> Maybe the place to start is with a kind of market research question:
> where else are writing teachers/composition and rhetoric
> theorists/computer pedagogist needed or could they be needed and how much
> are they, in dollars, worth there?
>
In rhetorical terms, sounds like we're asking first about the
needs/perceptions/ expectations of the audience. Is that the place to
start, or do we begin by asking what ethos we want to promote and what we
feel we have to offer--and then work to convince others that they should
view us THAT way instead of the ways they perhaps already view us. What I
mean is, if we were to ask people on the street what the "need" from
English teachers, I'm afraid we'd get trapped into a pretty limited view
of what we can offer. I'd rather start by considering my relationship to
English/rhetoric/ etc and work out a plan for "selling" that definition.
--Phyllis