
The first school I began adjuncting for happened to be my undergraduate alma mater. I’d gotten a BA in English back in the 90s from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR). UALR has one of the few independent writing programs in the country (meaning that it’s composition, technical, and professional writing classes are housed in their own department, rather than within the English or communications department). Though I had not been a part of the Rhetoric & Writing Department “back in my day,” I met with the then-Writing Program Administrator (WPA) who agreed that my legal background made me a prime candidate for teaching the second-semester, first-year composition course which focused on argumentation.
Before I knew it, I was “hooked” on teaching and branched out to also teaching the first-semester, first-year composition course as well as an upper-level workplace writing course. I began teaching for more schools and got to know colleagues in the various departments for which I taught. I also began attending conferences like the “Cs” (Conference on College Composition and Communication, or CCCC) when I could get grant funds (from CCCC) to attend.
I asked a UALR colleague to tell me more about UALR’s Graduate Certificate in Online Writing Instruction (OWI-GC). Just a few short months later, I was in the program on my own dime, back in school after nearly 20 years, and experiencing online learning from the student perspective for the first time.
By clicking the respective boxes below, you should be able to view my Final Program Reflection, Design Portfolio, and OWI Course Website.