Computers & Composition invites readers to submit papers
for a special issue entitled "Questions for the 1990s"
to be published in March/April 1990. Individual papers should
focus on theoretical, pedagogical, and research issues in a specific
area of computers and composition studies. Suggested topics include,
among others, computers and linguistics, computers and teacher
education in composition, computers and reading, computers and
literacy, computers and political/social issues in composition
studies, computers and literature, computers and basic writers,
computers and literacy criticism, computers and hypertext/media,
computers and desktop publishing. Two-page abstracts for papers
should be submitted before February 15, 1989 to
Papers will be reviewed by members of the Computers & Composition Editorial Board, and final submissions will be invited by June 1, 1989.
All authors are encouraged to be issue oriented, forward looking,
far ranging, and cross disciplinary in identifying questions to
be addressed during the next decade. We hope this "Questions
for the 1990s' issue will help us set scholarly, pedagogical,
and research agendas for the next decade.
After a hiatus of two years, the popular Computers and Writing Conference will again be a regular feature of your schedule each May. The 1989 conference will encompass a broad view of computers and writing, including speakers in the fields of composition, hypertext, computer support for cooperative work, collaborative learning, decision sciences, computer science, and others. In addition, the program will include speakers not only from education, but from industry and research institutions.
The conference, which will be held at the Radisson University Hotel on the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota, will include industry exhibits.
Of special interest at this year's conference is the examination of how computers and computer networks are altering the way people work and think together in the writing classroom and in the world at large. Suggested topics for presentations and demonstrations include computer support for collaboration, computer-mediated discourse communities, uses of "groupware," decision-support software and systems, the anthropology of writing groups, empirical studies of computers and writing, approaches to evaluation, and things that work.
Proposals for papers to be presented at the Computers and Writing
conference are now being solicited. Please include in your proposal
three copies of a single-spaced, two-page abstract of your presentation.
Be sure to include also your name, affiliation, address, and daytime
telephone number. Please indicate if you will need audiovisual
equipment.
Send all information to
The submission deadline is January 20, 1989; acceptance notification
is March 15, 1989.
In 1987, the University of Pennsylvania funded a pilot research program to design computer-intensive composition courses for undergraduates. Four graduate students collaborated in preparing classes to be taught in a writing lab equipped with fifteen personal computers. During the 1987-88 school year, seven sections of computer-intensive composition were taught.
To help orient future teachers of such courses, the group has prepared a handbook. Although the Penn Lab uses IBM PCs, the approach of the handbook is adaptable to any type of personal computer. It represents a studied effort at course-and-classroom exercise design by people with experience in writing pedagogy but new to computer-intensive composition. It is hoped that teachers in similar positions will find leads or avoid pitfalls by reading it.
Twenty-one practical exercises, which can be directly copied or
adapted to different contexts, are preceded by a brief presentation
of the theoretical position that evolved with the experience of
teaching computer-intensive composition. The sixty-seven page
handbook stresses the benefits of working with a network, both
in the classroom and also in constructing theory and in designing
research. In addition, the authors provide pragmatic tips for
teaching composition in a lab, along with a short annotated bibliography
and a glossary. Interested teachers can receive a copy by mailing
three dollars to
Checks should be made payable to "Trustees of the University
of Pennsylvania."
The following software packages won 1988 EDUCOM/NCRIPTAL Higher
Education Software Awards. Computers & Composition extends
congratulations to
Best Writing
Best Curriculum Innovation-Writing
Distinguished Writing (Curriculum Innovation)
You are cordially invited to submit either a technical paper or a panel session proposal to the Program Committee of the 22nd Small College Computing Symposium (SCCS).
The SCCS addresses computer science education and the use of computers in a small college environment in all academic areas including humanities, social sciences, business, nursing, health science, and traditional sciences. Some specific areas of interest include the use of graphics in classroom instruction, accreditation, business/industry partnerships, faculty/student internships, and hardware and software selection. Other topics related to the themes of computing and education in small colleges are also welcome.
Submit a one-page abstract for papers before December 2, 1988 to
The Writing Centers Association, East Central region, will hold its Eleventh Annual Conference at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, OH (May 5-6, 1989). The theme of the conference is "Empowering Our Writing Centers, Empowering Our Students." Proposals should address not only the standard concerns of writing centers, but also the position of centers within the schools. Persons interested in participating should submit three copies of a substantive one-page proposal by December 16, 1988.
Send proposal to or request information from