In this webtext, I argue that educators, scholars, and researchers with interests in online writing instruction (OWI) should adopt a theory-generating stance regarding the online environment, technological platforms, pedagogies, and guiding philosophies encapsulated within OWI.
I use online writing instruction or OWI as an umbrella term that includes all educational uses of computer or Internet technologies for teaching or coaching writing. Under OWI, I place computer-mediated communication (CMC) for classroom and writing/peer group situations, computer-based literary study, as well as individualized writing instruction such as that found in online writing lab (OWL) tutorials.
Most professional literature tends to localize OWI to individual interests and pursuits, which is a reasonable approach in an educational system that lends itself to specialty focus. To ground my argument, therefore, this discussion similarly focuses primarily on one subtype of OWI, individualized writing instruction within OWLs, with references to CMC. Although the specific issues raised in this discussion may not apply universally to all specialized discussions of OWI, these issues probably will have recognizable counterparts to which readers can relate. Since my ultimate goal is to go beyond the published literature about OWI into proposing research agendas with theory-generating potential, I suggest that this argument can be applied more broadly to OWI as a shared concept among educators, scholars, and researchers.
In my view, OWI is in a relatively early developmental stage, making this an ideal time to engage in research that will contribute to the development of our understanding of procedures and processes associated with OWI. My own experiences link directly to my assumptions in both face-to-face (f2f) and OWI have led me to two primary observations. First, OWI seems to be an incredibly complex activity. Second, there seems to be something very distinctive about OWI that makes it different from f2f writing instruction. The complexity of OWI and its distinctiveness become obvious in practice, but they are not illuminated sufficiently by most professional discussions, which tend to be anecdotal in nature. Similarly, primary questions regarding the efficacy of OWI are not addressed.
Our understanding of OWI is limited by several factors. Among these factors is the incredibly fluid nature of online technology. Online instruction occurs in a rapidly changing environment using platforms that shift frequently, often before users become adjusted to a current version. Cost is another significant factor in our limited understanding of OWI. Both praxis and research into OWI are influenced by its costs in terms of time, money, and human resources. Such factors underscore that a lack of understanding of OWI at its most basic—what makes it distinctive and whether it is efficacious for teaching and learning writing—is a great gap in the collective knowledge that theory-generating research should address.
Throughout this webtext, I suggest that research necessary for generating theory into OWI must go beyond anecdote and move into practice-based empirical examinations arising from naturalistic settings such as classroom or tutorial interactions. To this end, I argue that we need to take on a theory-generating stance designed specifically to answer practice-based questions about OWI. New theory about OWI ideally would be grounded in a cycle of empirical practice-based research, analysis, synthesis, discussion, and theorizing.