In accordance with principles laid out by the International Network of WAC Programs (INWAC) in February 2014 and CCCC Executive Committee in December 2014, the Writing Across Emory program is committed to “building an effective and sustainable” effort within the following constraints:
- Writing is a highly complex and situated activity that cannot be mastered in a single course but is learned over a lifetime.
- WAC is not a “quick fix,” but an initiative that requires sustained conversations among faculty that extend beyond a single workshop or consultation.
To this end we affirm the follow program learning goals. We seek
- To sustain the writing of students across their academic careers. WAE seeks to increase the amount and frequency of student writing, as well as offer students more sustained instruction in writing, in more courses, spread out over their academic careers.
- To increase student engagement with learning. Results from the National Survey of Student Engagement show significant correlation between extensive writing and both higher order thinking and integrative learning (NSSE 2008 Results). WAE offers increased attention and support for student writing in the belief that such will lead to further engagement with course content and increased retention.
- To increase student writing proficiency. Writers become more proficient as they write across a wide range of rhetorical situations, genres, purposes, and discourse communities, and compose using a range of media. WAE creates opportunities for this range of writing experiences across a student’s academic career.
- To create a campus culture that supports writing. WAE seeks to nurture a culture on campus in how writing is perceived and valued by sponsoring speaker series, faculty/staff writing retreats, among other events.
- To create a community of faculty around teaching and student writing. WAE seeks to highlight common ground in academic disciplines through its focus on teaching and learning, often accomplished through cross-disciplinary faculty development programming.