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00:18 Alanna Frost: I really think if we're gonna think about professional technological development and maybe I'll refer to it as "TPD" during our conversation, I think we have to start with the brass tacks of cost because, that's gonna be a concern if we think of this as what we would like to see happen, what is it going to cost attendees or participants? So if we could each start with when we attended and how much it cost us, I think that'd be a good starting point.

00:44 Alanna Frost: And I guess I will start with me. 'Cause I attended in 2009, probably the most recent, and my tuition was $1,800 at that time, my school paid for that because I applied for an institutional mini grant. And so my out of pocket expenses were probably close to $500 in that I paid for my own gas, bought the friends I stayed with a host gift, and ate out a couple of nights and had some beverages so maybe a total of $500. So that's about it. And, what about you, Rik? 

01:16 Rik Hunter: I went to Anne's Writing New Media Workshop in summer of 2006, and I was a grad student at that time, just finishing my second year and the instructional cost were $1,500. I only lived about five or six hours away from Michigan Tech being in Madison, so it just gas and then a little bit for food and lodging. I tent camped so that saved quite a bit of money, I think it was only about $120 for the entire workshop to tent camp. And the only extra expenses were a little bit of food here and there, 'cause most of the meals were provided and then, when I get back to my tent one night, it was filled with water from rain, so I had to go to the Walmart and spend like $30 on a brand new tent. So all totaled, maybe I spent about $2000.

02:13 Alanna Frost: And Les? 

02:14 Les Loncharich: Well, at that time, in 2005, I was teaching writing as an adjunct to Oakland University and Marshall Kitchens who was then an assistant professor there, swung funding for me to attend, first, CWIC in 2005 and then Writing New Media with Anne Wysocki in 2006. My tuition cost were $1,500 respectively and university funding covered I think all of housing and some food, I did have out of pocket expenses where I bought drinks for Rik Hunter and Brad Lucas and some others.

02:53 Rik Hunter: Because he knew I was a grad student and had nothing.

02:55 Les Loncharich: Yeah. And he was camping.

03:02 Alanna Frost: And Moe.

03:04 Moe Folk: Wow, I really got off easy compared to you guys. I was on the other side in that I actually got paid to take part in the Writing New Media that Les and Rik were on in 2006 because I was Anne Wysocki's grad assistant and then the year before that, I was a student and since I was already at Michigan Tech, the cost and credits were covered by my assistantship, so my actual contribution was, zilch.

03:29 Rik Hunter: Nice.

03:30 Moe Folk: Except for of course, taking care of Brad, Les and Rik.

[chuckle]

03:37 Alanna Frost: I think these are interesting because these are material experiences. I think they reflect any discussion of PTD or rec comp because, there's a form of self-sponsorship. So Rik, the student who's the most financially stressed has to spend the most as far as what he... What it costs, it cost the most vulnerable population the most.

04:04 Rik Hunter: Yeah. At that time, I don't think our travel budget as graduate students was more than $200 or $300 a year, that was primarily used for attending conferences. And of course that didn't cover our cost of ever going to a conference and for lodging, even if you had five or six people in a room like we did in New Orleans that one time. And what I ended up having to do is take out student loans and the only way I could do that was to make an argument that this was necessary for my own development and luckily, Marty Nicetran, who was my adviser at that time, he understood why I needed to go to this professional development workshop. And it was through those means, sort of his sponsorship of my education that I was able to take out the student loans to cover all those costs.

04:56 Alanna Frost: Yeah, but it's really interesting the idea of the self, our own motivations of our own self, knowing that we want to do this development, we want to learn in this way and then we of course have the institutions, it seems like on a scale, you know, goes from Rik's self sponsor to Les and Moe, institutional sponsor. But I think we could push a little bit more maybe, at how the institution respond... How were our institutions involved in this, maybe starting with Rik because he seems to have the least amount of attention from the institution.