Yes, Kathryn (and nice to converse again:-)
What unsettles me is that the study the report is based on has been funded --and we all know how few studies are being funded these days--and resulted in such a shallow and uninformed report. And its suggestions are not going to be useful, and there is a ton of literature that our colleagues have produced, which shows that the suggestions the report provides do not address the actual problem. And, as someone, who designed and taught in an engineering communication program, I'd like to note that stand alone "writing courses" that are not taught or co-taught within disciplines are not very helpful either...
I agree that it's depressing.
Natasha
> On Oct 15, 2015, at 6:55 PM, Kathryn Alexander <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Hey Natasha,
>
> It's great (ironically) I should have used 'scare quotes' because it confirms the 'problem' that the acquisition of disciplinary writing as the core activity of student learning at the university has been hollowed out despite high expectations and student services and a school of hard knock belief that motivated students somehow will acquire the disciplinary genres if they really want to (see some of comments)
>
> It's great because it suggests that despite the belief that many programs think they are teaching disciplinary writing because of the textual nature of their curriculum content they are not . Meanwhile the university curriculum continues to extol the importance of writing in higher learning but there is very little direct modeling, theory, pedagogical expertise, and little actually assigned writing assignments. This report could draw attention to this gap.
>
> It's great because opens the door for the kind of responses, education and discussions, research and theory that are represented by a collective and individual colleagues in CASDW and CASLL etc.
>
> It's great because it points out concrete areas that can be implemented and that the problems with student writing is not due to "problems with students but because there is insufficient expertise or professional development in the university mandates with respect to support for advanced writing. I guess that opens the door for writing experts
>
> "The researchers outlined in the report several barriers that prevent instructors from engaging in writing instruction in their undergraduate courses, including a lack of time and resources (such as teaching assistants); little or no instruction or professional development in writing instruction; a perception of student disengagement and a lack of skill; and inconsistent departmental support."
>
> And it is depressing for all of the reasons stated above.
>
> And to respond to Elaine's comments - since I returned from London ON I've been teaching academic writing at SFU to undergraduates from 1 - 4th year and in some MEd courses at SFU and despite the writing support the student learning commons is providing - it's not a substitute for direct writing intensive learning or explicit theory and instruction about disciplinary research and writing in content courses. my students report that they have had very little 'disciplinary writing" instruction - and this is coming from 4th year students too. Not only that, they reported that they had very few opportunities to develop extended research papers on topics that they developed over the semester. So the emphasis has been on exam learning or short papers on assigned topics.
>
> And I am saying - yes, it is horribly depressing that a lot of excellent Canadian writing research and instruction and direct professional and pedagogical support for faculty and students have been gutted and hollowed out and reframed as 'student services' and perhaps this article could provoke a critical and collective response from researchers, administrators and instructors in the field of writing studies.
>
> So it's great!!
>
> Cheers
>
> Kathryn (writing expert at large)
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Natasha Artemeva" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2015 1:40:08 PM
> Subject: Re: Article on Writing Assignments in University Affairs
>
> I am awfully sorry, Katherine, but what's great about this article? Once
> again, it completely ignores our discipline and anything that we know
> about writing. Adding rubrics and checklists or models is not going to
> result in better writing, and we know that. A lot of excellent writing
> centres have been closed down, people fired, etc. I'm glad Boba was part
> of this effort, but the report's advice to co-teach can be helpful only
> if the institution supports it.
>
> Natasha
>
> Natasha Artemeva, PhD
> Associate Professor
> School of Linguistics and Language Studies, Carleton University
> 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1S 5B6
> Tel.+1 (613) 520-2600 ext.7452; Fax +1 (613) 520-6641
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> http://www1.carleton.ca/slals/people/artemeva-natasha
>
>
>> On 10/15/2015 12:37 PM, Kathryn Alexander wrote:
>> Great article and depressing given all the hard work in the past decade being dismantled as writing centres are being moved into student learning commons
>>
>> Kathryn
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Andrea Williams" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2015 8:48:27 AM
>> Subject: Article on Writing Assignments in University Affairs
>>
>> There's an interesting article in University Affairs on the HEQCO report on writing assignments by Jordana Garbati, Kelly McDonald, Lindsay Meaning, Boba Samuels, and Cory Scurr:
>>
>> http://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/study-finds-a-lack-of-structure-and-cohesion-in-how-writing-is-taught-at-university/?c=1#comments
>>
>> Best,
>> Andrea
>>
>> Andrea L. Williams, Ph.D.
>> Assistant Professor of Writing Instruction, Teaching Stream, Faculty of Arts & Science
>> University of Toronto
>> 15 King's College Circle, Room F206
>> Toronto, ON
>> CANADA
>> M5S 3H7
>>
>> My latest tweet: [Twitter]
>> http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/wit
>> Tel: +1 416-978-8150
>> Email: [log in to unmask]
>>
>>
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