What is WAC
Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC)
- Pedgogical movement from the 1980s to value writing as a method of learning
- One of the longest educational reform movements in higher education in the US
- Uses writing to boost critical thinking skills in all academic disciplines
- Acknowledges the differences in writing conventions across the disciplines (WID)
- Believes that students can best learn to write in their areas by practicing those discipline-specific writing conventions
- All students can learn to become more proficient writers
Core Features of WAC
- “writing to learn”: writing should be an integral part of the learning process throughout a student’s education, not merely in required writing courses but across the entire curriculum
- Discipline-specific writing: writing is highly situated and tied to a field’s discourse and ways of knowing and most effectively guided by those with expertise in that discipline
- Emphasis on low-stakes writing, scaffolded assignments
WAC @ CUNY
WAC/ WID at CUNY began with the 1999 Board Resolution endorsing the centrality of writing to a university education and calling for the integration of writing across the curriculum.