Print

Print


Thanks to both Anthony and Doug for the Cs update. You both made me feel
like I missed something special-- I always enjoy seeing old friends and
meeting new ones.

So.... are we going to concentrate _only_ on web-based teaching of
writing courses for our 2000 proposal, or could/should we expand to
include other successful (or unsuccessful) DE methods?  How many of us
have done completely online courses? (Yes, I know you've been talking
about this, but I'm still not caught up on my mail.) And should we
concentrate only on successful courses? I'm sure we could learn a lot
from each other's failures.... One of the reasons I developed the online
Academic Writing course was because we were being pressured to do a t.v.
course. I couldn't imagine doing that, so I did something different.
(And I'm still trying to figure out just how successful the online
course was.....)

I still haven't checked the Cs web page for deadlines, but I believe we
could talk about the focus for a few more days before sending out the
official call for proposals.

And thanks, Anthony for taking on the Caucus submission. It's a pretty
simple form, but I found it a bit much last year to get both the
Roundtable and the Caucus submissions in the mail on time. Has someone
volunteered to chair? Or do you want to organize yet another dinner?

Doug and Graham-- I'd be really pleased to have you both on the
editorial committee. What I did last year was forward proposals to the
committee as they came in and sent any comments and questions back to
the proposers. It sounds like we ended up with an interesting and lively
Roundtable this year. Let's do it again!

Janice


A pare wrote:
>
> Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, although I think Doug Brent should
> share some of that culpa. The Canadian Roundtable went well, I thought, and
> demonstrated once again that there is absolutely nothing you can say about
> writing instruction in Canada that is true for the whole country. Or even a
> whole province. Or institution. We were a small, select group at the
> Canadian Caucus - 14 in all, I think - and spent most of our time swapping
> news of fresh disaster at each of our institutions. The common theme was
> penury and the resulting pressure to increase class sizes, develop on-line
> courses, and otherwise pay our way. I thought this sounded like a good CC
> topic for next year: an exploration of how corporations have cleverly
> managed to off-load their training programs, which they cut to save money,
> on to the colleges and universities, and how they now tell us we're doing a
> poor job of preparing people for the workplace. But everyone (including me)
> thought that was too depressing. So, the consensus was that the Roundtable
> next year would focus on successful on-line courses - at least, I think
> that was the direction of the discussion. (Doug Brent, could you help me
> here? Did you agree to work something out about this with Janice?) After
> the Caucus, the entire contingent of Canadians present went to dinner
> together, and many of us joined together for dinner on the following night
> as well. I will send in the proposal for the Caucus, and I hope Janice
> and/or Doug will send in a proposal for the Roundtable.
> Anthony
>