Curious about WriteAway, BC’s new collaborative online tutoring service? Want to try it out from a student’s perspective? This groundbreaking collaborative service is paving the way for online tutoring in the BC post-secondary sector. Learn how early adopter sites College of the Rockies, Douglas College, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Simon Fraser University, and the University of British Columbia are pooling their resources and expertise, and how essential service partners, including BC Electronic Library Network and BCcampus, are working together to coordinate this unique-to-BC project. Explore the platform as a “”student”" and find out how tutors are using the innovative eTutoring platform – developed by the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium – to support students. Come get the scoop on the future of online learning support in BC! http://etug.ca/2013/04/11/spring-workshop-2013-keynote-and-facilitators/#leah

1. Breaking New Ground:
WriteAway Online Collaborative Tutoring Service

2. Today’s Plan:
 A brief description of WriteAway
 What is it?
 Who’s involved?
 How does it work?
 Interactive Demo
 Try out the platform as a “student”
 Next Steps for Online Tutoring in BC
 Questions

3. What is WriteAway?
 A first step in British Columbia towards
collaborative, online tutoring for the post-
secondary community
 Platform: eTutoring
 Developed by Connecticut Distance Learning
Consortium
 Hosted + supported in BC by BCcampus
 Currently asynchronous; future synchronous

4. Who is involved?
 BCcampus
 Provides financial support
 Hosting + Technical support (FAQs, helpdesk)
 BC Electronic Library Network
 Project coordination (as WriteAway Administrative Centre)
 Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, UBC
 Financial support, Concept Committee + UBC early adopter
 Pilot institutions (joining in stages)
College of the Rockies
Camosun College
Douglas College
Kwantlen Polytechnic University
Simon Fraser University
University of British Columbia

5. How does it work?
 Governance provided by Concept Committee
 Institutions pool staffing + expertise to develop
materials, training etc
 Communication + Documentation developed
(for tutors, institutional coordinators)
 Support available (BC ELN, BCcampus)
 Evaluate service collaboratively

6. Asynchronous Tutoring
Process

7. How does it work?
 Try out the platform!
 First, create a student account – instructions provided
 Use the email provided to you to create an account (these
accounts will be deactivated after the session)
 Once your account has been created, try answering:
 Which two tutors are available tomorrow (Friday June 7th)?
 What are the open/close dates for WriteAway this summer?
 What is the current turnaround time for responses?
 Is it possible to change your email address in the platform?
(hint: find your profile page)

8. How does it work? Continued…
 Imagine you are a College of the Rockies student; where could you
get information about other learning support services available to
you? (hint: check out the resources area)
 If you need technical help - where should you go?
 How many drafts of a writing assignment can you submit? (hint: go
to the eWriting Lab)
 Try submitting a paper via eWriting Lab (save a blank word
document to your desktop with the title "TEST”). What kind of
information does a student need to provide?
 Try posting an eQuestion (please put the word "test" in the Question
Topic line)
 See also writeaway.ca for “how it works…”

9. Tutor’s View…

10. The “Queue”

11. Next Steps for Online
Tutoring in BC
 Oversight provided by the BC eTutoring Concept
Committee + WriteAway Advisory Committee
 WriteAway pilot continues in stages
 Exploration of additional subjects + expanding to
more institutions

12. Contacts
 LauriAesoph – BCcampus
 lauri.aesoph@bccampus.ca
 250-405-4012
 Leah Hopton – BC ELN/WriteAway Administrative
Centre
 leahh@eln.bc.ca
 778.782.9573

13. Questions?
Photo by: Sean Dreilinger (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seandreilinger/2326448445/