“Not-So-Invisible Mending”: Developing Editing Skills in Large Online Classes through Visible Labour

by Ariella Van Luyn, Beck Wise, and Kate Cantrell

Originally published as part of Research in Online Literacy Education, Vol. 3, No. 1

To learn to work as editors, students must develop a diverse set of practical and metacognitive skills that far exceed proofreading strategies; however, teaching these is challenging because, as Tuffield (2015) and Johanson (2006) note, editing is a largely invisible practice. This challenge is amplified in an online context, where students work remotely and asynchronously, further concealing the labour involved in producing an edited text—and further amplified in the large, low-touch classes characteristic of Australian writing programs. In this paper, we assess the development and implementation of a vocationally-focussed editing class at an online university in Australia, and argue that by foregrounding metacognition and reflection while working with “live” texts (Dunbar 2017), instructors can effectively support the development of editing skills in large classes. However, implementing regular, low-stakes learning activities and focussing on metacognition challenged students’ existing study practices, while the learning management system (LMS) did not always support such pedagogical strategies. We offer potential solutions—including managing student expectations, offering flexible timelines, and working against the grain of the LMS—for other instructors developing editing classes intended to support diverse students in large online courses.