WAC-CAC-ECAC
Definitions
| WAC |
Writing
Across the Curriculum. An educational movement that views writing
at the center of the academic experience in all disciplines. Writing
is used as a tool for learning (writing to learn) as well
as for communication (learning to write or writing to communicate).
Two basic positions sustain WAC programs: (1) writing helps students
learn disciplinary content, and (2) writing is integrally linked
to the field in which one writes. Therefore, writing should be a
component in all college classes, rather than isolated to composition
courses in English departments. |
| CAC |
Communication
Across the Curriculum. An expansion of the writing-across-the-curriculum
movement that broadens the focus from written communication to all
other forms of communication, including oral and visual. Although
writing continues to be viewed as central to teaching and learning,
it is joined in an interactive social process with other forms of
communication to promote critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving
within and across disciplines. |
| ECAC |
Electronic
Communication Across the Curriculum. A term coined by
Donna Reiss, Dickie Selfe, and Art Young to highlight the evolving
intersections between the communication across the curriculum movement
and new information technologies. ECAC recognizes that email, synchronous
and asynchronous conferencing, multimedia, and the World Wide Web
offer new modes of communication to construct and enhance learning
within and across disciplines. With ECAC, Computer-mediated Communication (CMC) meets WAC/CAC. |
| WID |
Writing
in the Disciplines. A term that emphasizes writing as practiced
by a particular academic discipline or discourse community. For
example, students in engineering classes learn to write in the language
and style of professional engineers, and students in science classes
learn to write like scientists. Often this approach is emphasized
in upper-division courses and courses for majors. |
| WIC |
Writing-Intensive
Courses. Many colleges identify and require certain courses
or classes as writing-intensive or communication-intensive to ensure
that students practice writing and other forms of communication
throughout their academic experiences. Such classes may incorporate
WAC-CAC and WID. |
| WTL |
Writing
to Learn. Although distinctions between "writing to learn"
and "learning to write" ("writing to communicate")
are sometimes difficult to identify, the former focuses on ungraded
work designed to stimulate creative and critical thinking, active
and interactive learning, awareness of language, and fluency. |
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