Writing Programs Committee Meeting Minutes
October 15, 2014
Convened at: 1:30pm
Adjourned at: 2:32pm
Attending: Shirley Rose, Adelheid Thieme, Steven Hopkins, Rebecca Robinson, Jackie Wheeler, Kurt Myers, Sarah Snyder, Kat O’Meara, Casie Moreland, Glenn Newman, Paulette Stevenson, Jonathan Drnjevic, Youngwha Lee
1. Call to order and approval of agenda
Rose called the meeting to order and reviewed the agenda.
O’Meara motioned to approve minutes, Wheeler seconded, vote was unanimous
Stevenson made an announcement about National Day On Writing and solicited volunteers.
2. Review and Approval of minutes of most recent meeting, September 17 2014
Wheeler motioned. Drnjevic seconded. Approved unanimously.
3. Old Business: Report on Department’s approval of change in application requirements for admission toWriting Certificate. (Shirley)
English Dept. approved the proposal with minimal discussion.
4. New Business: Second Language Writing Tutors Proposal (Kat Daily)
Proposal was sent prior to the meeting and reviewed by committee members. Kat recapped the highlights of the proposal. She has confirmed interest with some L2 teachers already and has tutors lined up. She is willing to be the coordinator at this time.
Discussion: L2 tutoring Internship will be one-semester, plus 2-3 day training, unpaid, for 3 credits. The instructor of record will have minimal additional responsibility, but is welcome to involve/mentor the tutors further if desired. Dept. service for instructors who mentor tutors is a possibility. To assess effectiveness of the program, Kat plans to get IRB approval for research including satisfaction surveys, and interview groups of tutors, instructors, and students. Currently we do not have L2-specific 301/302 courses but it may be possible in future to extend tutors to cover some of those classes as well. If MTESOL tutors return to ASU as PhD students they would be held to the same requirements for teaching 107/108 as everyone else.
Drnjevic. moved we approve the proposal as written, Wheeler and Stevenson seconded. Motion passed.
5. New Business: Marketing plan for 200-series writingcourses; Background info presented by Rebecca and Shirley (attachments were sent via email)
- 200 series info
- Eng 100-Series Courses for WPC
- ASU Writingprograms Enrollment Data
Discussion of possible explanations for declining 200-level enrollments. Jackie noted that student lore many years ago described 217 as an “easy breezy course” and that was partly why enrollment was so high. It has declined the most but is still the 2nd-highest enrolled course. Jackie noted that a decade ago, the last time we had a discussion like this, the way that continuity was created with 100-level courses was by articulating them as all being courses in different aspects of rhetoric.
These course titles aren’t very exciting. Course descriptions provide more info but perhaps need to be rewritten. Glenn asks whether these course descriptions speak to the concerns of the students who are currently enrolling at ASU. 217 is really a research intensive creative nonfiction course and the course description could be improved to suggest the value of this kind of writing to many career paths or personal interests.
Shirley will set up subcommittee to discuss possible:
●changes in course titles
●updates to catalog descriptions
●who are currently enrolling (vs. which programs list these courses)
●find out how the programs that list the courses describe them to their students
●consider how to connect these courses to the 100-level coursework, as an expansion of WP instruction.
●community colleges also offer these courses, so it may be worthwhile to see how they describe them and what their enrollment trends have been
●encourage more enrollment is a goal
An invitation to participate on the subcommittee will be distributed via email.
7. Jon is currently running an election for instructor reps to Eng. Dept meetings. In the meantime 2 instructors are filling in that role. Mark Lussier mentioned that the question of giving instructors a “proportional vote” is under discussion. But things are in limbo until a decision is made about whether Eng Dept will become a school.
8. Preview of upcoming agenda items for Committee for the academic year.
- Items discuss identified at 9/17 meeting
- Elected Committee members’ re constituents’ concerns
Jon raised 2 concerns:
●ongoing certification of new instructors: Will veteran 302 online instructors get precedence over new trainees in the allocation of these courses? We will spend some time discussing this at the November meeting.
●Another question about the possibility of getting business cards. Shirley needs to check but she is pretty sure that you can get business cards if you pay for them.
Wheeler moved to adjourn. Seconded and carried at 2:32pm