Scott Moses and Peter Grybauskas Win Elevate Fellows Grants

Scott Moses and Peter Grybauskas have won Elevate Fellows grants from the Teaching and Learning Transformation Center (TLTC) for course redesign. 

Scott Moses, who serves as the Blended Learning Coordinator in the Professional Writing Program, won a $22,000 grant from TLTC, in collaboration with English, to redesign ENGL393 (Technical Writing) for online delivery during the academic year.

Moses will use the grant money to participate in the fellowship program. He will attend meetings and workshops with other Elevate fellows, as well as work with the TLTC staff to develop a research-based approach to building a fully online version of ENGL 393. Moses plans to pilot the course in fall of 2015. Potentially, Moses will run two slightly different versions of the online course, one partly synchronous, one fully asynchronous, to determine which one will be the best to continue starting in spring 2016. In addition to developing the course, Moses will develop a training regime to share with other PWP faculty members to share the knowledge he gains through the fellowship.

The second portion of the grant will go towards faculty training and development within the Professional Writing Program. While using the training regime he builds with the help of the TLTC staff, they will be able to award stipends to PWP faculty members who complete the training and are able to apply what they've learned to their online, blended or other courses.

“While there are many within the program who are already pursuing online-enhanced course innovation, there have been few, if any, ways of providing structured training of this sort while also providing compensation for the great amount of time and effort this sort of work demands,” said Moses.

“While the first portion of the award will have an immediate impact on me and the creation of the course, the second portion will have a much broader program-wide impact.”

Moses believes that creating a fully online semester version of ENGL393 is the next logical step for course development and innovation in PWP. The blended learning versions of the course have been offered since the spring of 2012, and a filly online summer version was offered for the first time this summer.

“Many schools have offered fully online writing courses for years, if not decades, with great success,” said Moses.

 “For such a large program, which serves the majority of students on campus, offering a variety of formats and schedules helps to accommodate a wide range of learners. Moreover, many studies have shown that students in well-designed online writing classes are able to perform as well as, if not better, than in traditional format courses. The key part is design, which is what I will focus my research on throughout the Elevate Fellowship.”

Peter Grybauskas, who teaches in Academic Writing, will redesign UNIV104 (Reading and Writing at the College Level). Grybauskas hopes to configure a way in which UNIV104 and ENGL101A can work in tandem. He also wishes to develop a service-learning component for the course, which would allow students a chance to put their reading and writing into practice, as well as take part in the great work happening on and around campus. Ultimately, Grybauskas hopes that students will come away from the course with the tools and motivation to succeed as readers and writers at the college level and beyond.