Writing Centers and Disability: Enabling Writers Through an Inclusive Philosophy

In its Position Statement on Disability and Writing Centers, the International Writing Centers Association (IWCA) recognizes and emphasizes the relationship between writing centers and disability and “encourages scholarship that explores the ways disability intersects with writing center work.” The IWCA further encourages writing centers to be inclusive to all writers by adopting “communication that takes into account various learning styles or ways of processing language.” We too, argue that writing centers should be welcoming environments for all writers and that they should engage with their writers as unique beings, making accessible to them the individuation of instruction and support. Writing centers should be spaces where the multiple barriers that students experience in their writing are addressed and a variety of options are provided.University Writing Cente

Inclusive Writing in Video Game Documentation: A Technical Communication Approach

This article examines the current conversation of inclusive writing in the technical communication field. Historically, the field of technical writing has been considered a straightforward and unbiased form of communication but I look to identify the pitfalls associated with these characteristics, specifically in the study of inclusive writing. By examining technical documentation through a traditionally gender-biased field of video game development, I present issues and suggest ways to implement inclusive writing through documentation. By envisioning and creating inclusive content in video games, we can expand these solutions to other areas of technical communication and strengthen the influence we have in our respective communities, ultimately benefitting the market, consumers, and communicators

Researching Writing Program Administration Expertise in Action: A Case Study of Collaborative Problem Solving as Transdisciplinary Practice

Theorizing WPA expertise as problem-oriented, stakeholder-inclusive practice, we apply the twenty-first-century paradigm of transdisciplinarity to a campus WID Initiative to read and argue that data-driven research capturing transdisciplinary WPA methods in action will allow us to better understand, represent, and leverage rhetoric-composition/writing studies’ disciplinary expertise in twenty-first-century higher education

Toward an Inclusive Creative Writing

The creative writing workshop has existed since the early part of the 20th century, but does it adequately serve the students who come to it today? While the workshop is often thought of as a form of student-centered pedagogy, it turns out that workshop conversations serve to marginalize a range of aesthetic orientations and the cultural histories to which they belong. Given the shifting demographics of higher education, it is time to re-evaluate the creative writing curriculum and move literary writing pedagogy toward a more inclusive, equitable model. Toward an Inclusive Creative Writing makes the argument that creative writing stands upon problematic assumptions about what counts as valid artistic production, and these implicit beliefs result in exclusionary pedagogical practices. To counter this tendency of creative writing, this book proposes a revised curriculum that rests upon 12 threshold concepts that can serve to transform the teaching of literary writing craft. The book also has a companion website www.criticalcreativewriting.org offering supplemental materials such as lesson plans and course materials

Formulating the International Tax Debate: Where Does Formulary Apportionment Fit?

As the contributions in this volume are being written, the Inclusive Framework nations, a group drawn together by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as part of its Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project, are in the midst of a consultation process intended to revise the international corporate tax profit allocation and nexus rules. At the end of May 2019, the OECD released its Programme of Work to Develop a Consensus Solution to the Tax Challenges Arising from the Digitalisation of the Economy. At the beginning of June 2019, this Programme was endorsed by the G20 Finance Ministers during their ministerial meeting in Fukuoka, Japan. To use the OECD’s terminology, the proposals under consideration to revise the current nexus and profit allocation rules would create a ‘new taxing right’ to be allocated to the ‘market jurisdiction’. The Programme of Work describes certain technical issues that must be considered when making such fundamental changes to the international tax architecture. The OECD’s work on these major revisions to international tax norms is being undertaken under the auspices of the Inclusive Framework. The Inclusive Framework arose out of a G20 request that the OECD create a body in which all interested countries – regardless of G20 or OECD membership – could participate in the BEPS project on an equal footing. The subsequently developed Inclusive Framework allows interested countries to work with the OECD/G20 on developing standards on BEPS-related issues. As of this writing, over 125 countries have joined the Inclusive Framework and committed to implementing the comprehensive BEPS package. It was clear from the outset that the Inclusive Framework could be used as a stand-in for a world tax organization. In the current OECD project on profit allocation, it is in effect being used in that manner for the first time. The Inclusive Framework is not currently considering a full move to formulary apportionment, as that term is understood in this volume. Yet evaluation of the proposals under consideration by the Inclusive Framework suggests that each and every one can be improved by reappraising formulary apportionment. Accordingly, the purpose of this chapter is to highlight the relationships between the options under consideration in the current OECD-led process and ‘formulary apportionment’, as that term is used elsewhere in this volume. Section 11.02 of the chapter briefly offers some background on the major developments – arguably, tectonic shifts – of the last few years in the international tax arena. Section 11.03 describes the proposals for revising the profit allocation rules that are currently under consideration by the Inclusive Framework. Section 11.04 fleshes out ‘straw men’ that develop these ideas in greater detail, with the purpose of highlighting that the proposals that are under consideration by the Inclusive Framework at the time of this writing are partially formulary approaches and that lessons from formulary apportionment likely carry over to any partially formulary system that may be developed multilaterally in the future

Univerzalna žanrska sfera: kurikularni model povezovanja žanrskega pristopa in univerzalne zasnove učenja za spodbujanje pravičnega poučevanja akademskega pisanja pri študentih angleščine kot dodatnega jezika

This paper proposes the design of an instructional model, referred to as the universal genre sphere, for teaching academic writing in a manner appropriate to all learners, but developed especially with consideration for the needs of English as additional language students with or without diagnosed learning differences. Despite growing research on, variously, second-language writing, English as an additional language and learning differences, there has been relatively little work that explores approaches to the intersections of these topics. Thus, the proposed universal genre sphere model is founded on the pillars of universal design for learning and the tenets of the genre-based approach, especially the teaching-learning cycle, to create more equitable and inclusive, as well as effective, learning environments. The universal genre sphere balances inclusive design that draws upon students’ interests, while breaking learning into manageable and adjustable segments, thus making academic writing more accessible to a greater number of learners. The combination of universal design for learning and the genre-based approach represents an opportunity to create a shift in second-language writing instruction (and, potentially, in L1 writing instruction) that aligns with the principles of inclusive education by reducing barriers in the classroom and providing students with multiple pathways to participate, which could do much to advance knowledge about more inclusive, equitable and effective writing instruction for all learners. (DIPF/Orig.

Changing Student Teachers' Attitudes Towards Disability and Inclusion

A total of 274 preservice teacher education students were surveyed at the beginning and end of a one-semester unit on Human Development and Education which combined formal instruction with structured fieldwork experiences. The latter included interviewing community members regarding their knowledge of Down syndrome and opinions on inclusive education, and writing an associated report. At the end of semester, not only had student teachers acquired more accurate knowledge of Down syndrome, together with more positive attitudes towards the inclusive education of children with Down syndrome, but their attitudes towards disability in general had also changed, and they reported greater ease when interacting with people with disabilities. The study illustrated the value of combining information-based instruction with structured fieldwork experiences in changing attitudes towards disability and inclusion. It also demonstrated that raising awareness of one disability may lead to changes in attitudes towards disability in general

TEACHERS' TRAINING AND INCLUSIVE METACOGNITIVE TOOLS

A ResearchTraining project has been set up involving people attending courses for teaching qualification; the aim was to develop metacognitive tools to create inclusive reflection methodologies aimed at enhancing mental skills dealing with inclusive education. The theoretical framework combines the studies in professional Education and Teachers' Thinking with reflection-based and metacognitive training paradigms. By means of workshops, a reflecive-oriented metacognitive tool for inclusive training has been created; four individual writing activities were carried out, including professional writing, maps and case studies, together with a group project. The results showed the need to develop new educational devices and a shared language of teachers' professional knowledge that can be useful to adapt any context in the inclusive perspective of the so-called Education for all

Impact Investing and Inclusive Business Development in Africa: A research agenda

Impact investing aims to create sustainable social and environmental impacts for investee enterprises and communities as well as adequate financial returns. As an attractive emerging market investment strategy, it involves development finance institutions and philanthropic foundations partnering with mainstream private venture capital to create impact funds with the goal of catalysing inclusive market-based enterprise development in low income countries. In this paper, we present findings from a scoping study discussing the nature and operations of impact funds in African economies and the associated research opportunities on this topic. To facilitate the assessment, we reviewed the existing literature on impact investing, considering this along three interrelated perspectives, namely 1) impact investing as development finance policy for economic development, 2) impact investing as a development in socially responsible investing, and 3) impact investing as capacity-building for inclusive business development in African economies. The interplay of these perspectives shapes the constitution and operational strategies of specific impact funds and provide a conceptual context for understanding impact investing at country level. Drawing on interviews, email exchanges and roundtable discussions with representative global and country-specific (Sierra Leone, Cameroon and Kenya) stakeholders our analysis makes three contributions to the impact investing debate. First we explore a model for understanding the ways in which impact funds are being channeled into inclusive businesses in Africa and the associated catalytic effects on poverty alleviation, social and economic development. Second we identified and tested access to, a range of impact funds and associated sector-specific inclusive businesses for future case writing – hopefully ‘failures’ as well as ‘successes’. Finally, we reflect on some of the unanswered managerial and policy-related questions that require a more rigorous inquiry-led appraisal to better understand and enhance the contribution of impact funds to inclusive business development in Africa