Piecing it Together: Making, Tinkering, and DIY in our Colleges

TYCA-PNW & Pacific Northwest Writing Center Association Joint Annual Conference

Cornish College of the Arts
Seattle, WA
October 25-26, 2013

Proposals Deadline: June 17th, 2013 Submit your proposal via PNWCA.org

We may witness DIY (Do-It-Yourself) culture all around us as part of a larger shift towards producing rather than consuming: urban homesteaders with chicken coops on their tiny back porches; fan art or mashups that reimagine or pay homage to subcultural icons; Trickster campaigns that utilize grassroots community support to fund art and invention; and the resurgence of arts and crafts culture that celebrates a renaissance of all things handmade. Along with the shift towards a culture of production, comes a shift in mindset:

• Embracing “maker culture” in taking everyday objects and modifying them for new, previously unimagined purposes
• Seeing constraints as opportunities for invention rather than as limitations
• Approaching production as an act of “tinkering,” “bricolage” or “hacking” -- opportunity for low-stakes play that emphasizes trial and error rather than success or failure
• A privileging of peer-to-peer, collaborative learning which promotes intrinsic motivation an

The critical question at the heart of our 2013 conference is:

How do we see ourselves practicing the DIY maker mindset in our institutions, classrooms, and writing centers? In what ways are we making new and innovative things out of existing space, place, pedagogy, and objects?

Welcome! TYCA-Pacific Northwest is part of the College Section of the National Council of Teachers of English. We remain committed to our original purposes:

• to provide professional activities for teachers in two-year colleges of the Pacific Northwest region;
• to sponsor an annual conference on the teaching of English in two-year colleges in the region;
• to encourage research, study and writing by teachers in two-year colleges (see links at our resources page);
• to recognize excellence in teaching, we invite nominations for the Lisa Ede Teaching Excellence Award; two faculty, one full-time and one adjunct, may receive this award each year, which includes a cash grant of $500.

As the fastest-growing of the seven regions of the TYCA, we welcome your interest and invite your membership in the organization.

Dodie Forrest and Cheryl Siemers
Chairs, Regional Executive Committee