constituencies, and to work in an atmosphere that fosters vigorous inquiry, argument, and critique, free from censorship.

S2. We move that CCCC work with MLA, activist groups, unions and professional and scholarly organizations to advocate reversal of the 2004 NLRB ruling in the case of Brown University, and that CCCC fund a representative to attend the 2006 COCAL conference.

S3. As the war in Iraq is sustained by deceptive rhetoric and a high cost in human lives and suffering, CCCC calls for the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of US troops and military support from Iraq.

The following resolutions were passed at the CCCC Annual Business Meeting held on Saturday, March 22, 2003, in New York:

Resolution 1: Honoring Kathleen Blake Yancey

Whereas Kathleen Blake Yancey has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to ensuring valid and reliable assessment of students’ writing, whether teachers are assessing a single paper or a portfolio, a handwritten essay or an online test, an English theme or a physics report; and

Whereas she has taken our conference “digital” by providing LCDs and Internet connections for presenters and by scheduling sessions on site and on a simulcast; and

Whereas she has urged us not only to teach our students but also to learn with and from them-in our classrooms and, for the first time, in featured sessions; therefore

BE IT RESOLVED that the 2003 Conference on College Composition and Communication thank Kathleen Blake Yancey for offering us the “transforming possibilities” of a conference that compels us to reflect on our past and our present so that we can rewrite our future.

Resolution 2: Applauding Sandra Jamieson and the Local Arrangements Committee

Whereas Sandra Jamieson and the Local Arrangements Committee have guided us to the theater, music, dance, art, and diverse neighborhoods of New York City; and

Whereas they have also brought the city to us through an emerging writers’ series and a night of “Big Apple” humor; and

Whereas they have supported literacy in New York by organizing the “Send Supplies” project for literacy programs and by continuing the “Buy the Book” project for children at community centers; and

Whereas they have invited us to celebrate New York’s resilience in the wake of the tragic events of September 11, 2001; therefore

BE IT RESOLVED that the 2003 Conference on College Composition and Communication applaud Sandra Jamieson and the Local Arrangements Committee for their hard work, enthusiasm, and hospitality.

Resolution 3: Encouraging Communication About the War

Whereas in our best moments we have relied on the power of rhetoric to mediate disputes, and in our college classrooms we teach students to understand one another, respect their differences, and resolve their disputes through discourse.

BE IT RESOLVED that we encourage teachers of writing and communication at colleges and universities across the country to engage students and others in learning and debate about the issues and implications of the Iraqi war and any other acts of war perpetrated by the United States of America.

Resolution 4: Tribal College Fellowship Resolution

Whereas the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) has a long and distinguished record of supporting literacy instruction in all kinds of institutions, especially grassroots efforts like those in community colleges, open admissions universities, and basic writing programs; and

Whereas CCCC has long promoted multiculturalism and diversity in terms of professional research, an expanded knowledge base in the field, broad language use in teaching, and wider access to education for those groups historically excluded; and

Whereas CCCC has enacted its commitment to grassroots literacy and diversity by providing monetary support to attend its conference for those writing teachers lacking financial resources or coming from underrepresented groups, through such programs as PEP and Scholars for the Dream; and

Whereas while very successful, these efforts have nonetheless failed to reach writing teachers at the 35 tribally-controlled community colleges in the nation; and

Whereas tribal colleges are currently teaching the vast majority of American Indian students in higher education who belong to a group systematically excluded from educational institutions as well as mistreated historically in such venues as Indian boarding schools which assimilated students through corporal violence as well as through the symbolic violence of punitive English classes; and

Whereas since the incorporation of Navajo Community College in 1968, tribal colleges have sought to counter this colonial history by operating from educational missions different from those of mainstream institutions, validating American Indian heritage by promoting traditional languages and cultures, while also providing mainstream communicative literacy in English, humanities, and technologies; and

Whereas tribal college writing teachers typically work for wages much lower than those found at comparable community colleges; and

Whereas most tribal colleges do not have the financial resources to support travel and conference costs for the professional development of their faculty; and

Whereas tribal colleges are both sites of grassroots education and locations of minority cultures, yet have not benefited from the presentations, workshops, and networking opportunities offered by CCCC; therefore

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Executive Committee produce a program called the CCCC Tribal College Fellowships that would fund up to five tribal college writing teachers to attend CCCC each year, under the following provisions:

1. Each fellowship will provide a convention registration and a $750 award.
2. Fellows will be notified in December preceding the upcoming spring convention to allow sufficient time to plan their attendance.
3. Fellowships will be granted to writing instructors currently working in tribal colleges on the basis of an application letter and personal statement.
4. The Tribal College Fellowship will be advertised in CCC, College English, TETYC, Tribal College Journal, and Indian Country Today.
5. Fellowship applications will be evaluated and awarded by a committee jointly appointed by the Executive Committee in consultation with the American Indian Caucus.

Resolution 5: On Professional Standards for Instruction

Whereas the educational conditions for college writing instruction have been deteriorating in the past few decades; and

Whereas the writing of college students recently received unfavorable national attention in The Chronicle of Higher Education; and

Whereas promoting the best teaching conditions will enhance literacy instruction; and

Whereas in its mission to promote higher literacy, CCCC took note of declining learning conditions at its annual business meeting 16 years ago by unanimously approving the Wyoming Resolution, which declared that “the salaries and working conditions of post-secondary writing teachers with primary responsibility for the teaching of writing are fundamentally unfair as judged by any reasonable professional standards,” and called for CCCC to formulate “professional standards and expectations for salary levels and working conditions of post-secondary teachers of writing”; and

Whereas the concerns of the Wyoming Resolution were reiterated in 1989 as the “Statement of Principles and Standards for the Postsecondary Teaching of Writing,” which declared that “every institution should extend to teachers of writing the same opportunities for professional advancement (e.g., support for research and reasonable teaching responsibilities) that they extend to all other faculty” and which observed that declining learning conditions have created a situation in which “the quality of writing instruction is today seriously compromised”; and

Whereas the NCTE Conference on the Growing Use of Part-Time and Adjunct Faculty repeated these concerns in its 1997 statement, which found that “the proportion of part-time and adjunct faculty in relation to all faculty appointments has increased substantially, from 22 percent in 1970 to more than 40 percent in 1993” with “64 percent of community-college faculty holding part-time appointments” while “200,000 graduate assistants at four-year institutions actually exceed the 184,999 part-time faculty” and that “. . . the majority of part-time faculty teach under emphatically substandard conditions, . . . are far less likely to receive regular evaluation and feedback, . . . lack job security” and are typically paid from “$1,000 to $3,000” per course, and that “part-time and adjunct positions are disproportionately occupied by women”; and

Whereas the Two-Year College English Association–Southwest on October 21, 2000, asserted in a position statement that “A great danger now threatens the sustained record of accomplishment of America’s community colleges” because of full-time loads of 7 classes, class sizes over 30 students, and “part-time faculty teaching as much as 70% and even 80% of all writing courses”; and

Whereas the Coalition on the Academic Workforce, representing 25 disciplinary associations, found in its 2001 survey that “freestanding composition programs have by far the highest proportion of courses taught by part-time and graduate student instructors . . . and the lowest taught by tenure-track instructors”; and

Whereas the Associate Director of MLA English Programs, James Papp, reported in 2002 that more than 60% of part-time instructors in the humanities want full-time jobs and that the meager per-course wages paid contingent faculty have fallen behind the inflation rate; and

Whereas the continued decline in professional standards not only undermines literacy instruction but also threatens the membership base of CCCC; therefore

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the CCCC Executive Committee affirm and disseminate the following standards to support high-quality professional instruction:

1. The professional standard for writing positions shall be full-time lines equivalent in salary and benefits to other full-time academic positions.
2. Faculty members who prefer part-time work can request less than a full-time load with prorated salary and benefits. Faculty members requesting less than full-time loads can staff a maximum of 20% of the course coverage in any department or program.
3. All writing instructors shall be protected with the same professional security, academic freedom, and due process accorded other faculty members within their institution.
4. All full-time writing positions will be tenurable or covered by continuous employment certificates.
5. Graduate students shall be required to teach no more than three semester-equivalent writing courses per academic year, shall undertake overloads only at their own choice, and shall receive ongoing professional development and careful mentoring from experts credentialed in the field of composition/rhetoric.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT CCCC shall elect and budget a permanent Academic Quality Commission, whose charge will be to:

1. Research writing programs meeting the standards cited above for learning conditions.
2. Acknowledge and recognize publicly such programs in all CCCC venues.
3. Propose sessions at the annual convention on concerns raised by CCCC members, caucuses, SIGs, coalitions, and workshops relative to teaching and learning conditions.
4. Research ongoing campus efforts for high-quality teaching conditions and disseminate an online directory and database of such information.
5. Seek to co-sponsor with other professional associations (e.g., Modern Language Association, American Historical Association, American Association of University Professors) and groups (e.g., the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor) a series of regional conferences addressing standards supporting high-quality professional instruction.

Resolution 6: On Professional Development and Retention of People of Color within Academia

Whereas members of the Latino Caucus notice the frequent call for Latina/o professors in academia, specifically to teach English and writing; and

Whereas those of us who find positions experience difficulties not addressed by the colleges or CCCC with respect to mentoring and retention; and

Whereas Caucus members’ concerns about hiring and work-related experiences are not addressed adequately by CCCC; and

Whereas the numbers and/or percentages of students from Latina/o groups outnumber the percentages/numbers of Latina/o academics; and

Whereas we need to address those issues affecting hiring, mentoring, and retention of people of color within academia, particularly Latina/os; therefore

BE IT RESOLVED THAT the CCCC Executive Committee affirm and disseminate the following policies to ensure adequate professional development and retention of professors of color:

1. CCCC shall request writing programs and English departments to provide the following information:
   a. Their percentage of people of color in full- and part-time positions and in tenured and untenured lines.
   b. Their procedures for identifying, hiring, mentoring, and tenuring people-of-color faculty.
2. CCCC shall publish this information annually online and in print.
3. CCCC shall acknowledge annually a writing program or department for its exemplary efforts to develop people-of-color faculty.

PDF: All Research Centers 1966-2010 |  View Research Centers 1980-1999 on the Web | View Research Centers 2000-2010 on the Web | 

Submitted by Jason Dockter, Lincoln Land Community College

The example provided here addresses the following OWI Principles:

• OWI Principle 1: “Online writing instruction should be universally inclusive and accessible.”
• OWI Principle 10: “Students should be prepared by the institution and their teachers for the unique technological and pedagogical components of OWI.”
• OWI Effective Practice 10.1: “Appropriate OWI preparation should begin with interface familiarization and experiential exercises that make clear the public (i.e., communication to/from the teacher and among all students in the course) and private (i.e., communication between the teacher and individual student) spaces. Students need to be introduced to the writing-course specific uses of the LMS. At a minimum, students need to know where to access their assignments and readings, where to post and retrieve formal writing, where to meet and write publicly with peers, and where to communicate privately with the teacher and peers.”
• OWI Principle 11: “Online writing teachers and their institutions should develop personalized and interpersonal online communities to foster student success.”
• OWI Effective Practice 11.3: “Instructors should set expectations about course objectives, assignments, and learning by communicating with students one-to-one and as a group, regularly and systematically, using both asynchronous and synchronous modalities.”

This class orientation module, which features video walk-throughs, is implemented in a community college first-year composition (first and second semester) asynchronous online course. This can be done in any LMS, with a variety of technologies. My institution uses Blackboard and SoftChalk. So I have embedded videos and captioning of the videos within a Softchalk presentation. However, I have published these teaching materials on the web (in a WordPress site) to demonstrate that neither Softchalk nor Blackboard is essential to presenting these materials (address provided below).

In an attempt to help all students access the online class and feel comfortable moving into the first module of the class, I created these videos. They’re purposefully brief, but each video aims to accomplish a specific aspect of orienting students to my particular online class, preparing them to begin the work of the course in a confident manner.

Explanation of effective practice

When students enter an online course, whether or not they have taken an online course before, they have to make sense of the digital space of that particular class. Because there is not a universal online course design template that all instructors follow, nor are students as familiar with being online students as they are with being face-to-face students (f2f), students have to learn the course layout and determine how a course operates (even just how to begin) each time they take a class.

Upon the initial course log-in, students may feel uncomfortable about how to proceed within the class.  Potential confusion about basic online course navigation can exacerbate already existing feelings of uncertainty and isolation that many online students experience. Although many online instructors provide a welcome announcement to the class or even an email prior to the class about how to begin, in order to help ease students into the online class, written directions alone may not be enough to help ease students’ nerves regarding their new online class.

To help students transition more easily into my online course and to feel both more comfortable and more confident in the new digital environment of this specific course, I provide an orientation module to the class, which features video walk-throughs to help students feel comfortable with how the course is laid out and how its pieces connect.

When students enter the online class initially, they visit the orientation module, named EGL 101 Orientation, as the starting point for the course. This is the first item in the course menu within the LMS, as shown below.

Figure: Course Menu Showing Orientation Module

In this orientation module, I include three different videos that I have produced and provided written transcripts for, shown below. These are all collected in one space within our LMS. The first video I present is an introduction to the instructor (named General Welcome to Class). The next video provides students with an overview of the writing projects they’ll complete within this course (named Focus of Work to Be Done to EGL 101).  The third video explains to students how to navigate this particular online course (this video is named How to Navigate EGL 101).

Figure: Menu of Orientation Module

After viewing the videos, my hope is that students feel confident about where to go in the class to accomplish the tasks required, the work they’ll do, and who the teacher is. Overall, I want to ensure that students are comfortable within the class, not left alone and uncertain about any aspect of the class. Since my course is an asynchronous online course, students are left to complete assignments and learning tasks on their own, with the activities being due at the beginning of the following week. I believe this effective practice helps make my online course more accessible than it otherwise would be if I relied upon a written ‘welcome announcement’ and assumed that students would know how to begin this online class.

This effective practice takes the idea of the ‘Welcome Announcement’ and enhances it to be an overview of the course, a navigational guide, and an introduction to the instructor. Effective practice 10.1 stresses the importance of helping students become familiar with the design of the online course, and specifically, identifying the difference between public and private writing spaces and where assignments can be located and completed.

The key is that these elements are presented through multimedia, emphasizing the visual, aural, and gestural modes to increase the potential for students to make meaning from these course elements. The benefit of conveying information through the video medium is that students are able to visualize the instructor and begin to form a sense of who that person is and what her personality is. Additionally, instead of having to attempt to imagine how to navigate a specific online course design, a video screen capture can replicate almost exactly what students see on their own screens and can more accurately demonstrate how to move throughout the various areas of the online course.

Challenge this practice addresses

One recurring problem for online students can be lack of certainty about course layout and basic navigation within a given class, which can result in student frustration (see Brickman 361; Hewett, Writing 38; Peterson 367).  When taking a new online course, students enter the class and have to figure out where to go and what to click. Unlike a f2f class, where students likely have years of experience and are familiar with what to do and where to go when they enter the classroom, online students aren’t guaranteed to know this.

The effective example practice presented here is intended to minimize student frustration immediately in the course by helping to familiarize them with the class, the course design, and the instructor. Students are actually shown what they will see – and shown where to go to accomplish certain tasks unique to this specific online course.

Instead of assuming that students will figure out how to navigate the class on their own, I intentionally demonstrate to students how to navigate the course and introduce myself to the students in the class. Instead of believing that the online course design is easily navigable and makes good sense, I assume that students will struggle to understand where to go and what to do within my particular class. Orienting students to each specific online course will help students to begin more confidently and feel more assured about being a member of that online course.

How to implement this practice

My orientation for my online course is comprised of a general written explanation of what is included within this unit and the three distinct videos with separate transcriptions. (All three transcripts are collected together within a single text, located within the EGL 101 Orientation area of the course.) While the orientation module resides within the LMS, I have recreated the unit through WordPress, which can be seen here: https://onlineorientation.wordpress.com/ (see tabs at the top of the page to find videos and transcripts).

General Welcome to the Course Video
The introduction to the instructor video should feature the instructor speaking to a camera (rather than, say a static image or other screen capture). For me, I talk about my time teaching at my institution, the courses I teach, my enjoyment of those courses, educational experience – stressing that I am here to help students learn and that I am available to help them throughout the course. To capture this video, any sort of video recorder will work, as will any video capturing software. A smartphone, tablet, or a webcam on a computer will all work equally well to record the video, which can then be exported to a computer or directly to YouTube. I record these videos using the webcam on my computer and the Quicktime software. From there, I upload them to YouTube for later export and embedding in the LMS.

 

Course Navigation Video
The guided tour video is a screen capture video of the online course. I use Quicktime or Camtasia to capture what I see on my computer screen. I enter the course in the ‘student view’ and talk students through where they are in the class and precisely where they should go next to complete the initial course activities. From there I proceed to review the items in the course navigation menu, and to enter into each area to explain what students will find there and its purpose for the class.

The initial step to begin this effective practice is to ensure that the online course architecture is in place (e.g. the main course menu, units or modules, instructor contact information, etc.). This is not to say, though, that aspects of the course cannot be tweaked as the course unfolds. But because the orientation video will demonstrate to students how to navigate the online course, the video should replicate as much as possible what students will actually see when they log into the course. Any major discrepancies between the video and what students see upon their visit to the class may increase the potential for student confusion, leading to frustration.

Overview of the Writing Projects Video
The video of the overview of the writing projects could be done in a variety of ways, depending on the instructor’s objective for the video. My video is of me talking to the camera (rather than a screen capture); I talk about the general focus for the work students will compose within my writing class. I also discuss how smaller writer projects in the class lead into the larger ones and may be readily incorporated into those larger projects. Because I do not get into specifics about assignment requirements, for I don’t want to overwhelm students on the first day, I prefer the talking head style. My primary intention is to give them a general overview of the work, while again, sharing more of myself with my online students.

If an instructor is interested in the talking head style video and displaying an aspect of the class itself, a screen-capture software, such as Camtasia, would allow for the recording of both. In this case, it might be nice to show students, again, where these assignment directions are located (if the course design keeps these in one space within the course). This would provide an opportunity to preview the actual instructions for an upcoming assignment(s) if the instructor opted to do so.

Or, the instructor might elect to talk through a short slideshow presentation in which the slides help to supplement the discussion of the written projects for the course. The slideshow could be recorded using PowerPoint or Apple’s Keynote. Then the recording could be exported directly to YouTube and embedded within the course.

This collection of videos and transcripts can be created in a variety of ways, using numerous technologies.

Hardware
Any sort of camera capable of recording video will work for the talking head videos. I use the webcam on my laptop, but could easily use a camera on a tablet, smartphone, or a digital camera. Aside from a computing device, through which the videos can be uploaded to a website, this is the only hardware required.

Software
Recording Video

To record videos that follow the talking head style, a computer’s webcam can be used and if using a mobile device, this will most likely be done through the camera app on the device.

To record videos that involve a screen capture, such as the course navigation video, the following options can work well. Camtasia costs money, but the other options are free.
Camtasia
Quicktime
Screencast-o-matic
Screencastify (use with Google Chrome)

Aside from recording the videos, reviewing them for transcriptions requires a word processing program, from which the transcriptions can be written and then copied and pasted into the LMS.

Editing
Once a video has been created, it can be edited, but it does not have to be. I prefer to use the raw video footage to preserve the miscues or mistakes that I might make in my delivery to demonstrate a little more of my own humanity for my online students. If you capture video and wish to edit it, some options would be:
YouTube’s free video editor
Camtasia
iMovie, if you work on a Mac
Windows Movie Maker, if you work on a PC

Hosting
After the videos have been created and edited (if you wish), each video needs to be uploaded to a hosting site. I opt to use free hosting sites, such as YouTube  or Vimeo.

Embedding Video in LMS
The embed code can be copied from the hosting site and loaded into the LMS (or wherever the instructor opts to place the videos). The video below demonstrates who to complete this process:

Mission

The Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) is committed to supporting the agency, power, and potential of diverse communicators inside and outside of postsecondary classrooms. CCCC advocates for broad and evolving definitions of literacy, communication, rhetoric, and writing (including multimodal discourse, digital communication, and diverse language practices) that emphasize the value of these activities to empower individuals and communities. CCCC promotes intellectual and pedagogical freedom and ethical scholarship and communication. To this end, CCCC and its members

• sponsor and conduct research that produces knowledge about language, literacy, communication, rhetoric, and the teaching, assessment, and technologies of writing;
• create collaborative spaces (such as conferences, publications, and online spaces) that enable the production and exchange of research, knowledge, and pedagogical practices;
• develop evidence- and practice-based resources for those invested in language, literacy, communication, rhetoric, and writing at the postsecondary level;
• advocate for students, teachers, programs, and policies that support ethical and effective teaching and learning.

For professional growth

Since 1949, CCCC has provided a forum for all those responsible for teaching composition and communication skills at the college level, both in undergraduate and graduate programs. For over 50 years, CCCC members have charted new courses in the teaching and scholarship of composition and rhetoric, helping to shape our academic community and professional practices. As members, through the College Forum of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), of the American Council of Learned Societies, CCCC is the professional voice of composition and rhetoric studies.

Find your focus and share your interests

When you join CCCC, you will be welcomed into a community of scholars and teachers who share your concerns about important issues influencing the teaching of composition and rhetoric. You will be connected to current trends in scholarship and research, developments in teaching, national trends in higher education, and much more.

Benefits of CCCC membership

• A subscription to the respected journal College Composition and Communication as well as online access to all of the journal articles.
• An invitation to attend the CCCC Annual Convention and discounts on convention registration fees.
• Access to member-only events, including the CCCC Webinar Series.
• The opportunity to apply for various CCCC awards and research grants.
• Eligibility to join a variety of CCCC member groups and be appointed to CCCC committees, which produce publications and position papers in the interest of the English and composition and rhetoric profession.
• An opportunity to become affiliated with the Two-Year College English Association (TYCA), which responds to concerns of educators at two-year colleges and coordinates seven regional conferences.
• Access to the resources and communities maintained by CCCC and NCTE.
• Visit the User’s Guide to CCCC for information on organizational structure and how CCCC members are involved.

Professional journal

College Composition and Communication (CCC) is the NCTE journal that addresses the concerns of writing specialists, researchers, and teachers of college-level composition courses through articles on the theory, practice, and teaching of composition. CCC is published in September, December, February, and June. Click here to learn more about submission opportunities with CCC.

With your CCCC membership, you will not only receive a subscription to the journal but also unlimited online access to all of the journal articles in PDF format!

Annual conference

Click here for more information.

CCCC sponsors a convention every spring where more than 3,000 higher education faculty from across the nation come to converse, share, network, and learn about issues that influence the scholarship and teaching of composition.

The program sessions cover such topics as the composing process; grading and assessment; issues of gender, race, and class; the use of contingent, adjunct, and part-time faculty; the tenure debate; intellectual property; and the way technologies are reshaping the teaching of rhetoric and composition – in other words, all aspects of the profession.

Join now!

Membership in CCCC includes an annual subscription to CCC, access to online resources, discounts on NCTE and CCCC publications, voting rights in NCTE and CCCC, eligibility for group insurance, and discounts on all conference and convention registration fees. NCTE membership is required for membership in CCCC.  To become a member, simply click here, or call NCTE’s Customer Service toll free at (877) 369-6283.

One of the challenges of current staffing practices for college writing courses in my institutions is the sometimes last-minute assignment of multiple course preparations, additional sections, or new preparations that instructors can receive due to fluctuation in enrollments or inaccurate curricular planning. On this page, we offer direction to some teaching and learning sources that provide models of syllabi and assignments as well as heuristics and guidelines that can help instructors with the planning process that goes into teaching college writing. We also include some open-access materials that can be assigned in courses as student reading or that support course development.

Syllabi and Assignment Models or Collections of First-Year Writing Materials

• Council on Basic Writing Resource Sharing Website
• University of Georgia’s Syllabus System (browsable by course)
• Campus Compact Syllabus Archives (select ‘writing’) for courses using engaged learning
• Florida State Teachers’ Guide to the College Composition Program (including sample syllabi)
• Printable Handouts for students on Writing Topics, Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing, Ohio University

Writing and Research Assignment Banks

• CORA: Community of Online Research Assignments: An Open Access Resource for Faculty and Librarians: A searchable bank of assignments for developing and assessing information literacy. 
• Effective Research Assignments, Oregon State University Libraries (audience, exploration and topic selection, reading and evaluation)
• Creating Successful Research Skills Assignments, Penn State Libraries
• Alternative Research Assignments, San Diego State University Libraries
• Alternative Assignments to Term Papers, Lawrence University
• Writing Assignment Ideas for Specific Purposes (to learn, to communicate, Hobart and William Smith colleges
• College Composition Instructor Guide, Three Rivers Community College, for first-year writing (including syllabus checklist and learning module ideas)
• Effective Writing Assignments, Lehman College
• Sample Writing Assignments for first and second-semester writing courses (narrative, summary, rhetorical analysis, synthesis, literary analysis) from Stephen Austin University
• Sample Writing Assignments (literacy narrative, ethnography, new media, visual analysis), Georgia State University
• Resources for Writing Teachers, George Mason University

Tutorials and Guidance for Writing Class Planning and Management

• Colorado State’s Teaching Activities Bank: Discussion, Peer review, working with sources
• Teaching College Composition: A Practical Guide for New Instructors (excerpts through Google books)
• Dartmouth’s Principles for Syllabus Design
• Sample Chapter from NCTE’s book “Sequencing Writing Projects in Any Composition Class.” In Strategies for Teaching First-Year Composition
• Designing Writing Assignments, by Traci Gardner (open-access e-book)
• First Time Up: An Insider’s Guide for New Composition Teachers, Brock Dethier (open-access e-book)
• Bedford Bibliography for Teachers of Writing, (open-access e-book)
• The Teaching Professor Special Report, “Keys to Designing Effective Writing and Research Assignments,” principles and guidelines for developing writing assignments.

Open Source Sites

These are open-access educational materials that can be useful for instructors who are assigned courses with little time to advance order traditional textbooks.

• Writing Spaces: An open-Textbook Project for college-level writing studies courses.
• Writing Commons: Writing Commons is a free, online textbook. As outlined by the Site Map, Writing Common provides a comprehensive introduction to academic writing
• Open-Textbooks: English and Composition, full-access textbooks available online
• University of North Carolina Supporting Materials for a College Writing Course
• Merlot: Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching, a repository of learning objects and activities for use in English and Writing Courses
• Course Materials through Open course Library (click “Browse”
  • Basic Writing
  • English 101: Composition I
  • English 102: Composition II

Bibliographies on Composition Teaching Topics

• Teaching in an Accelerated Learning Program Context

Professional Resources from Publishers (at no cost)

Bedford St. Martin’s

• Webinars
• Bibliographies
• Background Readings
• The Bedford/St. Martin’s Series in Rhetoric and Composition
• Workshop and Symposia

Guides for Writing Teachers in Specific Curricula or Contexts

• Teaching Composition in the Two-Year College: Background Readings
• Informed Choices: A Guide for Teachers of College Writing
• The Bedford Bibliography for Teachers of Basic Writing
• Developmental Education: Readings on Its Past, Present, and Future
• Teaching Developmental Reading: Historical, Theoretical, and Practical Background Readings
• The St. Martin’s Guide to Teaching Writing
• Multimodal Composition: Teaching Developmental Writing
• Background Readings: A Critical Sourcebook