January 25, 2011

Good morning instructors,

As we are getting closer to mid-quarter, I thought now would be a good time to share some writing and tutoring resources with you and your students. 

First, did you know we have an excellent Writer's Reference Center database available to you and your students via the online library?  It has some really great tools such as:

• Cliché and proverb dictionaries
• A rhyming dictionary
• Grammatical terms
• A section on frequently confused words.  
• Many materials to support the writing process, including a research guide and writing fundamentals. 
• And many other great aspects.  

Whether you teach a writing specific course or not, this reference database can be very helpful to you and your students as I would guess students are required to complete some element of writing in your course at some point during the quarter (even if only in the discussion boards, and I think many of you would agree with me that this is an area we can help our students improve their writing skills).

Another great resource available to our students is our free, online writing and tutoring center called Smarthinking.com.  It is a building block within our Blackboard courses and can be accessed via the Tools tab on the left side of all our Blackboard courses.  I have shared this "How To" video on Smarthinking in the past, but we have many new instructors so I would like to share it again.  And I will share the URL link within this week's email message so you can access the link and share with your own students if you would like also.

Once again, let me know if you have any questions on these great student resources, and I encourage you to pass them along to your students.    

Thanks,
Heather Thomton-Stockman
Online Instructional Specialist