Dear Colleagues (with apologies for cross-posting):
I have just been asked for advice on designing writing and communication
instruction for the undergraduate Commerce program here at U of T, and I
need your help. Students in that faculty can take Arts and Science
courses and use the college writing centres, but there is very little
instruction on writing within their own program. An external review last
summer (see
http://www.utoronto.ca/commerce/pdf/CP_External_Review_2006.pdf)
suggested strongly that Commerce include such instruction, especially on
the types of writing done in the business professions.
So now the administrators in Commerce are starting to consider
curriculum options, with a special emphasis on first year. My first
suggestion was to look at the innovative first-year course in our own
Engineering program -- a course on Engineering Design co-taught by
people from various Engineering departments and from the Engineering
Communication Program (see
http://www.ecf.utoronto.ca/~apsesp/espintro.htm). I have already had my
say about the ideas of having a post-entry writing test and of having
student work double-marked, once for content and once for writing
(meaning language correctness). I have mentioned the Boyer Commission
emphasis on integrating writing instruction within courses and noted the
prevalence of WAC or WID programs in other faculties here and in other
universities.
Now I have been asked to outline ways that writing instruction is
included in other undergraduate business programs across Canada. Any
program in Commerce here would be starting from scratch, and the
external review has motivated the Commerce faculty to invest resources
and program time in an effective system. Please send me news and ideas
-- offlist if you wish, and I will compile a summary and distribute it.
Thanks,
Margaret.
--
Margaret Procter, Ph.D.
University of Toronto Coordinator, Writing Support
15 King's College Circle, Toronto ON M5S 3H7
416 978-8109; FAX 416 971-2027
[log in to unmask]
http://www.utoronto.ca/writing
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