2022 WEC Institute: Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the purpose of the WEC institute?
This institute is designed to provide an expanding community of WEC practitioners, researchers, and cross-disciplinary faculty members with an opportunity to collectively consider theoretical and pragmatic components of the WEC model, to celebrate its diverse context-specific applications, and to discuss pragmatics involved with programmatic launches, implementation, assessment, and sustainability.
What’s the difference between a virtual institute and a webinar?
While webinars are typically monodirectional and presentation-oriented, institutes are discursive. The WEC Institute hosts and facilitators hope to inspire interaction with questions and ideas and between participants. Participants who are relatively new to WEC are invited to become familiar with the approach and model by accessing published resources before the start of the institute.
What sorts of sessions compose this institute?
How are teams intended to work?
At an in-person institute, hallway meet-ups, lunch conversations, and evening activities allow folks to talk, debrief, and make connections. We hope that dedicated “team time” can give institute participants a structured opportunity for those unstructured interactions. We anticipate that teams of faculty members and administrators from a single institution will gather together to consider how the WEC model is working (or might work) on their sites. For teams composed of members from different institutions, we hope membership will make it easier for participants to get notes and ideas from all sessions by dividing up and comparing notes. If a particular time slot has multiple sessions you wish to attend, your team can help ensure that you’re covering the most ground and get shared resources.
We’ve scheduled three "team time" sessions during the two-day event to provide teams with time to meet together. On day 1, members will introduce themselves, identify core questions they would like to address, and determine which members will participate in institute sessions. We've planned two more official team time sessions for debriefing and future planning.
How are teams organized?
We've tried to create teams who come from related contexts as much as possible. Some participants registered as members of pre-formed institutional teams while others registered as individuals interested in joining a cross-institutional team. Although some participants indicated that they were only attending one or two sessions and thus preferred not to join a team, more than half of institute attendees are on teams.
With regard to team size, in our initial planning, we imagined teams of six people. Some institutional teams are larger (up to 11 or 12 members); others are smaller (2-3 members). Occasionally, participants from the same institution asked to be sorted individually to maximize their networks. If a team has fewer than six people, we will combine institutional teams or add team-interested people.
How will I know which team I’m on?
On or before April 29th you’ll be notified of your team roster and given a team number. That number will indicate your team’s Zoom breakout room during the institute’s three “Team Time” sessions. As noted above, in Team Time sessions, participants will need to SELECT their breakout rooms from the list. Although we cannot pre-populate rooms and whisk you away, WEC team staff will be in the Team Hall to assist you in finding the correct breakout room. We’ll also create some overflow rooms for folks interested in different configurations.
Unfortunately, these breakout room sessions cannot be recorded, even for those who might request this accommodation. We recommend using collaborative documents to keep track of your team notes and schedules. If a member of your team requires recording to access the content of these sessions equitably, please let us know, and we can create alternative arrangements.
Do I have to be on a team to participate in this institute?
Nope. During sessions designated for team meetings, we’ll provide optional meeting spaces for those who are participating as team members.
Who’s facilitating sessions?
A fabulous group of facilitators and panelists! Find them here.
Who are my fellow registrants?
On or before April 29th, on the institute’s People page, you’ll find lists of all participants and to a list of teams.
How (and when) do I access a session?
We recommend that participants use their teams to ensure that everyone has opportunities to gather information and ideas for all sessions that are of collective interest. Using the institute’s overview and agenda, members can overview both days’ sessions and identify sessions by title, topic, type, and description in advance.
When the institute opens on May 5th, registered participants will find links to individual session zoom rooms on the Day 1 and Day 2 pages. Note that access to these documents and links is granted to the email address registrants used in registering for the institute. Also, Institute sessions are restricted to registrants, so we ask that not use the invite feature for these Zoom rooms and that you avoid sharing Zoom links.
What accessibility accommodations are available to us?
As virtual host for the WEC Institute, the University of Minnesota’s WAC team is committed to providing full and equitable participation to all participants. Some specifics:
Automated synchronous closed captioning will be enabled in Zoom rooms. Caption transcripts will not be collected, retained, edited, or distributed unless necessary for the use of assistive technology or other accessibility issues.
Similarly, recordings of zoom sessions can be made available for participants who use assistive technologies or require accommodation but will not be disseminated or archived online. We will encourage participants to reach out directly to presenters for published work.
Session facilitators and panelists will be encouraged to upload .pdf copies of presentations and/or other materials before the institute.
Participants who use assistive technologies, who may require accommodations, or who have questions about this or other accessibility-related issues should contact Dan Emery, demery@umn.edu
Will materials from sessions be available via the institute site?
Yes! Materials that session facilitators and panelists want to share with registered participants will be located on the Session Materials page of the institute website. We plan to keep the site up indefinitely.
Who can assist me with Google document permissions, Zoom links, or Zoom hosting privileges?
Access to materials associated with institute sessions will be provided to participants on May 5th via the email account they used in registering. If you have any issues accessing materials, Zoom links, or need Zoom hosting privileges, email wac@umn.edu.
Will we be able to see recordings of sessions later?
No. Because the institute is designed to sponsor synchronous discussion, institute sessions will not be distributed unless an accessibility accommodation has been worked out in advance (see above for more on accessibility).
I'm not from writing studies---so, what do all these acronyms stand for?
WAC (Writing Across the Curriculum) is an approach, research area, and social movement that conceives of writing as both a tool to learning and a tool to communicate across all curricular areas. For more information, see the WAC Clearinghouse site.
WID (Writing in the Disciplines) is a research area and pedagogical approach focused on analyzing and assigning written discourse conventions as they have evolved within academic disciplines.
WEC (Writing-Enriched Curriculum) is a faculty-driven approach to ensuring that locally relevant modes of writing and writing instruction are adequately integrated into undergraduate curricula. The WEC model was developed at the University of Minnesota. For more information, this site, and this resource list.