Bielefeld writing laboratory

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The Bielefeld writing laboratory is an interdisciplinary advice center for scientific writing (called " writing center ") at Bielefeld University . It was founded in 1993 as the first institution of its kind in Germany.

founding

After a trip to the USA, Andrea Frank , now head of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Bielefeld University, where the writing laboratory is located, was still a PostDoc in the field of educational science, and had the idea of ​​setting up a writing laboratory in Bielefeld. Based on the tradition of the American Writing Centers , she and Gabriela Ruhmann developed an initial concept that was tailored to the tradition and needs of a German university. The writing laboratory began its work with an open writing advisory service for students and doctoral candidates. On the basis of consulting experience and with the help of relevant literature from the US context, workshop concepts were developed in the early years of the Bielefeld writing laboratory and subsequently adapted more and more to the needs of people who write scientific qualifications.

Writing in the subjects

With the introduction of Bachelor's and Master's degrees in 2002, the writing laboratory was given the task of contributing to the further development of teaching in the courses at Bielefeld University. Since then, the writing laboratory has had a focus on "Writing in the Subjects", which Stefanie Haacke and Swantje Lahm developed in cooperation with teachers from various disciplines. New advanced and advanced training concepts for university teaching have been developed that focus on the development of discipline-specific writing activities. Since 2013, the writing laboratory has been supporting the courses at Bielefeld University in the further development of central introductory events for Bachelor students. This work, which aims to make it easier for students to acquire the specific ways of thinking and working in their chosen discipline with the help of writing activities, sets new accents in German university didactics . Central to the cooperation of the writing laboratory with the subjects is an approach that helps to make the implicit of the scientific work explicit. The series "Writing in Studies" published by Swantje Lahm at utb is also committed to this basic idea, in which an easily understandable introduction to the ways of thinking and communicating in individual subjects is given.

Approaches to the further development of specialist curricula

Since 2016, the writing laboratory has been helping Bielefeld University's degree programs to review and revise the proportion and quality of writing tasks and written exams in the specialist course. The procedure adapted by the University of Minnesota ("WEC" - Writing Enriched Curriculum) first ascertains at which points in the curriculum which types of texts are written, and which basic assumptions, goals and expectations teachers and students associate with writing activities and written exams are common in the respective subject course. The procedure ensures that, if possible, all the teachers involved in the course and all students in a cohort of the course take part in the survey. The collected data is processed and presented to the lecturers of the course. On the basis of the findings, the lecturers develop the course further and implement, postpone and adjust writing activities in the course of the compulsory courses to be completed with the aim of intensifying and improving the specialist course.  

Peer tutoring

In 2002, the writing laboratory organized the first conference in Germany on the subject of peer tutoring . This form of student writing advice by qualified fellow students, previously completely unknown at German universities, was first introduced at the writing center of the European University Viadrina and in 2008 also at Bielefeld University. Since then, the writing laboratory has qualified and accompanied a team of student writing consultants who are organized into a team of student consultants and tutors established under the heading of "Peer Learning" and fellow students in different settings have the opportunity to exchange ideas about writing during their studies give.

Conceptual background

The process-oriented approach is central to the workshops and seminars of the Bielefeld writing laboratory. H. the view of the numerous cognitive and manual steps involved in writing a scientific paper, and the knowledge that the strategies to cope with these steps vary individually and depending on the context. Important suggestions for the concept and approach come from Otto Kruse , who laid the basis for process-oriented writing didactics in German-speaking countries with his book "No fear of the empty sheet" (1993), and from Gabriela Ruhmann, who runs the writing laboratory together with Andrea Frank in the development phase from 1993 to 1997. Important building blocks in the concept of the writing laboratory come from the Danish writing didactics Lotte Rienecker and Peter Stray Jorgensen , who set up the writing center at the University of Copenhagen . The conceptual approach of the writing laboratory to the development of writing-intensive teaching in the subjects is based on the American Writing in the Disciplines , which has a special role in the field of Writing across the curriculum insofar as it is the close connection between technical writing, thinking and Emphasizes production practices and thus the great potential that the clarification of learning and study goals holds in the design of writing tasks for students. Theoretical thought leaders and practical pioneers in this direction are Michael Carter, Katherine Gottschalk and Keith Hjortshoj . The peer tutoring approach behind the founding of the student writing counseling skript.um is based on the theoretical preparatory work by Kenneth Bruffee , Harvey Kail and Paula Gillespie , who use the work of student writing tutors primarily as a contribution to the development of thinking and learning Create student autonomy and have developed appropriate training concepts for peer tutors. The writing laboratory cooperates z. B. in the European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing (EATAW) with other initiatives, projects and higher education institutions that make writing in higher education the subject of research and development.

literature

  • Brandl, Heike; Vollmer, Anna (2014): Writing laboratory and PunktUm. The writing centers of Bielefeld University. In: Knorr, Dagmar; Neumann, Ursula (Ed.): Multilingual teacher training students write. Writing centers at German universities. Münster, New York: Waxmann. Pp. 141-153. 
  • Bruffee, Kenneth (1993): A Short Course in Writing. Composition, Collaborative Learning, and Constructive Reading. New York: HarperCollinsCollegePublishers.
  • Buschmeier, Matthias & Kaduk, Svenja. (2016). Think - write - understand German studies. From the writing-oriented introduction to the curriculum. Journal for University Development. October 11, 3217 / zfhe-11-02 / 12.
  • Carter, Michael (2007): Ways of Knowing, Doing, and Writing in the Disciplines. In: CCC 58: 3 / Feb. 2007.
  • Furchner, Ingrid; Great measure, Ruth ; Ruhmann, Gabriela (1999): Writing advice or study advice? Two facilities, two ways of access. In: Kruse, Otto; Jakobs, Eva-Maria; Ruhmann, Gabriela (Ed.): Key Competency Writing. Concepts, methods, projects for writing advice and writing didactics at the university. Bielefeld: UniversitätsVerlagWebler. Pp. 37-59.
  • Furchner, Ingrid; Ruhmann, Gabriela; Tente, Christina (1999): From writing advice for students to teaching advice for lecturers. In: Kruse, Otto; Jakobs, Eva-Maria; Ruhmann, Gabriela (Ed.): Key Competency Writing. Concepts, methods, projects for writing advice and writing didactics at the university. Bielefeld: Webler University Press. Pp. 61-71.
  • Gillespie, Paula; Learner, Neal (2007): The Longman Guide to Peer Tutoring. Harlowe: Longman.
  • Frank, Andrea; Haacke, Stefanie; Tente, Christina (2003): Contacts - Conflicts - Cooperation. A Report from the Writing Lab of Bielefeld University. In: Björk, Lennart; Bräuer, Gerd; Rienecker, Lotte; Jörgensen, Peter Stray (Ed.): Teaching Academic Writing in European Higher Education. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Pp. 165-174.
  • Haacke, Stefanie; Frank, Andrea (2006): Typically German? From silence to writing. In: Kissling, Walter; Perko, Gudrun (ed.): Scientific writing in university teaching. Reflections, desiderata, concepts. Innsbruck: StudienVerlag. Pp. 35-44.
  • Haacke, Stefanie; Frank, Andrea (2010): Do the 'Shift from Teaching to Learning' yourself! - Thoughts on the self-positioning of a new caste at the universities. In: Tobina Brinker, Peter Tremp, Johannes Wildt (Eds.): Course development, subject-related and interdisciplinary university didactics. Focus on university didactics, vol. 121, Bielefeld 2010.
  • Haacke, Stefanie (2017): Limits of writing advice. In: Writing Center of the Ruhr University Bochum (ed.): 'Make new out of old' - didactic writing concepts, methods and exercises. Festschrift for Gabriela Ruhmann. Bielefeld: UVW. Pp. 9-20.
  • Frank, Andrea; Haacke, Stefanie; Lahm, Swantje (2013): Writing in studies and work. Stuttgart: Metzler.
  • Frank, Andrea; Lahm, Swantje. (2016) The writing laboratory as a learning organization. In: Hirsch-Weber A., ​​Scherer S. (eds) Scientific writing in natural and technical sciences. Springer Spectrum, Wiesbaden. Pp. 9-28.
  • Gottschalk, Catherine; Hjortshoj, Keith (2004): The Elements of Teaching Writing. A Resource for Instructors in All Disciplines. Boston / New York: Bedford / St. Martin's.
  • Lahm, Swantje (2010): Teaching in Science. The qualification of doctoral students for writing-intensive teaching at the John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines, Cornell University, USA, In: Das Hochschulwesen 1/2010, pp. 21-27.
  • Lahm, Swantje (2016): Writing in teaching. Opladen & Toronto: Verlag Barbara Budrich.
  • Ruhmann, Gabriela (2014): Learning to write scientifically at German universities - a brief interim report after 20 years. In: Knorr, Dagmar; Neumann, Ursula (Ed.): Multilingual teacher training students write. Writing centers at German universities. Münster, New York: Waxmann. Pp. 34-53.
  • Scott, Andrea (2017). 'We would be well advised to agree on our own basic principles': Writing as an Agent of Discipline-Building in Writing Studies in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Liechtenstein. Journal of Academic Writing, 7 (1), 43-58.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Overview of the Ruhr University Bochum
  2. ↑ Daniela Liebscher. Review of Boeglin, Martha, Scientifically Working Step by Step: Study Calmly and Effectively and Frank, Andrea; Haacke, Stefanie; Lahm, Swantje, Key Competencies: Writing in Studies and Work and Kolmer, Lothar; Rob-Santer, Carmen, writing history: from seminar to doctoral thesis and Schmale, Wolfgang, writing guide history: learning scientific writing step by step and Sommer, Roy, writing skills: writing successfully scientifically and Wolfsberger, Judith, freely written: courage , Freedom and strategy for academic theses. H-Soz-u-Kult, H-Net Reviews. May, 2008.
  3. ↑ Intro to an interview on Deutschlandfunk on October 28, 2008


Coordinates: 52 ° 2 ′ 20.6 "  N , 8 ° 29 ′ 33.7"  E