Meet Antonio Valencia, Online Writing Coordinator

By Erinn Lyden

Antonio Valencia is a hard-working individual.

In addition to being a full-time master’s student at Florida State University earning his degree in Rhetoric and Composition, Valencia is a full-time Online Writing Coordinator. The role of an OWC, Valencia explains, is to help oversee Online Writing Instruction training, a six-module course that writing instructors enroll in so they can teach online classes that the College Composition Program offers.

“People take online courses for different reasons, but we are trying to make it easier for professors to understand why,” Valencia says. “Instructors become willing to learn how to give students flexibility for an online class.”

As much effort that Valencia and his OWC peers put into providing tools for a successful course, Valencia is quick to point out that he and the others benefit from previous coordinators.

“We are standing on the shoulders of giants,” he says.

Valencia graduated from FSU in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts in English-Editing, Writing, and Media with a double major in Media and Communication Studies. He began working as an Online Writing Coordinator in August of 2021 after English Associate Professor Elias Dominguez Barajas recruited him for the position. Valencia took the class Composition Theory with Barajas, who also is FSU’s director of the College Composition Program, and Valencia found out how much he appreciated the work of online instruction.

Valencia believes his degree has aided him tremendously in his work because they are so interconnected. His responsibilities as an Online Writing Coordinator have allowed him to learn more about how to teach a writing course, which, in turn, helps him in becoming a better writer.

FSU's Rhetoric and Composition Program offers a portfolio option that requires students to compile up to four pieces of scholarship they have produced thus far and revise them.

“In addition to these revised projects, you reflect on your process completing this work, their significance to larger conversations and research in the field, and what they showcase about you as a scholar within the field,” Valencia says. “My theme is an exploration of identity—race, gender, sexuality, culture, etc.—as it constructed and negotiated through digital technologies.”

Valencia adds that his work explores how people express and form their identities with technology, such as with writing/composing programs, online rhetorical spaces, social media, and even video games.

“Each of the four pieces addresses this theme to a degree,” he explains, “whereas the portfolio that holds everything together will see me reflect on this theme and do some research and theorizing into the topic of digital identity.”

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, OWI was offered in-person as a six-week course that instructors would complete in one semester. The course has transitioned to being taught online, however, and participants can now begin and end the certification process with more flexibility due to the pandemic’s unpredictability.

Throughout the duration of the online course, instructors practice their teaching delivery in an online setting, such as how to make a lesson plan, create videos, and build assignments that work well for an online classroom.

Valencia believes online teaching and taking online classes is becoming more popular. He referred to March 2020, when all FSU classes were online, saying, “Most people either loved it or hated it.”

With the state of the pandemic being up in the air, though, more instructors are leaning heavily toward teaching online. A benefit to online classes is that no matter the situation, students can expect a level of stability, Valencia says. A smaller benefit is that instructors and students experience less stress in terms of commuting to and from an in-person class.

Valencia says he also has witnessed some instructors shifting graduate-level coursework, such as a master’s thesis or dissertations, to an online environment. The online classes can be a better method of teaching rather than in-person classes because students then have more liberty to look for future career opportunities, allowing them flexibility to relocate sooner to a job and simultaneously work on their final projects.

 

This feedback is extremely rewarding and allows me to feel like I’m doing the right thing by accommodating my students within the realm of online learning. Establishing social connection between students allows for collaborative work such as peer review, which is something the university highly emphasizes on when taking undergraduate courses.

— Antonio Valencia

Beyond some of the practicalities, students and instructors are learning to enjoy online teaching and learning. Valencia says he receives great feedback from his students about flexibility and looser due dates, which benefit some students.

 

“This feedback is extremely rewarding and allows me to feel like I’m doing the right thing by accommodating my students within the realm of online learning,” he says. “Establishing social connection between students allows for collaborative work such as peer review, which is something the university highly emphasizes on when taking undergraduate courses.”

While establishing that connection and maintaining the social nature of writing in an online setting is difficult, Valencia says it is not impossible. Online Writing Coordinators, he adds, inform instructors on the best ways to maintain the social aspect of writing courses.

Being an Online Writing Coordinator alongside teaching in-person has allowed Valencia to see different perspectives on teaching, which he believes made him a more well-rounded instructor by being well prepared for either possibility.

“Online courses are somewhat of a different breed because instructors and those making these online courses cannot just take an in-person class and transfer it online,” he explains. “Different assignments, methods of learning, and instructor-student communication are essential to the success of the students as well as the online courses themselves.”

Time management is also key, and Valencia has learned to better manage his schedule in the second year of his master’s program, which he admits having a difficult time doing so in his first year. He enjoys the hard work but emphasizes the value of light activities and rest. Valencia enjoys casual cycling, and he has recently taken up home brewing, through which he is able to make beer from the comfort of his home.

“Being able to make time to take care of yourself, mentally and physically, taking time to breathe and relax, as well as, taking time for yourself to see those you love, and to do the things you enjoy doing,” allow for better success in anyone’s busy schedule, he says.

Erinn Lyden is a junior who is majoring in English-Editing, Writing, and Media, with a minor in Communication and a certificate in Multicultural Marketing Communication.

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