As we move toward the end of the quarter, how can we use writing to assess student learning this quarter and help us plan for next quarter’s teaching?

Having students reflect on course materials and course activities can provide you with a picture of how students are learning as well as let you know if there are aspects of your course that might need fine-tuning. It can also help students to synthesize the work they’ve done over the quarter. (more…)

I had the WAC team read two articles by Michael Carter. The first is an article describing the assessment process Carter oversees at North Carolina State University, “A Process for Establishing Outcomes-Based Assessment Plans for Writing and Speaking in the Disciplines,” Language and Learning Across the Disciplines 6 (2003): 4-29 [available online]. The second is a Richard Braddock award winning essay, “Ways of Knowing, Doing, and Writing in the Disciplines,” College Composition and Communication 58 (2007): 385-418.

How might Carter’s articles inform how we talk to instructors and faculty across the curriculum over all? How might they inform how 367 classes are assessed? How well would the model Carter outlines work at Ohio State?

The Writing Across the Curriculum team provides services for instructors and faculty in any discipline who are incorporating writing into their teaching. Writing is a powerful and important tool for learning, and our multi-disciplinary WAC team can help you use it as effectively as possible. Keep your eye out for more e-mails this quarter to inform you about our services and to give you helpful tips for using writing in your classroom.

How do you help students adjust to writing again after their summer sojourns? (more…)

The WAC staff read two articles on workshop development. The first was the first chapter of Jeff Brooks-Harris and Susan Stock Ward’s book Workshops: Designing and Facilitating Experiential Learning (1999). The second was a foundational article on Writing Across the Curriculum workshops by Toby Fulwiler, “Showing, not Telling, at a Writing Workshop, ” College English 43 (1981): 55-63.

I’ve asked WAC team members to respond to the articles below: How have these articles shaped your thinking as you are preparing your first workshops?

Dr. David Staley, director of the Goldberg Program for Excellence in Teaching in the Department of History, asked me to pass on this information regarding an upcoming talk:

Technology and Teaching: A Goldberg Program speaker series
“Killer Apps: Video Games and the War on Terror” (more…)

Now that you may finally have a little bit of time this summer to rework some of your writing assignments, how might you design a series of assignments that your students will find interesting to write and you will find interesting to read?

Summer quarter is an ideal time to look back at your writing assignments and consider how you might tweak them. Here are some tips for how you might make your writing assignments as effective as they can be. (more…)