Re: Rx for Pharmacy writing

[JANE NELSON <JNELSON@UWYO.EDU>]

I am currently working with a pharmacy faculty member, finishing up a study we
did on a writing-intensive course that he taught.  He wanted numbers, so we did
a survey and a ETS holistic style assessment of two position papers his
students wrote--one at the beginning of the semester and one at the end.  I
haven't been able to find a whole lot of literature on the subject--Eric, are
you reading e-mail this summer?  Hope you'll respond!!

We have found some interesting results.  One of them is gender related.  My
pharmacist faculty friend says that pharmacy is experiencing a paradigm shift. 
Pharmacists are having to become much more service and people-oriented.  As a
result, pharmacy schools are having to figure out how to change the content and
the pedagogy in their courses.  At the same time, the gender is shifting
remarkably from a field that was once almost exclusively male.  It appears that
more and more pharmacy schools are recognizing the need (and benefits) of
writing.  It is also true, at least here, that pharmacy students resist havaing
to write--it's a serious resistance at first, kind of like what the engineering
students used to feel (but don't any longer because engineering across the
nation has recognized the need for communication skills).  As I write this, I
begin to realize that pharmacy is probably making the same kinds of discoveries
that engineering did--and that the pattern of change will perhaps be like what
engineering went through, including some pressure from accreditation agencies.

The position paper, by the way, seems to be a favored kind of writing
assignment--pharmacists need to be able to take informed positions on serious
social and public health issues (like home Aids testing kits, sex education,
mandatory vaccination, etc.).

My faculty collaborator discovered the benefit of having his students write
weekly short response papers to required readings.  He's a convert to WAC, but
at the same time his school just revamped the writing courses and he will no
longer be teaching a writing-intensive course.  C'est la vie.

Jane Nelson
University of Wyoming
jnelson@uwyo.edu