WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM COMMITTEE

MINUTES OF THE 3/1/06 MEETING

Present: Maria Carrig, Leonard Schulze, Mark Snavely, David Steege, Alan Wallace

Mark Snavely reported that he has set up a blog for WAC (http://www.carthage.edu/campuslife/committees/wac). Minutes and other relevant information may be sent to him by email to be uploaded.

The committee discussed the potential problem that departments may designate primarily first-year courses as WI. It is not in the spirit of WAC to have freshmen take more than one WI course at once. Rather, WI courses should be distributed throughout a student’s four years at Carthage. It was suggested that the committee should meet individually with department chairs and interested faculty, to discuss how to distribute WI courses in that department. The committee agreed to invite the Business Department to the March 27 meeting.

The committee discussed the fact that assessment of the program needs to conducted at the same time as the program is being implemented; this should include tracking when students take their WI courses.

Leonard Schulze went over his conversation with Heritage Oversight Committee. He explained that the ongoing assessment of writing in the college needs to be coordinated with the assessment of oral communication, especially as there seems to be some dissonance between the approaches to teaching these two forms of communication.

Catalog copy for WAC is now on the web. The committee needs to go over the final WAC criteria to be distributed to faculty. Alan Wallace prepared a slightly longer document to go along with the basic criteria, that expresses the spirit of WAC and gives fuller guidelines. Both documents can be distributed at the same time to departments and faculty.

The committee agreed that the Heritage program will be the first class to implement Writing Intensive, and will need to submit a formal proposal. The committee will create an application form, and also will give HOC the WAC criteria they need to set up their courses as WI. Separate application forms will be submitted for Heritage I and Heritage II.

Some questions arose as to whether a particular course, such as senior seminar, will need to submit a new application each time the course is taught. It was agreed that a renewal form would be needed for such a course.

The committee will gather model application forms for the next meeting, and set target dates to have the forms ready.

The meeting adjourned at 4:25.

WAC Committee Minutes

Monday, February 20, 2006

Present: Rick Matthews, Leonard Schulze, Anne Shaw, Mark Snavely, David Steege, Alan Wallace

The committee discussed the question of how much of the course grade (as a minimum) a WI course should have. The committee agreed upon 30%.

The committee discussed concerns raised by the Business Department about changing the requirements for their major in the catalog for next year. The committee agreed that the only courses that will be designated WI for next year will be Heritage I and Heritage II. Departments should not be adding WI courses to the catalog for next year. However, if a department plans on using a senior thesis course (that is required) as a potential WI course for those students entering under next year’s catalog, they may want to change the number of credits for the existing course to four credits. Such courses will still have to go through the process of WI designation once the committee finalizes all the criteria.

What counts toward the 16 page minimum for WI courses? The example discussed was a draft of a seven page paper that would be turned in half way through the semester, revised, and then turned in again for a final grade. The committee agreed that drafts could count as long as they: 1.) provided an opportunity for serious feedback on the part of the faculty member (or peer feedback guided by the faculty member), AND 2.) were subject to significant revision.

The above example, while meeting the two criteria, is not ideal. The committee would encourage faculty who brought such assignments for consideration to think about revising them to better reflect process writing. The committee reaffirmed its commitment to process writing as a significant component of the Carthage WAC program.

The committee discussed the use of first-year courses in a major being used as WI. The committee decided that it will be necessary to work with departments to identify potential courses, and will encourage departments to distribute WI courses throughout the curriculum.

Matthews reported that he had spoken with Diane Keller about teaching a pilot WI course in ACE format during the later part of summer 2006. Anne Shaw is currently piloting a Heritage II course that reflects WI pedagogy. Matthews noted that he would like to work with the committee to create the course, knowing that not all of the criteria may be finalized. He noted that what he learns from teaching this course may help other ACE instructors create WI courses. That coupled with Anne Shaw’s experience teaching the ACE Heritage section should put the SPS program on firm footing as we move forward implementing the new curriculum.

The meeting adjourned at 1:07

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE
WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
FEBRUARY 7, 2006

Present: Maria Carrig, Diane Keller, Rick Matthews, Leonard Schulze, Anne Shaw, Fred Smiley, Mark Snavely, David Steege, Alan Wallace

Mark Snavely was elected as chair of the committee. Maria Carrig was elected as secretary. It was agreed to have a library and a student representative on the committee, the exact status of their committee membership to be decided in consultation with the FEC.

The committee discussed the draft of the Carthage course catalog entry for Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC). Catalog copy is due in March. Issues included what percentage of a student’s grade must be writing in order for a course to qualify as a Writing Intensive (WI) course; whether essay exams may count as part of the writing requirement; whether drafts may count. It was agreed that the WAC entry in the student course catalog need only contain the requirements that the students must fulfill. It should not contain requirements for faculty. Therefore, it is not appropriate to list a specific percentage or number of pages of writing in the catalog.

Anne Shaw and Fred Smiley volunteered to attend the WAC International Conference at Clemson University in May.

The committee discussed how SPS can provide WI courses in the ACE program. The major programs offered by SPS (Business, Marketing, Criminal Justice and Information Systems) will need to provide WI courses. Modules will have to be developed for WI courses, and it will be difficult to implement in the 5-week format. Rick Matthews volunteered to be the WAC Committee liaison with SPS.

Leonard Schulze volunteered to be the liaison with the Heritage program.