Abstract:
The teaching and learning development project “Introducing newt@dut” is aimed at
providing a mixed mode writing clinic for students at a multicultural University of
Technology. NEWT (the “New Electronic Writing Tutor”) was developed in doctoral
research as a versatile courseware application which could be customised to fit a variety
of different educational contexts. NEWT - and the approach used in the “clinic” - is
underpinned by a theoretical model of communicative functions formulated in doctoral
research, and is currently the only process-based writing tutor program which takes into
account both the intra- and extra-systemic operation of the social functioning of
communication in written mode. NEWT is to be made available to all students and staff
as a free download, and is to be used in conjunction with online forums, webpage
composition instruction and face-to-face consultations to develop academic composing
expertise at undergraduate and post-graduate level at the Durban University of
Technology (DUT) in 2007. This account, then, deals with the practical application of
theoretical research into written composition, as well as illustrating the potential benefits
of a mixed mode approach to composition instruction.
Description:
Paper presented at 14th International Conference on Learning. Johannesburg, South Africa, 26-29 June 2007.
