By Sarah Tinker Perrault, WIC Director

WIC events, such as talks and workshops and the annual fall seminar, are often described in terms of
faculty development. This is not an inaccurate description, since these events certainly are opportunities
for faculty to develop new knowledge, strategies, insights, and more. However, as I think about this, I’m
reminded of a remark made by a colleague at my former institution. Rebekka Andersen said to me once
that WAC (the decades-old national curricular movement of which WIC is a part) is about faculty
empowerment.

My goal in WIC events is not that faculty come away with a set of rules. Rather, I hope that these events
give faculty opportunities to enrich their existing curricular and pedagogical knowledge, and to improve
on their existing practices. This hope is rooted in one of the most fundamental tenets in WIC: that
faculty are experts not only about the subject knowledge of their fields and professions, but also about
how to teach successful writers within those fields and professions. Emphasis on faculty expertise is also
part of what I love about WIC work; in working with faculty from OSU’s many majors, I get to learn
about how writing works in a wide array of academic and professional fields. This learning adds to my
own expert knowledge about writing pedagogy, enriching both my research and my ability to help
faculty with their teaching.

This quarter I have had several opportunities to learn with and from faculty. We started the year with
the fall kickoff event, a workshop on Teaching Peer Response; you can view the recording and download
materials here. As the video mentions, those interested in using specific technologies for peer response
(including Canvas, Peerceptiv, and Eli Review) might also want to watch two other workshops:

• In this video, Meta M. Landys (Integrative Biology) talks about using peer response in face-to-face classes, and also in an Ecampus course using Peerceptiv.
• In this video, Anita Helle (interim WIC Director), members of the WIC team, and Tasha Biesinger (Academic Technology Services) give general tips for peer response and talk about Canvas and Eli Review.

After the fall kickoff, the next big event was the WIC Faculty Seminar. Over the course of five weeks, 15
faculty from six colleges and 14 disciplines gathered to discuss readings about writing and disciplinary contexts, and apply those readings to developing or revising their WIC classes. Faculty were joined in this by graduate student members of the WIC team, and by Nadia Jaramillo Cherrez (Senior Instructional Design Specialist with Ecampus). As in 2020 and 2021, the seminar met via Zoom in order to make access and participation as equitable as possible regardless of participants’ campuses/locations, health status, or family care needs.

The most recent event, and in some ways the most exciting, was when I finally got to make a trip to the
Cascades campus. A group of faculty gathered to talk about responding to student writing, and I had the
pleasure of learning more about the kinds of curricular and pedagogical work happening there (see
the event blurb). I’m looking forward to visiting again in winter and spring quarters and continuing to work with the Cascades faculty.

Another opportunity to learn is an interview with Deanna Lloyd from the Horticulture program in Crop
& Soil Science. When I read the interview, which was conducted by graduate students Olivia Rowland
and Madeline Hurwitz, I was struck by the way Deanna uses systems thinking in all of her classes, and
how she integrates DPD principles into her WIC class and vice versa. You read the interview here, and also see a set of tips from the interview with Deanna here.

Finally, as we wrap up the fall quarter, I am looking forward to winter’s events. A survey of WIC faculty
last year indicated a strong interest in learning about how we can make our teaching inclusive for
students with disabilities. The winter visiting scholar, Dr. Stephanie Kerschbaum of the University of
Washington, will address that topic through a scholarly talk, a pedagogy workshop, and two meeting
times for faculty. All events will be remote, and you can learn how to register here.