Words Change Worlds Collaboratory

Writing is an intervention in the world, a reaching out into the every day, an intercession in the particular. From this perspective, written texts do not contain meaning so much as attain meaning through use and reuse, mixing and remixing, distribution and seemingly boundless circulation. The Words Change Worlds Collaboratory is a collection of faculty-led, collaborative studies of writing at work in the world—from academic worlds to professional, public, and personal. Research studies affiliated with W²C² are

• collaborative, open to students, faculty, and community members,
• long-term, evolving over multiple years and possibly igniting spin-off studies,
• impactful, bearing outcomes relevant to our institutional and disciplinary communities,
• learning-oriented, opportunities for those keen to practice setting up studies, collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data, and presenting findings in various ways.

Participation varies depending on the needs of each research project, and project leaders welcome—actively invite!—inquiries, as indicated in the project descriptions below. Together, let’s study how people write their worlds!

Ongoing W²C² Projects

The Alumni Writing Transfer Project. This multi-year, mixed methods study, part of the 2019-2022 Elon Research Seminar on Writing Beyond the University, seeks to learn how alumni engage prior writing knowledge when learning to write at work. Data will help us better understand writing transfer and help develop a writing across the curriculum program at BGSU. Team members will help interview, transcribe, and code data.

• Current project status: A mixed methods study of early-career alumni is in data analysis. The project now seeks to learn from mid- to late-career alumni to foster a lifespan perspective on workplace writing. There are two ways to participate. 1) Research: Team members will help interview, transcribe, and code data for mid- to late-career alumni. 2) Web Development: Team members will help develop a website that showcases research from the project to a wide audience.  Contact Dr. Neil Baird at neilb@bgsu.edu or 309-255-7103 for more information.

The Evolution of the Discourse-Based Interview. In collaboration with Bradley Dilger at Purdue University, this interview study seeks to learn how the discourse-based interview (DBI), a research method that scholars in our field have used to study tacit writing knowledge, has evolved since 1983. Data will help us learn how the method is being adapted and better understand its future in writing studies.

• Current project status: Composition Forum recently accepted our proposal for a special issue on the evolution of the DBI. We received strong response to our call for proposals, and acceptances/rejections will go out on or before Oct. 4. Draft manuscripts are due Jan. 14^th. Team members will help edit manuscripts and gain experience managing the work of special journal issues. Contact Dr. Neil Baird at neilb@bgsu.edu or 309-255-7103 for more information.

The Invention of Access: Rhetorical Invention and Emergent Methodologies of Transcription. Dr. Chad Iwertz Duffy is studying caption and transcript users’ reading experiences. This work is part of a larger study on how disabled and nondisabled people collaboratively write, read, and use captions/transcripts to rhetorically invent communication access across various educational, social, and professional contexts. This study is grounded in disability studies approaches to writing research and involves human subjects research, specifically interview methods for qualitative research. Interested collaborators will work toward publication of findings across various contexts: conference presentations, articles, summer workshops, organization consulting, etc. and can be adaptable based on individual collaborator interests or needs. This project may be especially of interest for those who would like to learn more about the IRB process at BGSU, gain certification and practice in conducting human subjects research, building qualitative research instruments, or conducting disability studies writing research.

• Current project status: Interested graduate students will have the opportunity to engage and apply learning from this research through internships with local nonprofit organizations in Spring 2021. Interns will work with community partners to audit digital resources and offer suggestions for improvement in the spirit of forthcoming federal amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to “include consumer facing websites and mobile applications” (H.R. 8478). Interested students should enroll in ENG 7800 (class number 17468) for the Spring 2021 semester. Additional questions or to express interest in collaborating once other research activity resume, contact Dr. Duffy directly at ciwiertz@bgsu.edu.

Impact of Discussion Platforms on Community Formation in Online Writing Instruction. Online writing instructors and students are collaborating on research to better understand how various discussion tools influence the formation of community among writers in online writing courses. Current tools under investigation include LMS discussion forums, collaborative documents, blogs, and social networking platforms.

• Current project status: Team members are drafting an article analyzing their experiences using various discussion platforms in ENG 6800: Teaching Writing Online (Fall 2019). The article will be revised and submitted for peer review in Spring 2021. Those interested in this research may contact Dr. Chad Iwertz Duffy (ciwertz@bgsu.edu) for more information.

Toward a Pedagogy from Crisis: Adaptive Teaching and Learning at BGSU During COVID-19. Toward a Pedagogy from Crisis includes a number of research and teaching projects across programs in English; history; philosophy; writing; popular culture; women’s, gender, and sexuality studies; ethnic studies; theatre and film; graphic design; and art education at BGSU. This ongoing work is funded through a National Endowment for the Humanities CARES Act Grant (award AH-275583-20).

The grant’s research arm includes studies on the effects of remote and online learning at BGSU throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Researchers in the Departments of English and History are contributing knowledge to the field of online writing instruction (or OWI) and the interdisciplinary scholarship of teaching and learning to navigating remote undergraduate mentorship; equivalence in teaching across in-person, hybrid, and online environments; remote peer observation and student evaluation of instruction; and mixed-methods research analyzing and archiving narratives of teaching and learning from BGSU students, teachers, staff, and administrators throughout the pandemic.

• Current project status: Research is ongoing and varies by project. More information available through BG Independent News and forthcoming episodes of the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society BG Ideas podcast. Inquiries and additional information available by contacting Dr. Chad Iwertz Duffy (ciwertz@bgsu.edu).