Greetings from the International Writing Centers Association!
Registration is now open for the IWCA@CCCC Collaborative in Spokane, WA on April 3, 2024. While we haven’t yet closed the submission proposal window, those who plan to attend, whether presenting or not, are welcome to register for the Collaborative at https://iwcamembers.org . IWCA members will see the registration link on the right side of your member landing page, and non-members can sign up for a free account that will allow them to register without becoming an IWCA member.
IWCA members can register for $140 (professionals) or $105 (students)
Non-members can register for $160 (professionals) or $120 (students)
The deadline for regular registration is March 25, 2024. On-site registration at a higher rate will also be available.
Below is more information about the Collaborative. You can email Julia Bleakney (jbleakney) or Christopher Ervin (chris.ervin) with questions.
Thank you,
Your IWCA Conference Team
2024 IWCA Collaborative
Date: Wednesday, April 3, 2024
Check in: 7:30 AM
Site: Gonzaga University, John J. Hemmingson Center
Address: 702 E. Desmet Ave., Spokane, WA 99202
Chair: Julia Bleakney
Submit a Proposal at https://iwcamembers.org and read the call for proposals at https://writingcenters.org/events/2024-iwca-collaborative/
What does registration include?
- Access to all sessions
- Breakfast refreshments, coffee, snacks
- Lunch
- End-of-day reception
Without a doubt, generative AI (AI that can produce text, images, sound, audio, or video) is one of the hottest topics of conversation among writing center administrators and tutors. Many writing centers have had to quickly learn about the technology and its affordances and limitations for our writing centers since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late 2022. National writing organizations, including AWAC, MLA, and CCCC, have responded to the launch of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools with public statements or white papers. MLA and CCCC issued a joint statement that recognizes that AI writing tools are the latest in a long line of writing technologies, reinforces the human element at the heart of writing practice, and expresses concern for the potential threat to writing and language programs that AI technology poses (4). Whether you believe that generative AI spells the future demise of writing instruction and support, or even education as we know it; you are excited and hopeful about the future potential of generative AI to revolutionize how we write and communicate; or you are somewhere in the middle–each and every writing center will be called upon in some capacity to grapple with AI in the months and years ahead.
In this year’s IWCA Collaborative, you are invited to join writing center colleagues as we learn more about and reckon with generative AI and its potential to enhance and/or limit the ways we provide support to writers and instructors and engage with conversations on our campus about inclusive educational practices. You do not need to be an expert in order to propose a session for the Collaborative, and we hope to receive a wide range of proposals that explore writing center-related AI issues across the entire spectrum of expertise, from beginning users learning to use and critically evaluate AI technology, to experienced users developing AI writing center policies, to those immersed in developing AI writing center research questions. We expect and even encourage that some proposers will simply want to use the conference space to work through challenging issues related to the topic of AI use in the writing center. We welcome proposals from writing center administrators, instructors or WPAs who work with writing centers, as well as graduate and undergraduate students.
Chris Ervin (he/him/his)
Assistant Director | Oregon State University Writing Center
The Valley Library, 2750B