Pixel International Conferences

The presentation gives an insight in an inverted classroom lecture on academic writing based on the course AWO/Academic Writing Online. The course itself will be demonstrated and discussed. Especially for a complex topic like academic writing with high personal contribution of students the inverted classroom model seems to be very adequate.

For many students writing their Bachelor or Master thesis is a major hurdle, especially when studying part time, abroad or coming from second chance education. In order to support these student groups the University of Applied Sciences Burgenland developed the online course AWO based on a two years’ EU-funded project within the call 2014/Strategic Partnerships. The course includes six modules in seven languages presenting core topics of academic writing. Every module includes 15 text units with exercises and eight video clips giving explanatory advices. The course can be used in a flexible way either for self-study periods or blended learning.

If the course is used within a blended learning format the inverted classroom model is recommended. The classroom turns out to be a writing lab and the valuable contact hours are dedicated to activities, exercises and feedback processes between peer groups and between students and teachers. The teacher no longer figures as a distributor of knowledge, but holds the role of a coach or moderator supporting the students in their personalised learning processes. Especially in the field of academic writing this is crucial as writing skills depend at a huge extent on personal abilities.

The use of the course AWO within the inverted classroom implies certain requirements. The contents and exercises have to be provided via the course AWO, not in class, otherwise the students will not use the online course. They have to get familiar with this kind of learning. The teacher himself/herself has to feel comfortable with the new kind of teaching as it is less hierarchical and more on an equal basis. Writing texts always means personal exposure to students, so the teacher has to develop sensible feedback skills and train also the peer students these abilities.