Writing Programs Worldwide - Profiles of Academic Writing in Many Places, 2012a

Bräuer and Girgensohn
Nevertheless, what seemed promising in the beginning wasn’t easy in the
process of defining the role of the writing center beyond a “fixit shop” (North
1987). It was not before the success of an EU-sponsored project called “Scriptorium,”
which Gerd directed from 2005 until 2008 (see also Bräuer, 2009;
and Bräuer, this volume) that the writing center gained substantial attention
among the university’s faculty. This project brought together teams of literacy
specialists from eight European countries who developed a modularized training
program for student teachers and in-service teachers in reading and writing
development and support. As a result, high school writing/reading centers appeared
in Poland, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland,
and Germany. Training materials in the first languages of these countries
as well as in French and English can be accessed through an e-learning platform
( http://www.scriptorium-project.org) where teachers gather not only for inhouse
workshops but also exchange ideas and experience across the educational
pyramid and across national borders.
With this training program in place, Gerd had hoped to lay the foundation
for further steps in institutional development at the University of Education,
Freiburg. The university, unfortunately, was neither able on a financial basis nor
willing in conceptual terms to move on toward a full-fledged WAC and WID
concept. Writing training remained isolated in German studies and in the writing
center, although the latter instituted additional certificate courses on journalistic
education and on portfolio instruction in secondary education. These
courses are sometimes team-taught by colleagues from the German studies department,
foreign languages department, and the departments of education and
psychology. Gerd still hopes that this interdisciplinary effort will, in the near
future, result in a more substantial change with regard to a more central role of
writing in all parts of teacher education in Freiburg.
Symptomatic of this very slow pace in institutional development is what
has been happening since 2007 with regard to implementing portfolios as an
emerging genre of academic teaching and learning and an alternative form of
individual and institutional assessment. Despite the fact that the university
sponsored the development of a concept and testing of a prototype, the institution
is currently not ready to engage in all consequences necessary to successfully
implement a college-wide ePortfolio system; i.e., mandating a steering
group by the university president. While some changes have already been made
to the exam rules and guidelines, the university was not willing yet to make a
firm commitment to a well-working ePortfolio web application. While recent
portfolio research (e.g., Baumgartner et al., 2009) does provide enough evidence
and guidance on the best digital applications, this research is not being
discussed freely and openly among the faculty. The part of the administrative
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