Christina VarvisA writing course at risk of being scrapped by the University of Alberta recently received high international praise.
Writing Studies 101 was recently awarded the Writing Program of Excellence Award 2014-2015 by the Conference on College Composition and Communication’s (CCCC). The U of A was the only Canadian institution to have received the award this academic year, and is the second Canadian university to have ever received the award.
The first-year interdisciplinary studies course teaches students about writing techniques across various fields of study while giving them an understanding of the writing process.
Instructor Jon Gordon said the course takes a “writing about writing” approach that is unique to any other program in Canada and the rest of the world. This allows students to read composition theorists and study both research in writing studies and works by published authors.
“It is certainly rare,” Gordon said, “I think that we are the only university that is taking this kind of approach when it comes to a university course.”
He said the award is a “nice recognition” for the efforts of both the students and those teaching the course.
“I think that those of us who teach the course understand how rewarding it is for students, and how much students benefit from the course,” Gordon said.
Former Director of Writing Studies 101 Elizabeth Sargent said that this is the only time a course for credit has ever been recognized by the award.
However, she she hopes the award will help the university realize the value of the course and push them to support it more.
The course was commended for collaborating with stakeholders across campus including the bridging program for international students as well as integrating tutors from the U of A’s Centre for Writers.
But according to the award letter from the CCCC, Sargent said the selection committee had “hesitations” towards the reliance on contingent faculty and graduate students staffing the program.
The course is currently taught by academic staff who are on less than one year contracts, Sargent said. They may be full-time staff, but only for eight months.
“One of the things this allows the university to do is to quite easily eliminate the program at any time,” Sargent said. “So it is a really vulnerable program.”
Sargent explained how the course instructors read and respond to about two pieces of writing from 60 students per week, in addition to running two 30-hour-a-week conferences each term.
“These are some of the most hardworking and dedicated instructors I’ve ever worked with,” she said.
The course collaborates with the Bridging Program, which helps international students — especially those who are not native English speakers — to improve their skills in writing, she said. The program funds “almost half” of the writing studies programs, she added.
As a result of having non-tenured and limited full-time staff whose contracts run from September to April, the course has been unable to provide classes to Bridging Program students during the spring and summer months, Sargent said.
“The course allows (students) to get started (on writing) earlier as they learn how to generate ideas, and learn things they haven’t learned in other courses,” she said.
Gordon said the lack of having a continuous contract makes planning and preparing for the course more difficult.
“There is uncertainty in terms of the staffing,” he said. “We don’t know from year to year if there will be sections of the course, and how many sections there will be to teach.”
But it’s important to acknowledge that the university has supported the course by creating it, funding it, and keeping it going, Gordon said. Especially because it is a relatively expensive course to run — compared to other first year university courses — due to its 20-student enrollment limit, he added.
“The course is kind of precarious since there is no guaranteed funding for it from year to year,” he said.
On the other hand, Gordon noted that there is potential to grow the course due to high student demand for the course.
Gordon and Sargent both said they hope the recent award from the CCCC would help the university realize the value in supporting the course even further.
