We are pleased to announce a call for proposals for a special issue of Research in Online Literacy Education(ROLE), the peer-reviewed research journal of the Global Society for Online Literacy Education (GSOLE). This issue engages with the work of scholar, teacher, and founding editor of ROLE, Michael Greer, to commemorate his contributions to ROLE, GSOLE, and the field of online writing instruction more broadly. 

In his “Editor’s Note” from the March 2018 inaugural issue of ROLE, Greer put forth a number of priorities for the journal, including multimodality, multidisciplinarity, strategic pedagogy, and hybrid practices. Greer noted that the journal would define literacy “broadly, as a convergence of writing, reading, composing, interpreting, and designing texts that are alphabetic, multimodal, oral, visual, and digital.” He emphasized the importance of “bringing voices from reading, writing studies, technical communication, composition, writing centers, writing across the disciplines, digital humanities, cultural studies, and beyond.” He centered teacher-research and reflective practice, reiterating the journal’s commitment to “strategic pedagogy, where theory and practice engage and question one another.” And he invited teacher-scholars to imagine “new, hybrid approaches and practices” that address the unique context of online literacy “with its complex mix of technology, discourse, talk, text, image, and play.” 

One of his last publications, Design for Learning: User Experience in Online Teaching and Learning, co-authored with Jenae Cohn (2023), is an accessible guide for designing and teaching online classes. Reviewers note the strength of this work is its usability; situating the approach to online course design in user experience, Cohn and Greer crafted an exceedingly usable guide that offers readers multiple pathways to engage with it depending on their needs and experience.

The editors of the journal invite scholars, teachers, and practitioners working broadly in the field of online literacy education to contribute to this special issue. We invite submissions that engage with or consider in some way one or more of the following questions:

• What are current best practices in teaching, composing, designing, and/or interpreting multimodal texts?

• What new literacies related to multimodal composing are emerging?

• What new technologies or best practices can improve the accessibility of alphabetic, multimodal, oral, visual, and digital texts for both author and audience?

• What impact is AI having on online pedagogy, digital literacy, and/or muItimodal composing?

• What new opportunities for multidisciplinary research exist in the fields of user experience, online literacy instruction, and instructional design for learning?

• What tutor training or writing center practices can provide tutoring support for online literacy learning or multimodal composition?   

• In what ways do WAC/WID programs engage with multimodal composition and digital literacy?

• What opportunities exist for multidisciplinary collaboration in curriculum design to facilitate learning transfer related to digital literacy and multimodal composing?

• What strategic pedagogies are needed in the field to advance and improve online literacy education?

• What kinds of professional development opportunities can WPAs provide to support teacher-research and reflective practice for faculty engaged in online literacy education?

• What “new, hybrid approaches and practices” are needed to address the unique context of online literacy teaching and learning?

• What ways have you applied, tested, and/or benefited from the practices and strategies outlined in Design for Learning?  

We welcome proposals for full-length research articles (4,000-6,000 words) as well as shorter vignettes and narratives (500-1,500 words) that engage with the impact of Greer’s work on your teaching, tutoring, instructional design, learning, and research. Presenters at GSOLE conferences are especially encouraged to submit a proposal based on your presentation. We also invite submissions that push the boundaries of form to imagine other ways of presenting academic research, embodying the spirit of Greer’s vision for ROLE as “not just another journal, but another kind of journal.”

Submit 500-word proposals via this Google form by April 15, 2024. We also welcome email questions and project ideas as you prepare your proposals to Ashlyn Walden or Michelle Stuckey at role@gsole.org.

Timeline for issue:

Proposals: April 15, 2024 

Notifications: May 31, 2024

Full Draft Due: August 1, 2024

Forthcoming Issue: September 2024

References

Cohn, J., & Greer, M. (2003). Design for Learning: User Experience in Online Teaching and Learning. Rosenfield Media. Greer, M. (2018). Editor’s note. Research in Online Literacy Education. 1(1). Retrieved

February 17, 2024 from http://www.roleolor.org/editorrsquos-note.html

Think Aloud Protocols in Composition II Courses: Let’s Talk About Research by Laura Seeber

Supervising Asynchronous Team Projects: An Exercise in Trust by Bonnie McLean

Save the Date for GSOLE Con 2025! 

Synchronous Sessions on February 6-7 with Asynchronous Sessions available February 1.  

Call for proposals coming Summer 2024. 

Interested in Bulk Institutional Registration?  

Email vice-president@gsole.org for more information! 

The #GSOLE24 Conference Team would like to let everyone know they have extended the Call for Proposals until November 7.  

If you would like to submit a Proposal to present at the GSOLE Conference next year, please follow this link: 

https://gsole.org/2024-Conference-Call-for-Proposals

Call for Proposals:

Global Society of Online Literacy Educators

Sixth Annual Conference

Visions and Sites of Online Literacy Education

An Online Interactive Global Conference

Proposals Due: Monday, Oct. 23, 2023 Ext. until Nov. 7

Proposal Decisions By: Monday, Nov. 27, 2023

Submit Your Proposal Here

The Global Society of Online Literacy Educators (GSOLE) invites proposals for its sixth annual online international conference. This event will be hosted online with asynchronous presentations and synchronous elements. Synchronous presentations will be Thursday, February 1, and Friday, February 2, 2024. As an international organization, we will do our best to accommodate reasonable presentation times for participant presenters from around the world.

Online literacy education is an enduring and emerging field of practice and research. Our theme of “visions and sites of online learning” creates space for us to take stock of what we know, what we’ve learned, what has changed, and what remains the same.

Check out this excellent Critical AI Literacy Resource  curated by #GSOLE's own Dr. Mary Lourdes Silva!

Here you will find some great resources to you understand and work with AI tools.  

Critical AI Literacy Resources

GSOLE is proud to offer a series of online Webinars over the next several months, starting in November with "Critical Language Awareness (CLA) Meets 'Digital Story-Mapping'" presented by Mary Lourdes Silva.  
Register Now at this link: https://gsole.org/webinars

In this 90-minute webinar, Dr. Silva will take participants on a journey from analogue story-mapping to digital story-mapping that applies a CLA approach. Participants will have a chance to create their own analogue and digital maps and share stories pinned to specific locations on the map and in their memories. They will learn to use applications like Google street view, Google My Maps, and Knight Lab. Last, based on an educator’s area of interest or discipline, they could apply a CLA approach to narrate geological maps, historical maps, political maps, demographic maps, linguistic maps, economic maps, literary maps, and social or cultural capital maps.

GSOLE is also offering more Webinars throughout the year and into 2024!

Click here to visit the #GSOLE Webinars Page for all the info and register now!

Reducing Barriers to Learning: Creating Accessible Learning Resources
by Katharine H. Brown, Mark Smith, & Heesun Yoon
Auburn University

Abstract

Accessible document design is essential for the removal of barriers to learning. This article explores how the authors retrofitted over 300 learning resource documents and PDFs for accessibility and published them in a new Open Educational Resource (OER) for University Writing at Auburn University. Working collaboratively, the authors learned about accessibility standards and the technical processes of creating accessible documents and PDFs. Using the four principles of document accessibility, including visibility, audibility, mobility, and searchability, the authors describe their retrofitting process and provide readers with considerations for document accessibility. Their article addresses OLI Principle 1: “Online literacy instruction should be universally accessible and inclusive.”

OLOR Series: OLOR Effective Practices

Author(s): Katharine H. Brown, Mark Smith, & Heesun Yoon

Original Publication Date: 5 June 2023

Permalink: olor/ep/2023.06.05/

#GSOLE is thrilled to announce our newly elected leadership!

Executive Board At-Large Members:

Congratulations Michelle Stuckey, Mary Lourdes Silva, and Nitya Pandey!

Michelle is Clinical Associate Professor and Writing Program Administrator at Arizona State University, where she directs a large, fully online first-year writing program. At ASU, she mentors faculty and peer tutors in OWI, collaborates with faculty to design curricula and assesses course outcomes, and innovates in the field of OLI to meet the needs of diverse student populations.

Mary Lourdes is an Associate Professor of Writing at Ithaca College specializing in Language, Literacy, and Writing Studies. She has been active in GSOLE, serving on numerous committees, including the Conference Planning Committee. She is also a musician who plays Flamenco guitar and Spanish classical music.

Nitya is a doctoral candidate in the Rhetoric and Composition program at Florida State University and will be joining Ohio University in Fall 2023 as Assistant Professor of Instruction. She studies the care ethics of multimodal pedagogy in asynchronous online courses and is interested in supporting professional development and training programs that can have long-term positive outcomes in virtual pedagogical cultures.

Treasurer:

Congratulations Megan Von Bergen! (@meganvonbergen)

Megan is a PhD candidate at the University of Tennessee whose research helps writing teachers and administrators identify which institutional practices encourage effective, equitable writing assessment. As a WPA and teacher, Megan believes students and teachers are not “brains on a stick” (Smith 2016) but are best served through professional environments that contribute to human flourishing. Such environments are achieved through full recognition of human diversity –– racial, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, and more –– and the willingness to commit, every day, to concrete professional actions that further the goal of inclusion and respect for all.

Please join us for a virtual workshop event for graduate students and new-to-WAC professionals interested in learning more about writing across the curriculum (WAC), writing in the disciplines (WID), writing-enriched curriculum (WEC), and writing across the globe (WAG), hosted by the Association for Writing Across the Curriculum (AWAC) Mentoring Committee, in collaboration with the WAC Graduate Organization.

This free Zoom event is scheduled for Tuesday, May 16th from 4-5:30pm Eastern/ 3-4:30pm Central/ 2-3:30pm Mountain/ 1-2:30 Pacific.

The workshop, “Joining the Conversation: Learning about WAC,” is intended to help graduate students and professionals from across the disciplines and writing studies learn about WAC and will feature breakout rooms by experts in a number of WAC-related topics. These topics were identified through a survey completed by graduate students across the country: “Joining WAC conversations and networks (include conferences),” “Teaching writing in the disciplines,” “TILT assignment design,” “Teaching writing in STEM,” “Inclusion-Diversity-Equity-Accessibility (IDEA) in WAC,” and “Demystifying WAC program administration.”

Please register by completing this brief survey.

Registration will close Monday, May 15th at midnight (ET).

Questions? Please contact AWAC Mentoring Committee Co-Chairs Lindsay Clark (lclark@shsu.edu) and Amy Cicchino (cicchina@erau.edu) or WAC-GO Chair Barbara Green (bgreen@purdueglobal.edu)

The IWCA is currently seeking nominations for Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, three At-Large Representatives, a Two-Year Institutions Representative, and two Peer Tutor Representatives.

The IWCA Nominations Committee hopes to recruit a slate of candidates from a range of institutions and across a variety of identities to run for this year’s election. The IWCA Board is made richer when it is comprised of writing center professionals who represent the broader international writing center community. We encourage nominations and self-nominations of Black, Asian-American, Latinx, Native American, and Pacific Islander writing center professionals; members of the LGBTQ+ community; individuals with disabilities; our colleagues at international writing centers; and writing center folk at two-year colleges, secondary schools, HBCUs, HSIs, and tribal colleges.

Being elected to the Board of IWCA means having an opportunity to sit at the table when a variety of important decisions are being made that will inform IWCA’s

• conference and event planning (annual conference, the Summer Institute, and the Collaborative);
• organizational priorities like those being addressed in the Social Justice Task Force and the Accessibility Task Force;
• Mentor Matching program;
• decisions about grants and awards;
• financial planning;
• And more!

If you would like to nominate yourself or a colleague for a Board position, please complete the nomination form here. All nominees must be IWCA members in good standing. Nominees who are not current members of IWCA will be given an opportunity to join the organization after accepting a nomination. Self-nominations for any of the above positions are encouraged.

If you cannot access the Google form, please send the following information to IWCA Secretary Beth Towle (batowle@salisbury.edu) by June 1, 2023:

• The name of the nominee
• The email address for the nominee
• The name of the position you are nominating the individual for. 
• You an also include any comments that you think are appropriate

 

Nominations are open until June 1, 2023. After the nominations stage closes, Beth Towle will contact each nominee to determine whether the nominee accepts the nomination and, if so, to request a short (no more than 150 words) personal statement about the nominee’s experience and goals. Elections will be open from September 1 until September 15th. Elected candidates will be notified by October 1st. 

Please direct any questions to Beth Towle: batowle@salisbury.edu

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