Hello:
This is a call for help. I'll try to be brief. First, thanks to all who
attended Inkshed; it was a terrific conference this year. I came away
refreshed and excited about this field and really appreciate all those
Inkshedded comments.
Now for my dilemma.
Current dilemma: Administration anticipates admitting a sizable chunk of
folks who will need remedial help. I haven't been given numbers; it could
be 20-50 (but I'm guessing?) At an upper management meeting, they decided I
could solve this "problem" by giving them a remedial class. There was some
talk at that meeting of giving me more financial support to do this. Now,
top administrators' plan is to run the remedial class through a third party
on-line class.
My current position: I think the on-line idea is not too promising for a
variety of reasons.
My current alternative: Set up a strong collaboration between the Writing
Centre and the Foundation class that includes in-lecture, short workshops on
targeted subjects and strongly encouraged dedicated drop-in hours at the
Writing Centre. Do a brief and early assessment in the form of an
integrated class assignment to identify those in need and to urge them to
use the writing Centre.
Students who fail the first semester of this course will have to take the
remedial course.
This avoids the segregation until students "need it to pass" and it gets
more writing instruction and tutorials to more students with less stigma.
Anybody with thoughts, criticism, hints, rationales, info. and/or statistics
that will help me talk to administrators, would be most appreciated.
Thanks,
Victoria Littman
Writing & Learning Counsellor, OCAD
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