AWAC offers virtual workshops on WAC pedagogy and on WAC program development and leadership. These workshops are archived and are accessible to AWAC members below. AWAC members will need to be logged in to access the links to the workshops below.
WAC Pedagogy Series
Responding to Writing
This virtual workshop was offered on September 17, 2020 by the AWAC Mentoring Committee and was led by Pam Childers (McCallie School), Kelli Cargile Cook (Texas Tech University), and Chris Thaiss (University of California, Davis).
In this workshop, Pam, Kelli, and Chris focused on sequenced response and peer review, response to the expressed needs of writers, connections between purpose and audience for both writer and respondent, and features of responding to writing in online environments.
Moving WAC to the Web: Using GSOLE’s OLI Principles to Creating Accessible Resources for Online Writing Across the Disciplines
This virtual workshop was offered on October 15, 2019 by the AWAC Mentoring Committee in collaboration with the Global Society of Online Literacy Educators (GSOLE) and was led by AWAC Mentoring Committee members Amy Cicchino (Auburn University) and Lindsay Clark (Sam Houston State University) and by Traci Austin (Sam Houston State University).
This workshop explored how GSOLE’s “Online Literacy Instruction Principles and Tenets” can frame online literacy instruction across disciplinary contexts. By focusing especially on the first principle—accessibility—the webinar leaders engaged administrators and instructors in a process of linking principle to practice. More specifically, the webinar leaders described their own experiences with developing accessible online course materials, which involved using Blackboard Ally. Then, participants were invited to share their experiences and to collaboratively respond to a course design scenario. This webinar thus responded to a gap between national documents and local practice and focuses on how to develop local practices to support the first principle, accessibility.
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Designing and Using Writing-to-Learn Assignments
This virtual workshop was offered on May 7th, 2020 by the AWAC Mentoring Committee and was led by Marty Townsend (University of Missouri Emerita) and Chris Anson (North Carolina State University).
The relationship between writing and learning has been a fundamental part of the WAC movement from its beginnings. When students write frequently and informally about the material of their courses, they experience deeper learning—stronger analysis, synthesis, and integration of ideas—and enhanced reading processes (Graham & Hebert, 2010). And when this low-stakes writing is woven into the fabric of their courses, class sessions can be more engaging and socially dynamic.
In this interactive workshop, Marty Townsend and Chris Anson explained the theoretical orientation of writing to learn, including distinctions between writing to learn and more formal, higher-stakes writing, and then engaged participants in methods for designing and evaluating effective, learning-based writing assignments and integrating them into their courses to enhance student engagement.
Please note that video includes example WTL assignments shared in PowerPoints that can only be shared with the permission of the authors of the assignments. If you wish to share any material from the PowerPoints, please contact Marty or Chris for permission (see AWAC Board of Consultants for their contact information).
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WAC Program Development and Leadership Series
Keeping WAC Programs Afloat
This virtual workshop was offered on November 13, 2020, by the AWAC Mentoring Committee and was led by AWAC members Laurie Ann Britt-Smith (College of the Holy Cross), John Paul Kanwit (Indiana University Bloomington), and Sarah Zurhellen (Appalachian State University).
This workshop examined ways to keep WAC programs thriving, including the formulation of strategic plans with stakeholder input, aligning program goals with campus priorities, using SWOT analyses to mitigate external threats with internal strengths, and the ability to be flexible in order to meet changing campus needs. Drawing from the literature in strategic planning as well as the recent book Sustainable WAC (Cox, Galin, Melzer, 2018), the presenters discussed the ways in which they have focused on program sustainability in three different institutional settings.
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Filling Your WAC Backpack: Starting Your WAC Program Prepared
This virtual workshop was offered on November 15, 2019, by the AWAC Mentoring Committee and was led by AWAC members Chris Basgier (Auburn University), Michelle Cox (Cornell University), and Joan Mullin (University of North Carolina Charlotte).
This online workshop was designed for anyone who is starting, or thinking of starting, a WAC program at their institution. The panelists began with a discussion of the relationships and distinctions among WAC pedagogy, WAC initiatives, and WAC programs. They then provided brief overviews of the WAC programs they’ve led, after which they described the essential contents of a “WAC Backpack”: the characteristics and habits new WAC administrators need when initiating conversations about WAC and building sustainable programs. Throughout and at the end, the panelists responded to questions posed by participants about challenges of developing WAC programs in specific contexts. The video (see link below) includes the chat, in which participants crowdsourced responses to questions about favorite resources to share with disciplinary faculty, approaches to dealing with challenges, and the moments of joy that make WAC program leadership worthwhile.
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Closing the Assessment Loop: WAC Assessment Options and Strategies
This virtual workshop was offered on February 21st, 2020 by the AWAC Mentoring Committee and was led by Terry Myers Zawacki, emerita director of the George Mason University WAC program, Tom Polk, interim director of the George Mason University WAC program, and Jeffrey Galin, founding director of Florida Atlantic University’s WAC program, writing center, and community writing center.
This virtual workshop offered descriptions of several WAC assessment practices that have been used successfully by two well-established WAC programs to “close the loop” for writing assessment. Over the course of the discussion, other assessment models are identified and pros and cons of each introduced.
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Strategies for Online WAC Faculty Development
This virtual workshop was offered on April 17th, 2020 by the AWAC Mentoring Committee and the CCCC WAC Standing Group and was led by Christopher Basgier (Auburn University), Amy Cicchino (Auburn University), and Susanmarie Harrington (University of Vermont).
Many WAC administrators are moving faculty development experiences online during the COVID-19 pandemic. This virtual workshop focused on strategies for supporting faculty remotely, with a particular emphasis on extended faculty development experiences such as WAC workshop series.
Topics of discussion included:
- Managing time in online development planning
- Designing synchronous and asynchronous interactions
- Creating accessible experiences that can appeal to a range of instructors
- Promoting meaningful interactions with and among faculty
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