By Sarah Tinker Perrault, WIC Director
Winter 2023 was an unexpectedly exciting quarter for WIC. In addition to our scheduled visiting speaker and workshop leader (about whom more below), we had some ad hoc events related to questions of if and how faculty might use predictive text generators such as ChatGPT in their classes. I also made a second trip to the Cascades campus and had a fun and productive conversation with faculty there.
The highlight of the term was the virtual visit by Dr. Stephanie Kerschbaum, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Washington, which included a talk and a workshop on disability and the teaching of writing. You can read an overview of the talk or access a recording of it here, and also read a summary of the workshop. WIC Graduate Intern Yvette Rosales did excellent work making sure the captions on the recording are accurate.
The ChatGPT events were, like predictive text generators themselves, somewhat unexpected. Early in the term we started hearing about faculty concerns, and there was enough urgency that we decided not to wait for the Spring Lunch Series to address them. The event, a collaboration between WIC and Ecampus, included a lot of sharing by participants. You can read an event summary here, read an overview of participant contributions here, and view the recording here. Caption corrections for this recording were provided by another WIC Graduate Intern, Madeline Hurwitz.
The final event of the term, my trip to the Cascades campus (described here) was both an enjoyable visit and a chance for me to learn more about what is happening at the beautiful high desert campus.
As we look toward spring, we are excited about the upcoming events. Another trip to Bend will keep the Cascades conversation going, and there also will be the traditional Spring Lunch Series.
Finally, please remember that spring is Culture of Writing Awards season, a time to celebrate student writing by choosing a student paper that exemplifies excellent undergraduate writing in your major. Winners receive a certificate and money; you can find more details here.
