Dear SEDA Members

Please find below notification of the 9th annual Writing Development in
Higher Education (WDHE) conference to be held at the University of
Leicester from the 15th to the 17th of April 2002. We hope the
conference will be of relevance to a wide range of academic staff,
educational developers and student support service staff, with
particular interest for colleagues responsible for developing key skills
provision and those charged with implementing learning and teaching
strategies. Please contact me at the Teaching & Learning Unit if you
require any further information ([log in to unmask]).

With best wishes

Richard Clark
Assistant Director, Teaching & Learning Unit
University of Leicester


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WDHE 2002
****************

> ANNOUNCEMENT, CALL FOR PAPERS & PROPOSAL AND REGISTRATION FORMS

16-17 April 2002
> Annual Conference

15 April 2002
> Pre-conference Workshop

Venue: University of Leicester, UK
Conference Website: http://www.le.ac.uk/tlu/wdhe-2002.html


Writing Development in Higher Education:
Progressing Writing for Learning and Employment

Writing development provides one of the key interfaces between secondary
education, tertiary education and employment. Students entering
universities are required to learn new ways of writing and to develop
their existing writing skills to higher degrees of proficiency. Students
leaving universities are required to adapt their writing for new
contexts in employment and further study. Such planes of progression and
transition require a creative response from academic programme managers
and writing developers to ensure that students receive appropriate
guidance, practice, assessment and feedback on their writing throughout
the learning process.

In addition to progression for the individual learner, the nature of
writing demands in higher education are changing as students are
required to become proficient in writing for different audiences and
increasingly through a range of different media in addition to the
academic page. The role of new technologies in the teaching and
publication of writing and the increasing interdependency of the written
word and visual image require new writing development theories and
approaches to help students master and progress their writing skills.

These emerging trends raise many issues for the development of students'
writing skills, prompting consideration of new priorities and approaches
for the practices, theories and locations of writing development in
higher education. Issues to be addressed at the ninth annual Writing
Development in Higher Education conference include:

- how can institutions support the transition from a diversity of
learning contexts to learning and writing in higher education?
- how can institutions respond to the needs of the individual learner in
an expanding system of higher education?
- how might curriculum design promote actual progression in students'
abilities as writers through sustained incremental development (or do we
simply get them to write more)?
- how effective is writing for learning in preparing students for
writing in employment?
- how are institutions experimenting with new media and other approaches
to promote range and flexibility in the development of students' writing
skills?
- how might universities promote students' grasp of different writing
demands, embracing confidence with the visual image as well as the
written word?


THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The 9th annual Writing Development in Higher Education conference will
explore the locations, practices and theories of writing development to
help address the progression of writers and writing in tertiary level
education. The conference will be structured to provide delegates with
coherent opportunities for learning and networking, bringing
participants together in a range of discursive activities including
keynote presentations, conference papers, practical workshops and a
poster reception. To enhance opportunities for networking and the
sharing of innovative approaches, all delegates will be invited to share
their work and resources in the conference market place.

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS
Key features of the 2002 conference programme are highlighted below.

- Pre-conference Workshop: 15 April 2002

        Joan Mulin
        Director of the Writing Center and Writing Across the
Curriculum,
        University of Toledo

The WDHE Conference Committee are delighted to announce an additional
element to the annual conference programme: the pre-conference workshop.
Run by Joan Mulin, a much respected writing developer from the USA, this
workshop will be a highly stimulating and rewarding experience for all
participants interested in translating the work in writing centres in
the USA to the unique contexts in their institutions. This interactive
session will allow participants to take a template of writing
development theories and strategies that have worked in the USA, examine
their own local contexts, target problem areas of administration,
educational assumptions, and institutional constraints, and develop an
action plan for promoting writing for learning with current resources.
Exchanges of ideas and networking will also allow for individual
strategic planning for the future development of writing to learn in
participants' local contexts.

Spaces on the pre-conference workshop are strictly limited, so early
booking is advisable. Optional evening entertainment will be provided
and overnight accommodation is available (see below).

- Keynote presentations
The main conference programme will be structured around three keynote
presentations, including a keynote presented by Professor Mike Sharples
(University of Birmingham, UK). Other keynote presentations will be
announced on the conference web site (see below).

Mike Sharples
Kodak/Royal Academy of Engineering Professor of Educational Technology
School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering
University of Birmingham

Authors of the Future: from Writing to Interaction Design
Far from computers leading to the death of text, we are turning out more
words than ever before. We are creating new genres, such as mobile phone
texting, and new combinations of word and image. What has changed is
that narrative is being lost to interactivity. Instead of writing and
reading stories we are interacting with them, creating fragmented and
labile texts with no sense of overall structure or closure. Some people,
though, have managed to rise out of this tangled net by creating the
environments in which others interact. These are the authors of the
future: web site designers, interactive media composers, computer game
writers and hypertext authors. Their tools are the new writing
environments that can display and control the structure of
interactivity, programs such as Authorware, Director, and Dreamweaver.
But this software has been designed by programmers rather than writers.
Can we build literacy into the tools for multimedia authoring? How
should we train this new generation of authors? What are the connections
between academic writing and interaction design? In my talk I shall show
some examples of the new writing environments and describe attempts to
teach interaction design in higher education.


CONFERENCE THEMES
Conference contributions are invited in the following themes (although
other areas will be considered):

Transition
students' expectations of writing in HE / evaluating and consolidating
prior experience / effective diagnostic testing at (pre-) entry /
introducing the conventions and standards of academic writing / the
roles and forms of induction / responding to individual need / preparing
students for employment

Progression
institutional teaching, learning and assessment strategies / developing
the writer as well as the writing / promoting self awareness and self
evaluation / curriculum design and innovation to promote progression /
providing and evaluating feedback on writing / reflecting on and
recording achievement

Curriculum development
designing degree programmes, coursework and assessment activities to
progress writing / case studies in educational (re)design / embedding
writing within and across the disciplines / designing inclusive
curricula to facilitate writing development for all

Re-thinking writing development
subject specific and/or institutional approaches / devolving writing
development to the disciplines / the role and value of the discipline
specific writing teacher / identifying and sharing roles and
responsibilities for writing development across the university /
teaching the teachers: promoting academic staff skill at supporting and
developing writing

Experiments in writing
moving writing and writers from the academic page / promoting the
transferability of writing / identifying and exploiting new audiences
for academic writing / re-thinking the essay, report, thesis / training
and development for writing developers: broadening our horizons
 
Changing writing demands
the challenge of responding to the changing communication landscape /
using new media to promote new literacies / promoting visual literacy
beyond art and design / ways of assessing a range of media.

Contributions are invited in the following formats (see below for
details):

conference paper * workshop * poster presentation * resources for
display/demonstration.

CALL FOR PAPERS
Conference Papers are invited that address the conference themes
(although papers that fall out of these areas will also be considered).
Sessions will normally last 40 minutes and it is expected that session
leaders will allow equal weighting for presentation and discussion.
Workshops are also invited that offer practical insights into the
conference themes. The Poster Reception is an ideal opportunity for
sharing ideas and 'work in progress'. Open exhibition space will be
provided for the duration of the conference in the Resource Market.
Abstracts for all proposals should be no longer than 200 words and
should contain the following information:

Conference Paper:
* the type of paper (e.g. for discussion, report)
* the conference theme to be addressed
* an outline of context (if reporting work in process)
* the issues to be raised
* the relationship with relevant research/literature
* the likely recommendations or conclusions

Workshop:
* the conference theme to be addressed
* the issues/approaches/skills to be explored
* the proposed learning outcomes
* the relationship with relevant research/literature
* the workshop methods to be used (e.g. brainstorming, group,
activities, role play).

Poster Presentations:
* the poster title
* an outline of the context
* summary of poster content
* intended outcome if any (e.g. setting up a network)

Resource Market:
* description of resources to be displayed
* an indication of display needs (e.g. notice boards, visual aids,
computing equipment).

SUBMITTING A CONFERENCE PROPOSAL
All proposals should be submitted with the accompanying Proposal Form
and sent to the Teaching & Learning Unit at the University of Leicester
along with your Conference Registration Form. Please supply electronic
copies of your abstract(s) in Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format (RTF).

THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS IS:
* Friday 1st February 2002

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
All contributors will be invited to submit their work for publication in
the Conference Proceedings. Please note that all submissions for the
proceedings will be reviewed by the Conference Committee and sent for
evaluation by external referees. Submission does not guarantee
publication.


****************************************
WDHE 2002
> PROPOSAL FORM
****************************************

Please complete this form if you would like to contribute to the
conference.

· All proposals will be assessed by the Conference Committee on
the grounds of their quality and relevance to the conference themes.
· Multiple proposals are encouraged (e.g. a paper and a poster):
please copy this form as required.
· All contributors will be invited to submit their work for
inclusion in the refereed conference proceedings (please note that
submission does not guarantee publication).


PROPOSED TITLES






PRESENTER(S)

1. TITLE: ......... FIRST NAME: .............. SURNAME:
........................


2. TITLE: ......... FIRST NAME: .............. SURNAME:
........................


3. TITLE: ......... FIRST NAME: .............. SURNAME:
........................


TYPE OF PRESENTATION (please circle)

- Conference paper (20 minute presentation and 20 minute discussion)

- Workshop (40 minutes)

- Poster (maximum size A1)

- Resources for display/demonstration

1. Please attach an electronic copy of your written proposal
(maximum length 200 words) in either Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format
(RTF). This can be sent on disc or via email to: [log in to unmask]
2. Details for the writing of proposals are contained within the
main conference announcement/call for papers and are also highlighted on
the conference web site: http://www.le.ac.uk/tlu/wdhe-2002.html
3. Please include a completed Registration Form and payment for
each presenter to attend the conference. Copy as required.

RETURN FORM BY FRIDAY 1st FEBRUARY 2002 TO:

Teaching and Learning Unit
University of Leicester
University Road
Leicester, LE1 7RH



*************************************
WDHE 2002
> REGISTRATION FORM
*************************************

To register for the conference, please complete and return the
Registration Form to the University of Leicester by Friday 22nd March
2002.

Please complete in BLOCK CAPITALS

DELEGATE DETAILS:

Title:

First Name:

Surname:

Job title:

Address:





Postcode:

Country:

Telephone:

Fax:

Email:

Special dietary or physical requirements (please specify):



MODE OF ATTENDANCE

1. FULL DELEGATE OPTIONS

Full Delegate (Workshop & Conference: 15 - 17 April 2002)
£205
to include workshop and conference resources, all meals and refreshments
- including the Poster Reception and Conference Dinner - and en suite
accommodation for two nights (15 & 16 April) *
 
Full Delegate (Conference Only: 16 - 17 April 2002)
£155
to include conference resources, all meals and refreshments - including
the Poster Reception and Conference Dinner - and en suite accommodation
for one night (16 April) *

* additional nights' accommodation available on request.

2. DAY DELEGATE OPTIONS
to include resources, lunch and refreshments

Please circle the appropriate day(s)

Pre-conference Workshop (15 April 2002)
£35

Conference: Day One (16 April 2002)
£35

Conference: Day Two (17 April 2002)
£35

Conference Dinner
£25


TOTAL £.....................

PAYMENT

1. BY CHEQUE

I enclose a cheque/sterling bankers draft drawn on a UK bank made
payable to the University of Leicester for: £...........................

2. BY INVOICE

Please invoice my organisation for

£..................

Quote official order number:

.................................

Please send invoice to (if different from the above)

First Name:

Surname:

Job title:

Address:

Postcode:

Country:

Telephone:

Fax:

RETURN FORM BY FRIDAY MARCH 22nd 2002 TO:

Teaching and Learning Unit
University of Leicester
University Road
Leicester
LE1 7RH