Institution: University of Tennessee Chattanooga
Program: First-year Writing
Administrator: Jennifer Stewart
“Our lecturers have an aggressive teaching load, and using Eli allows them to
- teach students about giving good feedback via rigorous low-stakes practice,
- encourage students’ independence and engagement in their own writing processes, and
- lighten their own teaching and response load by recentering the feedback work on peers.
Eli’s popularity with the faculty is undeniable: the greatest Eli proponent among my faculty is the instructor recruited to be a dissenting voice. Faculty issues arise at all hours of the day, on all days of the week; no matter when faculty needed help, the Eli team is phenomenally supportive and responsive.”
History with Eli: Jenn tested out Eli as a grad student at Ball State University and later at IPFW. As her career path evolved, she stayed in touch with our team. In her second year as director of composition at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, Jenn identified a group of early adopters for a Spring 2017 pilot, and Melissa visited campus to conduct the training. For Fall 2018, each experienced Eli instructor was paired with an instructor interested in teaching with Eli, and everyone participated in a second on-campus workshop in May 2018. Providing instructors with lead time from May-August as well as an experienced mentor made the process smooth.
Challenge: encourage and support interested instructors in using Eli Review
Approach: pairing a new instructor with an experienced instructor
Purchase model: bookstore access cards
Timeline:
- Spring 2017–Jenn shares her tips for doing “feedback therapy” with students who have had bad peer review experiences and how Eli helps her see learning.
- Fall 2017–Jenn identifies early adopters, and Melissa visits campus to facilitate training workshop.
- Spring 2018–Melissa checks in via email and video conferences.
- May 2018–Melissa returns to campus to work with those who completed the pilot and those who plan to try Eli in Fall 2018.
- Fall 2018–Experienced and new instructors help each other.
Results:
- Jenn used Eli in her own courses Fall 2016 and Spring 2017.
| Indicators | Spring 2018 | Fall 2018* (5 weeks in the term remain) |
|---|---|---|
| Instructors | 9 (new) | 3 (new)
6 (repeating) |
| Courses | 20 | 28 |
| Students | 322 | 433 |
| Writing Tasks | 127 | 164 |
| Review Tasks | 129 | 156 |
| Revision Plan Tasks | 43 | 52 |
| Re-submit Tasks | 1 | 6 |
