WRITING AND ORAL COMMUNICATION TASK FORCE
Minutes of January 9, 2003
Present: Steve Bernhardt, John Courtright, Michael Chajes, Jack Baroudi, Pam Beeman,
Leila Lyons, Julie Demgen
Steve announced that there is $200,00 in our UniDel account. Whatever projects are
decided upon, Bobby Gempesaw wants a one-page description of each. Steve and John
will be delivering a preliminary report to the Trustees this spring. They met with Mark
Huddleston and Bobby Gempesaw and discussed potential projects:

some assessment departmentally or programmatically

faculty development

pilot projects in the colleges

expanding the Writing Fellows

integrating writing and oral communication into LIFE clusters or 4-credit
course
John mentioned that there will be a UniDel report due September 3, for which at least one
project must be done, or at least underway.
Leila brought up the idea of doing a FIPSE grant for new strategies and distributed a
handout with a “Graphic Representation of Possible Faculty Development Model for
Written and Oral Communications Across the Disciplines. The preproposal is due 2/13
and the full proposal in May. John asked for a rough budget for this, and Jack asked if
we have figures on the success of WebCT training.
Pam reminded us of the time component in teaching WebCT, because interaction with
students is time-consuming but cannot be minimized. Additional discussion included
partnering with ITUE, incentives for faculty to participate, the need for formal programs
as well as drop-in sessions, and (once again) the need to change the culture. Some
options were suggested:

have each college designate courses with writing component

use Jack’s class next semester as a trial

recruit 6-8 Nursing faculty to be a core for the college

bring in experts, possibly someone from the North Carolina workshop

develop the 4-credit course and a 2-credit capstone course

have AG seniors do portfolios

talk to Fred DeMicco about what HRIM could do

establish a graduation requirement for a videotaped oral presentation (would
need space – proposed Communication Center would do)
Steve summarized our projects as:
1. 4-credit course
2. portfolios in the disciplines
3. Writing Fellows in Business
4. a Nursing cohort
5. the FIPSE preproposal
He also asked for whoever would like to attend the North Carolina workshop in May to
let him know as soon as possible.
Our Spring meetings will be on Thursdays, 3:30-5: 2/6, 2/20, 3/6, 3/20, 4/17, 5/1, 5/15
(if needed)