Margaret,
I have been wondering over the past few years why there had not been
much discussion about Writing Centres on this list. But I agree with
you, it seems that many of us are involved in WC/WAC issues, so this
would be the appropriate forum to discuss them.
What I had planned on proposing during my short tenure as Inkshed
co-editor was a Writing Centres issue. I'd still be willing to edit a
piece on Canadian Writing Centres, somewhat like the WAC/WID article we
did last year. Let me know if there's enough interest. We could contact
Writing Centre people and ask for a few paragraphs from each, include a
list of URLs, and come up with a valuable resource.
I have just asked my work/study student to do a web search for Canadian
Writing Centres and writing resources on Canadian university web sites.
I don't know how far she'll get on this, but it would be something I
could draw on for this project.
Is there enough interest out there for a WC issue or article? Let me
know if you'd be willing to contribute a few paragraphs about your own
Writing Centres.
Janice Freeman
Centre for Academic Writing
University of Winnipeg
Margaret Procter wrote:
>
> 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]
