Writing Programs Committee Meeting Minutes
January 28, 2014 | 1:30-2:30 | Wrigley Hall L1-04
Attending. Ex-officio: Shirley Rose, Adelheid Thieme, Steven Hopkins, Rebecca Robinson, Susan Bernstein, Kat O’Meara, Sarah Snyder. Elected: Kurt Myers, Jackie Wheeler, Trevor Duston, Courtney Fowler, Paulette Stevenson, Glenn Newman
1. Call to Order and Approval of Agenda:
Moved: Wheeler--Approve as revised.
Seconded: Stevenson
2. Introduction of new members
● Introduction of Courtney Fowler, replacement for Jon Drnjevic as an Instructor representative
● Announcement that Trevor Duston is a TA as of the Spring semester, but is still acting as the FA representative for the remainder of the academic year
● Introduction of Susan Bernstein as an ex officio member representing the Stretch program
3. Approval of most recent (October) Meeting Minutes
Moved: Wheeler--Accept without revision.
Seconded: Stevenson
Vote: Unanimous
4. Report on organizing a 200-level subcommittee on course titles, descriptions, and promotion (progress report)
● Rose is setting 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 has been distributed via email.
● Hopkins suggested including language in the course descriptions that opens up the possibility of teaching including multimedia in the courses
5. Proposal: Professional Writing (PW) Certificate of Completion, possible expansion to include L2, developmental writing certificates of completion
● Not a certification but a certificate of completion
● showed a sample certificate prepared by Ana Boca
● Bernstein endorsed the idea of a developmental writing certificate
● Wheeler asked if faculty must officially enroll in courses. Rose clarified that it is based on completion, not on course credits, so enrollment is not required.
● O’Meara noted that L2 certification used to be 2 classes, now it is only one. Perhaps people would feel it unfair if other certificates required more.
● Robinson asked if we would be distributing these certificates of completion retroactively. Rose saw no problems with doing so, and added that we can list the courses that were required for qualification at the time they were completed, which would mitigate some concerns about those who have had to take more courses. The certificate would make the work more visible than just teaching the class, because not everyone gets to teach the class anyway.
● Stevenson asked whether you could take the certification from ASU to area Community Colleges. Duston observed that CCs don’t really look for certification, they look for experience.
● O’Meara asked if there are people in WP who have not gone through the training who are teaching classes? Rose confirmed that there are. They won’t get a certificate of completion, unless they choose to attend the currently-required courses, but they will continue to be eligible to teach the same classes.
● Robinson called for a motion to proceed with professional writing certificate of completion as created by Ana Boca and develop equivalent certificates in L2 and developmental writing.
● Moved by Fowler: Writing programs proceed with professional writing certificate of completion as created by Ana Boca and develop equivalent certificates in L2 and developmental writing
● Seconded by O’Meara
● No further discussion
● Vote was unanimous in favor.
6. Discuss adding the following Title IX language to syllabus standard policies:
“Title IX makes it clear that violence and harassment based on sex and gender are Civil Rights offenses subject to the same kinds of accountability and the same kinds of support applied to offenses against other protected categories such as race, national origin, etc. If you or someone you know has been harassed or assaulted, you can find resources at sexualviolenceprevention.asu.edu/faqs/students”
● This proposed addition is in response to recent campus efforts to prevent and address sexual violence. See also this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nadia-dawisha-/how-syllabi-can-help-combat-sexual-assault-on-campus_b_6423844.html
● Robinson introduced the proposal. Sexual violence is a problem, and adding this to our syllabus policies can help. Discussion centered on two primary concerns: whether this is relevant to writing courses, and whether there are legal concerns that need to be addressed before adding the statement to our syllabus policies.
● As to the first question, several committee members confirmed that they have experienced or observed sexually violent or harassing behavior in their classes. It was noted that all who spoke up were female; the male committee members did not recall ever having seen it themselves.
● As to the second question, Rose recommended that we consult the newly appointed Title IX Coordinator, Jodi Preudhomme, to find out if there is an existing policy statement that can be added to syllabi, or if not, whether the suggested language above would be acceptable. Robinson will do so.
● Rose also suggested that we may wish to conduct a workshop for faculty on how to address sexually violent or harassing behavior in the classroom.
7. Discuss possible creation/implementation of a policy/guidelines for using social media for pedagogical purposes, as suggested by Trevor Duston.
● Duston is aware of several teachers using social media, and is concerned that many may not fully understand the legal and ethical issues involved (e.g. many social media platforms’ terms and conditions may be in conflict with FERPA; also privacy and safety concerns; cannot guarantee anonymity)
● Duston proposes a policy, or guidelines, modeled after the iSchool’s social media policy and ASU’s existing policy and approval process for official uses of social media (socialmedia.asu.edu). The iSchool’s policy is adaptive in the sense that it asks a series of questions based on concerns that a university would have, and this is what Duston recommends: a heuristic of questions for consideration before curriculum decisions are made.
● Duston has a word document outlining ways that Writing Programs faculty who are using social media in their courses may already be in violation of existing policy, or ethical or safety concerns we may not be fully considering, which he will forward to Robinson.
● Stevenson said that the best way to deal with it could be to set up workshops to discuss. Perhaps Dr. Daer could run the workshop.
● Rose: We will table this discussion for next time. We need a proposal that we can offer objections or support to.
8. New agenda items:
● Stevenson asks for discussion of the instructor 5/5 situation, with possibility of an official response from the WPC. Will be on the agenda for next time.
9. Update from Rose on “first year forward” project. “Foundations of Excellence” is a highly respected program. It is a package brought into universities, involving a series of meetings with faculty and staff over 6 months. The program gathers information about what goes on with students’ first year and looks at how faculty and staff could make that experience better. Rose noted that many of universities who do engage with this program decide to establish learning communities. Rose noted that CLAS has dedicated significant amounts of administrative staff time to providing information to inform faculty and staff discussions Rose indicated that colleagues at other universities who have e gone through the Foundations of Excellence program have said it was a good experience. Rose will periodically update us on what goes on.
Wheeler moved to adjourn at 2:34pm