Bronwen/ Victoria:
In 1995, Susan Bell, our writing centre supervisor, and I surveyed writing
centres across Canada. Though that survey now needs updating, some of the
conclusions still seem valid to me. In the survey, we included an
appendix of comments on what helped and what hindered the most in
setting up a writing centre.
You can find the report on the University College of the Cariboo website,
under the Arts programs--though our writing centre actually reports
directly to our VP Academic. <www.cariboo.bc.ca/ae/WRTGCNTR/Survey.htm>
(make sure you spell "Cariboo" correctly--it's a geographic territory
rather than the animal!)
On the basis of the work we did in setting up our centre, we feel strongly
that this is an academic matter, and that writing centre supervisors
should be faculty, not support staff.
Russ Hunt's website also contains a discussion of the topic. Russ can
undoubtedly tell you best how to get to that, but your mouse can easily
lead you to it once you find Russ's site.
Good luck as you work on this.
Henry Hubert
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Henry A. Hubert, Ph.D.
Office of the Dean of Arts
University College of the Cariboo | Phone: 250-828-5236
P.O. Box 3010 | FAX: 250-371-5510
Kamloops, B. C. | E-mail: [log in to unmask]
V2C 5N3
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On Tue, 15 Feb 2000, Cunningham, Bronwen wrote:
> I'm forwarding this for Victoria Littman:
> ----------
> From: Littman, Victoria
> To: Cunningham, Bronwen
> Subject: position of writing/Learning centres
> Date: Tuesday, February 15, 2000 11:38AM
>
>
> This may seem off topic, but in a way it feels related. Universities want
> to be able to deliver writing in the form of large lectures because that's
> most cost effective. They also have set up writing centres to "take care of
> " student writing issues rather than initiate a massive cultural change
> regarding curriculum. When I was teaching high school I dated a Comp. Lit.
> grad student who said. "I'm not going to teach writing; they should know how
> to do that; that's your job." The notion that content is divorced from
> rhetorical issues or effective communication issues is so entrenched in the
> University community it's difficult to fathom.
>
> My question is how are writing centres/ Learning centres structured? We're
> looking for a good model at OCAD. Ours is currently in Student services.
> some folks think this is a counselling related issues. Others want us
> related to faculty and see it as an academic issue. any body have any
> suggestions on how to prevent marginalization.
>
> I guess I'm saying the opposite but related problem to large lectures on
> writing is a marginalized writing centre. In both cases effective
> communication and the question of how to promote it within content and
> discipline specific curriculum is nicely avoided.
>
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>
> For the list archives and information about the organization,
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> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
>
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To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
[log in to unmask] or, if you experience difficulties,
write to Russ Hunt at [log in to unmask]
For the list archives and information about the organization,
the annual conference, and publications, go to the Inkshed Web site at
http://www.StThomasU.ca/inkshed/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
|