Back to the Future: Instructional Practices and Discourse Values    

When I think of writing-across-the curriculum—especially when asked to look toward the future, I am drawn to looking back to my initial involvement in WAC in the mid-1970's.

Herrington, Anne J. LLAD (1997). Articles>Language>Writing Across the Curriculum

The Canisius Project: From Field-Work To Classroom    

In the Canisius Project for Writing Across the Curriculum, we have studied the writing worlds of business, social services, science and technology, and 'public life' (the media, public relations, law, fund raising, and the like). For all these fields, our research has followed the same basic pattern. We begin with an initial interview, using a questionnaire which asks about the range of tasks, the problems, the methods, and the significance of the person's work world writing. Then we collect a portfolio of the person's writings. As an ideal, we request at least one sample of each kind of writing, with several samples of the most frequent and important kinds. After studying the portfolio, we return for a taped interview which focuses on specific features of selected pieces of writing. At the end of each research sequence, we hold a workshop which brings together researchers, faculty from the relevant departments, and as many as possible of our work world writers. Near the end of the workshop, the group defines some of the goals and methods most important for an upper level writing course which is to be aimed at, but not restricted to, business majors, or social science majors, or science majors, or humanities majors. (The groups of majors correspond to our research sequences: business, social services, science and technology, and, for want of a better term, public life.)

Schroeder, Melvin W. and Kenneth M. Sroka. JAC (1981). Articles>Education>Writing Across the Curriculum

The Limits of the Apprenticeship Models in WAC/WID Research

One of the most significant developments in writing research over the last twelve years has been the large number of naturalistic studies of writing in the disciplines (college-level) and in the professions (non-academic writing). A number of these are based on the metaphor of apprenticeship, most recently the theory of 'cognitive apprenticeship' drawn from research in situated cognition. The learning and teaching of students in schools or colleges, as well as workers in non-academic settings, is compared to the learning and teaching of apprentices in pre- or early-industrial societies, who learned on the job while doing progressively more complex and central tasks, under the watchful eye of a master or expert. A central advantage of the apprentice metaphors is that it allows us focus on actions and motives that the official school curriculum and traditional theories of education (and their metaphors of 'banking' or 'transmission') find it difficult do discussthe 'hidden curriculum' that many have studied. Yet metaphors of apprenticeship--drawn from earlier versions of capitalism--are, I would argue, severely limited in their capacity to explain the ways newcomers learn new genres in late capitalist work environments, to theorize, in other words, the relation between formal schooling and industrial society. I want to suggest here three basic ways that theories based on the apprentice metaphor are limited.

Russell, David R. Iowa State University (1998). Articles>Writing>Writing Across the Curriculum>Tropes

A Proposal for the Marriage of Technical Communication and WAC/WID    

Traditionally, Writing Across the Curriculum/Writing In the Disciplines have focused almost exclusively on preparing students to write in an academic environment in general and within their major disciplines in particular. Technical communication programs, on the other hand, focus almost entirely on preparing students to write for the world of work. A common concern among students, some professors, and many businesspeople is the lack of professional writing preparation that students receive within the university curriculum unless these students take courses in our programs. Even WAC/WID administrators are quick to note the need to find ways to integrate professional writing into some writing intensive courses. This presentation examined ways in which technical communication programs can revitalize writing-across-the-curriculum and writing-in-the-disciplines programs to the advantage of all concerned by working with WAC/WID administrators to design communication programs that integrate technical/professional into the curriculum at the senior level. Thus, technical communication programs can become the bridges that prepare students to enter the world of work with writing skills that are the focus of our programs.

Bosley, Deborah S. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Articles>Writing>Writing Across the Curriculum

WAC Meets TAC: WebCT Bulletin Boards as a Writing to Learn Technique  

Fall of 2000 seemed like the right time to introduce more technology into my undergraduate course Applied Child Development. Several forces came together to lead me to this decision. NCATE had encouraged teacher preparation courses to make more use of technology. The friendly folks at Information Technology Services were offering summer workshops on introducing WebCT into classes. The Computer Advisory Board (CAB) or the Technology Across the Curriculum (TAC) group—I’ve forgotten which, and I’m not sure I know the difference—was offering bribes, I mean honoraria, to people to make such innovations. And I was recovering from the experience of trying to teach the quietest group of students I’d ever encountered in one classroom, a group I had come to affectionately refer to as 'mime school.'

Miller, Robert S. WAC Journal, The (2002). Articles>Education>Writing Across the Curriculum>Online

The Wonder of Writing Across the Curriculum    

The main reason I got involved with writing across the curriculum fifteen years ago was administrative and related to campus politics. The main reason I have stayed actively involved in writing across the curriculum for fifteen years is personal and related to my teaching. Quite simply, I am a better teacher because of writing across the curriculum. So while motivations and intentions are messy things to characterize, for me the combination of administrative and teaching responsibilities and personal and public desires have led to most of my professorial life being engaged in writing across the curriculum — in my own classroom and on my college campuses — first at Michigan Tech, and now for six years at Clemson University.

Young, Art. LLAD (1994). Articles>Rhetoric>Writing Across the Curriculum

Writing Across the Curriculum in International Contexts: An Introduction    

As is the case with the first-year composition class, we tend to think of WAC programs as an exclusively U.S. phenomenon, or at least a North American phenomenon.

McLeod, Susan H. LLAD (2001). Articles>Education>Writing Across the Curriculum>International

Writing to Learn in Mathematics    

The majority of people, mathematicians included, think that writing out formulas is exactly what we call writing in mathematics. I was guilty of the same preconceptions before I started to work with the Writing Across the Curriculum Project at Medgar Evers College. The definition of writing to learn that we use at MEC helped me come up with the idea that served as the basic principle for my further experiments and conclusions as I implemented writing to learn in mathematics.

Flesher, Tatyana. WAC Journal, The (2003). Articles>Scientific Communication>Writing Across the Curriculum

Writing to Learn Quantitative Analysis: Doing Numbers with Words Works!  

While all institutions of higher learning value writing, each institution manifests its values in different ways. Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) has established an Office of Campus Writing, with a Director to design and offer faculty development opportunities to integrate writing more meaningfully and more effectively in the curricula of the 21 academic and professional schools that comprise the campus. One major faculty development offering is the annual two-week intensive Summer Faculty Writing Forum. This Forum accepts up to 15 faculty each year from schools and disciplines across the campus. These faculty, more used to the role of writing to demonstrate learning, investigate the capacity of writing to communicate learning, enhance learning, improve critical thinking, and reflect upon and evaluate learning. They design writing assignments, develop rubrics, and explore how to respond to written work more effectively. Upon completing the Forum, all faculty are asked to apply what they have learned to their own teaching, and to disseminate successful applications among their colleagues. This article focuses on the three-semester application of one Forum participant, an application that has evolved into a research project that clearly demonstrates the power of writing-to-learn to improve student understanding of quantitative analysis. It traces this evolution through e-mail exchanges between a professor of Computer Technology (Bob) and the Director of Campus Writing (Sharon).

Hamilton, Sharon and Robert H. Orr. WAC Journal, The (2002). Articles>Writing>Writing Across the Curriculum

Writing To Learn To Do: WAC, WAW, WAW, Wow!  

I've heard lots of reasons offered for the surprising success of WAC over the last 27 years. But you know, the I think it's the acronym. WAC. Have you ever had colleagues good naturedly kid about the acronym. 'This is WACy!' There is something a little crazy about this whole thing.

Russell, David R. LLAD (1994). Articles>Education>Writing Across the Curriculum