Magnus Gustafsson

For some time now, I have been the director of the division and we have continuously tried to work to integrate disciplinary language and communication into the university’s many programmes and levels. My work in this respect involves supporting division colleagues in course design and networking with course and programme managers across the university. But not all our activities are integrated courses and interventions of course. In my own teaching, I often facilitate PhD level writing courses to increase PhD researchers’ disciplinary discourse awareness to enable their careers as authors. I am also involved in some of our elective courses at the graduate and undergraduate level, FSP070 with its focus on technical communication and supervising it; and LSP530 which is an MTS course with a focus on the power of fiction to emphasise the changing perspectives required to take on the challenge of relating technology or engineering to the society and people for whom it is intended.

Despite an initial research background in English literature, with a thesis on the narrative techniques of Jenny Diski, my own more recent research and development work has had a dual focus with on the one hand an interest in collaborative learning, feedback issues including peer response, and writing-to-learn. I have also worked on staff development issues and tried to strive towards a more informed practice across the university with a focus on ‘teaching in English’, constructive alignment, and writing-to-learn. Currently, I work on a project with Chalmers colleagues and colleagues at Cape Peninsula University of Technology to explore and disseminate our understanding of working towards discursive expertise through deliberate integration of communication into programme courses to enhance student learning. I also work on a related project with colleagues in the US where we develop computer science and software engineering programmes by integrating communication learning outcomes in 6 courses that recur in most CS/SE programmes in US higher education.

Affiliations:
Co-Chair of the European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing (EATAW) http://www.eataw.eu
Ex-officio board member of the International Writing Centers Association (IWCA) http://writingcenters.org
Editorial board member to the WAC Clearing House http://wac.colostate.edu
Editorial board member to Across the Disciplines http://wac.colostate.edu/atd/

Member of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) http://www.ncte.org
Member of the planning group for Chalmers Learning Center http://www.chalmers.se/clc
Former national project manager of the Swedish Summer Institute