The Virtual Writing Center (VWC) offers all members of the Antioch University community the opportunity to develop their abilities to learn, communicate, and educate through writing.
In the Virtual Writing Center, students can:
- Submit their writing for online feedback and peer consultation
- Access resources designed to help with all phases of the writing process, from conducting research, to defining a thesis, to using grammar to polish your sentences
- Listen to working writers and teachers talk about their own experiences with writing
- Participate in a rich, on-going conversation about writing, teaching writing, and teaching with writing
The Virtual Writing Center is also for faculty. In the VWC, faculty can:
- Explore faculty resources that help them incorporate writing into their courses
- Listen to working writers and teachers talk about their own experiences with writing
- Access resources designed to help with all phases of the writing process, from conducting research, to defining a thesis, to using grammar to polish your sentences
At Antioch University, we believe that writing is a “way of knowing,” a representation of the critical reflection we engage in as we learn. Developing this mode of learning includes discovering one’s own writing process.
The Virtual Writing Center supports all writers in understanding their writing process and we do our best to help every writer:
- Set priorities based on current needs
- Analyze assignments from different disciplines and cope with a variety of academic writing conventions
- Articulate as clearly and simply as possible what must be said, to whom, and why
- Explore possibilities and identify appropriate reference tools for specific issues
- Interpret and apply feedback
- Develop revision, editing, and proofreading techniques
Our consultants are current Antioch University graduate students. All are skilled readers and writers who appreciate the many challenges every writer faces in preparing a new text. All consultants participate in extensive, on-going training.
Meet the Virtual Writing Center Staff
Anne Maxham, Ph.D. – Director
Anne has been an advocate of writing support at Antioch University since coming to the School of Education at Antioch University – Seattle in 2000. While a faculty member, she developed a writing center at Seattle that has subsequently developed into the AUS Center for Teaching and Learning, operating an Academic Support Lab and offering an array of writing classes, writing assessment and writing workshops for students as well as offering faculty development support through ongoing workshops on pedagogy and writing. Prior to coming to Antioch University, she was Associate Director of Composition at Washington State University from 1990 to 2000. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Idaho and her research interests include adult learning and writing apprehension, writing communities and qualitative research methodology. Anne’s mission is to engage the Antioch University community in real conversations about writing.
Denny Russell, M.A. – Coordinator
Denny recently graduated with a Master’s Degree from the Independent Liberal and Professional Studies Program where he majored in creative writing. During his studies, he worked at the Robert Dizney Writing Center on Antioch University Midwest campus, eventually becoming that center’s Assistant Director. In fact, Denny felt his student work just as much a part of his education as his actual classes. His influence has grown the writing center from a small office to a spacious student center with a full staff and sacred coffee machine. Denny hopes to one day become a published author.
Andrea Hernandez, M.A. – ELL Specialist
Andrea received her M.A. in Rhetoric and Composition from California State University, Northridge (CSUN), where she also taught first-year and developmental composition and worked in CSUN’s Writing Center as a consultant. In addition to coordinating the EAPP Program at AULA and working on the Virtual Writing Center, she continues to teach college-level composition in the Los Angeles area. Her goal as an instructor is to demystify the writing process for her students, especially those who enter the university feeling underprepared.
Julie Camp – Peer Consultant
Julie has functioned as a peer consultant in Antioch University – Seattle’s Academic Support Lab for the past two years before transferring to her current work with the Virtual Writing Center. She finds the mutual expansion of ideas that occurs in her work with student writers both educational and enriching. She particularly enjoys working with students on issues of content clarity, voice, grammar and reasoning, as well as assisting with literature reviews, research, and APA style. She finds her academic study in the field of psychology to be a boon to her in her attempts to help writers better understand issues of identity, culture, and purpose in writing endeavours.
Steve Brown – Consultant
Steve taught high school literature and composition for sixteen years. He left the classroom a year ago and enrolled in the Communications program at Antioch University’s Center for Creative Change. He remains interested in how schools function and change, particularly in how to foster collaborative faculty learning communities. However, he is also exploring the ways digital technologies might complement and enrich narrative journalism, documentary storytelling, and community engagement.
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