Pars in Practice: More Resources and Strategies for Online Writing Instructors

By focusing on being Personal, Accessible, Responsive, and Strategic (PARS), this book explores the complexities and anxieties associated with online writing instruction (OWI). The PARS approach is an innovative way to self support your own online writing instruction and/or provide support for your OWI faculty. This collection offers extensive examples of how to create personal assignments, syllabi, and learning spaces that connect with students while teaching you how to be accessible and craft accessible documents and spaces. The contributors assert that when you create an online writing course, you’re crafting a user experience. With this in mind, they encourage you to be strategic in planning and teaching your online courses as you continually iterate your course design and teaching practices in an effort to create a better user experience for everyone. Together, Borgman and McArdle are creators of The Online Writing Instruction Community, a website and social media group dedicated to collecting and sharing online writing instruction resources. They coauthored a book which was released in the fall of 2019 titled Personal, Accessible, Responsive, Strategic: Resources and Strategies for Online Writing Instructors, which is based on their PARS approach to online writing instruction. They host professional development workshops on online writing instruction and the PARS approach.