UMOHS Writing Center

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The UMOHS Writing Center
Brent Goldman, Ph.D. Headmaster
Howard Liebman, Ph.D. Principal
Edie LeBas, M.A.T. Writing Center Director
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UMOHS Mission
The University of Miami Online High School is
committed to providing quality online instruction
in a technologically rich supportive online
environment.
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UMOHS Writing Center Mission
The UMOHS Writing Center supports teachers and
students in reading and writing-across-the-curricu
lum (WAC) projects by providing online discussions
about reading and an online writing lab (OWL).
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What is an OWL?

• The OWL (online writing lab) is an extension of
  the college or university bricks-and-mortar
  campus writing center.
• Some OWLs provide interactive tutorials and
  limited email help.
• Some OWLs use email for full support of students
  writing.

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International Writing Center Association

• http//writingcenters.org
• Resource for all writing centers, whether online
  or bricks and mortar.
• Membership is on an individual basis.
• Workshops and conferences provide the pedagogy
  for training writing tutors
• Pedagogy that enables writers to make their own
  decisions about writing

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THE UMOHS OWL

• The UMOHS OWL is different from email-based OWLs
  in that it uses the asynchronous annotative,
  interactive discussion features of HyLighter to
  provide a process for review and revision.

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What is the purpose of the UMOHS OWL?

• Help students become insightful readers and
  fluent writers.
• Guide students to write on task and on topic.
• Enable students to write about what they read and
  respond to what others write.
• Provide students practice in identifying and
  understanding writing errors.
• Train peer coaches to help student writers.

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Features of HyLighter 3.0

• Text-based, annotative discussion
• Interactive and asynchronous
• Comments or questions embedded in text
• Mark-up and comment feature
• Compare feature w/ permission matrix
• Global view of discussion comments

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Online Writing Center Services

• Text-based, annotative online discussions
• Professional and staff online discussions
• Online publication editing
• Asynchronous club meetings
• OWL for grammar, research and writing
• OWL peer-coach training sessions

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HyLighter discussions for difficult texts
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Writing Center Services
The Table View provides a global view of the
discussion
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HyLighter discussions using visuals
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Publication editing using peer review
Writing Center Services
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Professional / staff discussions
Class projects and discussions
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Online asynchronous club meetings
Writing Center Services
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Writing Center Services

• Peer-Coach Training

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Trained OWL coaches help students with
Writing Center Services

• brainstorming a topic
• researching a topic
• writing a thesis statement
• organizing ideas and evidence
• using evidence to support a claim
• paraphrasing quoted material
• citing sources correctly
• writing introductory and concluding paragraphs
• writing lab reports for science and math
• designing and writing PowerPoint presentations
• writing MLA research papers
• writing resumes and college application letters

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Peer Coaches   
Writing Center Services

• When? Peer coaches can choose which weeks/days
  fit their schedules best. (Flexible!)
• Where? Access  to HyLighter is 24/7 to fit each
  peer coach's place of residence as well as
  his/her travel and study times. (No travel!)
• How? The peer coach provides feedback to a
  student's writing and records observations
  about each session. (Service oriented!)

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Peer Coaches   
Writing Center Services

•        
• Who?  Students recommended by their teachers can
  train to become peer writing coaches (IWCA
  model). 
• Why? Peer writing coaches receive community
  service hours, enhance their academic portfolios
  for college and learn more about themselves as
  writers. 
• What?  Training sessions in HyLighter will model
  to each peer coach how to guide students to
  review and revise their own writing. (Coaches do
  NOT write for the students!)

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• How does the OWL work?

• Teacher completes a form to refer student.
• Student receives a user name and password
  for his/her own personal HyLighter account. 
• The facilitator uploads form and writing project
  to HyLighter for review by a peer coach. 
• The peer coach responds to the student's work.
• On the second visit, the student revises/edits
  his/her first draft inside of HyLighter for
  review by coach.

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For more information

• University of Miami Online High School
• http//www.umohs.org
• UMOHS Writing Center
• elebas_at_umohs.org
• HyLighter Interactive Annotation David
  LeBow, Ph.D, President
• dglebow_at_comcast.net