Roberta, Ginny, Janice and others --
I'd also be glad to see more discussion online and at conferences
about writing centre issues. But since so many of us in that field
also work on courses and WAC projects, I'm not so sure that our
discussions need to or should be segregated.
Would it bore the non-W.C. people to hear us discussing stuff like
how to deter people from now showing up for appointments? (One of my
concerns just now, looking at figures from the past year: an example
of the admin details of W.C. work.) We've also got lots of concerns
in common,such as the ways students keep thinking about writing instruction
in terms of language correctness rather then rhetorical effectiveness
[("Will you proofread this for me?" [W.C.] "Why did you give me a C --
I hardly made any errors?" [course]). Or is it only writing centre
people who have to keep facing these things directly, since we must
keep teaching students in whatever circumstances or state of
(mis)understanding: we can't hide behind course structures or marking
schemes....
Cheers,
Margaret.
--
(Dr.) Margaret Procter Room 216, 15 King's College Circle
Coordinator, Writing Support Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H7
University of Toronto (416) 978-8109; FAX (416) 971-2027
www.library.utoronto.ca/www/writing/ [log in to unmask]
