I'm forwarding this for Victoria Littman:
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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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