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Writing in the Disciplines

Southeast approaches writing in the disciplines (WID) differently than many other institutions.  While other institutions have designated WID courses, Southeast integrates writing throughout the University Studies program on the basis of the written communication objective.

Some faculty may be more familiar with the term "writing across the curriculum" (WAC).  Many WAC models, however, delegate the teaching of all writing skills to an English department or to a WAC program.  In these models, students rarely learn how to write from experts in the various disciplines.  In a WID model, however, writing instruction is disseminated throughout the curriculum and the various departments and programs at an institution.  Therefore, because Southeast's WID program is integrated in all University Studies courses, all Southeast faculty are responsible for writing instruction.

Because many faculty in the disciplines may have had little or no experience or training in the teaching of writing, especially as writing pedagogy has been reconceived in recent years, the Writing Outcomes Program provides faculty development support through several means:

• this Web site (a work in progress), which will provide links, bibliographies, sample exercises and other materials;

• annual faculty development workshops;

• and one-on-one consultations.

In addition to the Writing Outcomes Program, an ad hoc WID Advisory Task Force helps to guide the development of WID instruction on campus.  Among other duties, the task force surveys instructors and students in upper-division University Studies courses each semester to identify strengths and weaknesses of writing instruction at Southeast, and hence what support faculty require to provide Southeast's students with the most effective WID experience possible.

The Writing Outcomes Program also publishes Helix: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research.  This journal offers the students in any discipline at Southeast the opportunity to showcase their researched writing.

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