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Below are a few
general tips that some ACA Writing Across the Curriculum directors have
found helpful in pursuing and developing their WAC programs. If you
have any other tips, please feel free to email them to the director
for inclusion on this page.
Don’t try to convert faculty; simply take on
board those who are willing to participate.
Publicize your activities and efforts.
Provide lunch refreshments for meetings.
Provide stipends only when you have established
a core of committed people. Don’t use stipends to
attract faculty to participate.
Have ongoing WAC activities like roundtable gatherings and brown bag lunches (even if they are informal). WAC directors
can ask faculty to share/demonstrate an activity during each of these
sessions.
Provide follow-up after a workshop (e.g. a phone
call, email, even another workshop).
Solicit feedback at workshops
(e.g. ask what worked, what didn’t, etc.).
Here is a sample questionnaire.
Offer to help. Talk one-on-one with interested
colleagues; invite them to have coffee or lunch or to visit your office,
etc.
Keep records of all who attend workshops and other
activities, and use the interest generated to request funds for activities.
Ask former participants to help facilitate a workshop.
Provide support for faculty and students with
a writing center.
Invite administrators to all WAC activities or
at the very least keep them informed.
Develop a network of colleagues. Contact
ACA WAC project school colleagues. Join the WAC-L Listserv.
Find out what kinds of writing is going on at your
school by either talking to faculty individually or by sending out a questionnaire
and compiling results. To encourage faculty to fill out the questionnaire,
keep it short (one page), include a deadline for returning it, and provide
multiple-choice type questions whenever possible. Here are sample
questionnaires.
Start small (some programs started with as few as
5-10 participants). You may want to begin by calling an informal
meeting with interested parties to discuss issues. At that meeting,
you may generate numerous ideas to determine future direction.
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