Writing, with regards to academic training, has largely been relegated to the territory of primary education. Over the past fifty years, higher education administrators and faculty have become increasingly aware of eroding boundaries between high school and college. The considerable resource investment for the supply of writing courses generates…

In 2007, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) funded 22 colleges to establish developmental summer bridge programs. Aimed at providing an alternative to traditional developmental education, these programs involve intensive remedial instruction in math, reading, and/or writing and college preparation content for students entering…

The University of Washington is developing a mandatory teaching portfolio system for its writing program teaching assistants (TAs) to help graduate students in the job market and to create a fairer and more useful way to review teachers while they are working in the writing program. Implementation of the 3-stage program is taking place over 4…

Discusses how electronic portfolios show considerable pedagogical, student-outcomes, and program assessment promise but have been plagued by numerous logistical and implementation problems. Describes using an efolios project to solve these problems, enabling students to concentrate on writing rather than on technology and to create an electronic…

The new Writing for Television Program at Morgan State University (suggested by Warner Brothers at a summer seminar) has added new courses each semester: (1) basic 200-level courses in the "Fundamentals of Writing for Television" and "Introductory Script Writing"; (2) more specialized 300-level courses in "Episodic…

This paper presents a proposal for "Perspectives on Professional Knowledge," a course designed to introduce junior-level Syracuse University students to rhetorical and linguistic concepts as tools for the examination of professional knowledge and professional education. The paper briefly describes the course and discusses the…

Focusing on the practical applications of content area writing, and programs using writing assignments in all areas of the college curriculum, this serial issue has three sections. The theme article, "Writing across the Curriculum," discusses the writing across the curriculum movement, and examines ways two colleges have incorporated…

Discusses the use of online teaching assistants or "course wizards," employed at Mercy College (New York) not only to tutor students who are experiencing difficulty but also to facilitate discussion and to model the role of a successful student. Presents a discussion of the current crisis in higher education in America and of how online…

The anchor of successful writing-across-the-curriculum programs is an organized nucleus of features called the four Ps: planning, proposing, preparing, and prototyping. Planning requires organization and connections among the mechanisms of designing and implementing both program activities and evaluation designs. It should begin at least two years…

The idea of setting up a computer center in the Creighton University English department was conceived in 1982 shortly after the department chair purchased his first computer. A committee on the relationship between the computer and English composition was established. In 1987, a proposal for 30 computers and 15 printers was turned down by the…

Offers suggestions for developing and implementing a plan to integrate microcomputers in higher education humanities curricula. Ways to introduce faculty to microcomputers and have them devise methods and applications for classroom use are explained. Specific software packages useful for writing instruction are discussed. (Author/MBR)

This paper discusses the implementation of a project in which a writer-respondent intervention was used to develop the academic literacy practices of students. Writer-respondent projects are based on the idea that detailed developmental comments and questions on students' draft writing can assist them in acquiring the peculiar norms of academic…

In the broadest sense, rhetoric and rhetorical studies are primarily concerned with using language in context and, thus, must focus on the collaborative, negotiated dynamics of discourse and discourse production. These broad principles provided the basis for the "Lyceum Project" (named for the public forum first developed by the Greek…

Noting that teachers and students who actually use an educational innovation in a classroom setting recreate it, this paper analyzes the implementation of ENFI (Electronic Networks for Interaction), an innovation that uses computers and local area networks in the teaching of writing. The paper presents ENFI's idealization in terms of its…

Describes the implementation year of the Renewal Institute for Practicing Educators (RI) of Southern Illinois University, an in-service education program that follows up on participants to determine whether teachers are implementing the ideas and suggestions offered during the original program. The RI program provides in-service education…