The Writing and Communication Program (WCP) in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) has announced funding for two initiatives in the spring semester through their Leadership Opportunity Grants. The grants support projects that positively affect the WCP in the areas of mental health and well-being; support for teaching WCP courses; workload, time, and energy management; job and career search; or faculty diversity.

The first project, “Otter.Ai Automatic Transcription Services for the Composition Classroom,” will fund WCP instructors to use an Otter.ai pro subscription during the spring semester. The Podcasting and Curricular Innovation Committee — which is chaired by Marion L. Brittain Fellow Eric Lewis and comprised of other Brittain Fellows Corey Goergen, Josh Cohen, Lee Hibbard, and Molly Slavin — proposed the project.

“The funds from the Leadership Opportunity Grant will provide [WCP] instructors with semester-long subscriptions to Otter.ai, which they can use to generate transcripts of audio from student projects, class discussions, and/or lectures in their classes,” the proposal notes. “Those transcripts make these materials more accessible and useable for a wide range of students.”

WCP faculty interested in using Otter.ai in the spring semester should submit a brief application detailing how they plan to use the service in their classroom to Andy Frazee, senior academic professional and director of WCP, at andy.frazee@lmc.gatech.edu and Goergen at corey.goergen@lmc.gatech.edu.

The second project is called “Advancing Antiracism and Inclusion in the Classroom and Beyond: Reading Emma Dabiri’s What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition.” It aims to create a reading group that will provide support for mental health and well-being, in addition to offering support for teaching WCP courses. Dabiri’s global and intersectional approach will help reading group members develop anti-racist pedagogical strategies for teaching students in WCP courses, in particular.

The grant will fund the purchase of 22 books for reading group participants. Members of the reading group will participate in a panel-style podcast episode for The Office Hour in April 2022. Group members also will be encouraged to plan and produce a deliverable that matches their own professional needs, such as an outline for a peer-reviewed article, an article for TECHStyle, language for future syllabi, a set of lesson plans, an assignment description, or plans for a module or course unit. Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellows Shinjini Chattopadhyay, Jeff Howard, Eric Lewis, Rachel Robinson, and Kendra Slayton proposed the project.

“Dabiri provides an informative transnational and intersectional approach, which makes her anti-racism informative for the Georgia Tech community,” said Chattopadhyay. “Our reading group will help WCP faculty members reflect on how we can transfer Dabiri’s intersectional framework to the classroom. We will discuss the various ways in which we can modify our inclusive pedagogical methods to address intersectional concerns.”

A signup form was sent to WCP faculty on Monday, Jan. 17, to indicate their interest in joining the reading group, with the first meeting set to commence in February.

The Writing and Communication Program is a unit in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication.