Faculty Stories.

“It was a natural fit to do research on the course.”

Denise Comer, Thompson Writing Program

Beyond the research data, Comer says teaching a massive group of students has given her a more expansive view of how writing works in the world ... In response, she developed an online resource to help Duke international students better understand U.S. academic writing.


Denise Comer, Director of Duke’s First-Year Writing Program, has long been interested in how writing can be of value across contexts. When Duke first started participating in massive online courses in 2012, it offered an opportunity to teach writing to a large and diverse group of individuals at once, and to explore two key questions: How do people in different cultures learn writing, and how do people generally learn writing online?

“It was a natural fit to do research on the course,” said Comer. She received two grants from the Gates Foundation, one to explore teaching composition online and a second with Chemistry professor Dorian Canelas to examine peer-to-peer interaction on the Coursera platform.

Beyond the research data, Comer says teaching a massive group of students has given her a more expansive view of how writing works in the world. It also gave her a better sense of the challenges facing English language learners. In response, she developed an online resource to help Duke international students better understand U.S. academic writing.


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Beginner
English
10 weeks
Variable

Humanities / Open online course

English Composition I

Gain a foundation for college-level writing for nearly any field.

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