Online Writing Center Professional Tutor

ACU is affiliated with the fellowship of Churches of Christ. Position requires employee to be a professing Christian and to be willing to support the Christian mission of ACU.

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ACU Online Writing Center Professional Tutor is part of the academic team working together to support online students in their pursuits of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees, within the academic requirements and offerings of the university. Specific focus on neurodivergent students, students with disabilities, and students with academic accommodations. Reports to the Director of the Online Writing Center.

Basic Responsibilities

Provide formative writing instruction and feedback to undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral online students.

Essential Duties

Other duties may be assigned. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals to perform the essential functions. 

• Provide formative and developmental writing instruction to help online students communicate in profoundly successful ways and become more confident and independent scholarly writers.

• Create and deliver effective writing instruction both asynchronously and synchronously through a variety of tools including Microsoft Word, ScreenPal, and Zoom. 

• Preferred: Applicant should have a working computer.

• Review student course papers, multimodal writing, and dissertation chapters for content, organization, task fulfillment, academic integrity, voice, cohesion, and style adherence (primarily APA 7th edition, but also AMA, SBL, and Chicago/Turabian).

• Answer student inquiries about writing-related concerns in developing, researching, and publishing scholarly work; APA style; and document formatting.

• Engage in regular OWC team meetings to pursue ongoing learning about writing in higher education, identify writing needs, and problem-solve in community.

• Create and deliver live writing-related webinars.

• Create and deploy instructional resources on writing-related topics targeting specific writing needs of students, programs, and faculty.

• Foster professional relationships with students and communicate records of student progress, including challenges and successes, to aid retention.

• Complete other duties as assigned by the Director of the Online Writing Center.

• Comply with all pertinent policies and procedures outlined in ACU’s Employee Handbook.

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Professional Development Requirements

Skills 

• Attention to detail.

• Time management skills.

• Excellent communication, writing, and interpersonal abilities.

• Computer software skills

• Critical thinking and analytical skills.

• Organizational skills.

• Commitment to confidentiality. 

• Ability to collaborate or work independently as the situation requires.

• Software Proficiencies

• Microsoft Office

• Google Workspace

• Zoom

• Canvas Learning Management System (preferred)

• WCOnline (preferred)

• TurnItIn (preferred)

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Qualifications

Professional

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  Required: Master’s degree from an accredited institution in English or related field. 

• Superb written communication skills.

• Three to five years of relevant experience (i.e., in composition writing instruction or writing center work).

• Expertise in APA style (7th edition) and sufficient familiarity with social science research to effectively support students writing their research studies.

• Competence in (online) writing center pedagogy serving undergraduate and graduate students; understanding of writing as an iterative process.

• Experience working with adult, multilingual, neurodiverse, and online learners.

• Demonstrated understanding of approaches to feedback based on higher and lower order concerns depending on draft quality and stage of student writing competency development.

• Experience, expertise, or publications in providing positive and constructive feedback to diverse, developmental, or online writers. 

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, and Power Point.

• Competency in use of ScreenPal or similar software to create screencasts and provide individualized video feedback on student writing. 

Personal​

• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills

• Literacy in the backgrounds and needs of diverse adult learners.

• Ability to collaborate and work independently as situation requires.

• Capacity for ongoing learning in theories of writing; higher education; and inclusion, equity, and belonging.

• Ability to learn and use of a variety of digital and learning technologies.

• Bilingual or multilingual applicants preferred.

​Physical Demands

• Majority of work is performed in front of a computer and on the phone; must have ability to use the computer for sustained periods of time.

• Manage conversations in person, online, and by phone. 

• Manage work related stress and pressure, setting appropriate work-life boundaries. 

• Communicate clearly to perform essential functions

ACU does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, sex, disability, genetic information, national or ethnic origin in employment opportunities, in keeping with applicable state and federal law.

ACU is committed to maintaining a safe and secure campus environment and protecting the university's financial and physical assets. Therefore, Abilene Christian University conducts background checks on all candidates for employment in security sensitive positions. As a current employee, it will be determined if you need an additional background check upon your hire.