From OWI Committee to Standing Group, but the work goes on

In April at the CCCC meeting in Houston, the CCCC Committee for Effective Practices in OWI was settling in at 9 AM for its three-hour, packed-agenda annual closed meeting, when its members abruptly learned a surprising thing: Just that Wednesday, the CCCC Executive Committee had voted not to reconstitute us!

This was a tough moment for many committee members, and emotions were visceral for a variety of reasons. We called CCCC President Joyce Carter, who showed great leadership in coming to visit us on the spot. She fielded questions and explained her approach as Chair – a new approach – to committees, and she described the logistics of what had happened. She apologized for the way this occurred, reinforced the value of OWI work, and encouraged us to re-structure the OWI Committee as a CCCC Standing Group.

I do understand it all. Nobody at CCCC was out to get our committee. As many of you know, our committee had gone well beyond the boundaries – all for the good, of course –of a charge-driven, purpose-focused group. Specific, executable charges, Joyce explained, are what should characterize committees and structure their work. Groups with ongoing interests and work need a different structure. This makes sense.

Word of this has trickled out, so I wanted to let people know that our group has been speedily reconstituted as a CCCC Standing Group. CCCC was helpful fast-tracking our group’s application. Our Expert Panel, comprised of more than 30 OWI experts, and our structure are still intact. Our numerous in-progress projects will continue on, especially the OWI bibliography, spearheaded by Heidi Harris, and the survey of student experiences in OWCs, led by Diane Martinez.

I think this moment also helped people think about some of the other new sites for community, conversation, and contact for OWI teachers and scholars, especially The OWI Community, a growing Facebook site set up by Casey McArdle and Jessie Borgman, and the recently formed Global Society for Online Literacy Education, which I'll be talking more about here soon.

For our group, the name changes, but the work goes on. With the Standing Group, we will still have a clear structural connection with CCCC and NCTE. Such a visible, tangible presence is especially valuable to those of you those investing your careers teaching, administering, and researching OWI, people who often need not only a recognizable banner under which to gather to think, talk, and work, but an identifiable gathering “spot” to become life-long friends.