ASCRC Writing Committee Minutes, 10/6/14, Todd 203
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Chin called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m.
Members Present: T. Andrews, I. Appelbaum, S. Brown, G. Burns, B. Chin, C. Corr, J. Gallo, J.
Glendening D. Raiford, D. Sewell, M. Stark, G. Weix
Ex-Officio Members Present:, M. Mangold, A. Ratto- Parks, K. Webster
Members Absent/Excused: N. Lindsay, J. Smith
Guests: N. Clouse
Minutes: The minutes from 9/8/14 were approved once the computer display was available.
COMMUNICATION ITEMS
 New undergraduate student member Danielle Sewell was welcomed to the committee.
 Chair Chin shared a flyer for an upcoming special event at the UM Mansfield Library –
Educators Can Fight Censorship and Save Books”.

The Writing Symposium held on September 19th was well attended with an average of 40
guests at each session. Chair Chin thanked the presenters from the Committee: Gallo,
Ratto-Parks, Webster, and Corr. She also thanked Andrews with assisting with the
videotaping.

Chair Chin and Director Webster attended and presented at the MUS Assessment
Outcomes Workshop on September 22nd. They and Professor Stark were also invited to
present at the Workshop held at MSU on October 2nd. The Workshop was very
informative regarding general education and accreditation. The goal of assessment is to
gather use data to reflect upon how well the University is living its mission. The
assessment process doesn’t have to be perfect or massive, but should involve
collaborative conversations and have meaningful purposes.

The University-wide Writing Assessment was reported in the 2014 Institutional
Assessment Report under the Planning-Assessment Continuum subtitle Objective and
Timely Assessment of Outcomes. Members were sent a copy prior to the meeting.

Several applications have been received for the Writing Assessment Coordinator
position. Chair Chin and Director Webster hope to select a candidate as soon as possible.
In the meantime Chair Chin will draft second message to send to instructors.
BUSINESS ITEMS

Nancy Clouse reported that the Moodle shell is ready to open; she just needs to know the
timeline. She is concerned about the Coordinator position being temporary due to the
training time required for extracting the data from Moodle. It took 5 hours last time. The
Committee shares her concern. The position’s low salary rate will also contribute to
turnover. The Committee will need to pursue avenues to increase the FTE to make it
more attractive to graduate students who do not have teaching assistantships. Ideally the
position should grow into a permanent position to assist with assessment initiatives across
campus including general education. It may be possible to collaborate with other campus
units to make the position more attractive. It is essential that the infrastructure is put in
place to sustain the UPWA. Once the data is gathered, it will need to be analyzed with the
goal of maintaining a rich, vital and sustainable program. These concerns should be
discussed with Associate Provost Lindsay.

Professor Stark said the Library would like to add a few questions to the student survey to collect
data on information literacy. This will establish a baseline given that the Association of College
& Research Libraries is changing the competency standards framework. Professor Stark will
draft questions tied to learning outcomes by the end of the week and share these with the Writing
Committee for feedback and approval.

The Committee decided to open the Moodle shell November 15th for students to upload work. It
will be closed on December 15th. In the spring the shell will open from April 15th to May 15th.
These dates will need to be communicated to the approved writing course instructors soon.

The Writing Retreat will be scheduled for Friday, April 24th. Participants will be able to register
through the Faculty Development Office’s electronic system.

ASCRC sent the revised Committee Charge back to the Writing Committee to incorporate the
appeals for students to transfer writing courses. The committee reviewed the language and
approved the following edits:
The primary responsibility of the Writing Committee is ongoing evaluation and
assessment of the appropriateness and effectiveness of General Education writing
requirements and criteria. The Writing Committee acts as an advocates for effective
writing instruction, curriculum, and assessment; : proposes revisions to the General
Education writing requirements and criteria; and reviews writing course proposals
for the writing designation and transfer equivalency appeals for writing courses. In
addition, the Committee monitors the programs of the Writing Center, monitors the
University-wide Program-level Writing Assessment, and collaborates with campus
groups to provide faculty development workshops .assessment procedures, results,
and appeals.
This revised charge will be sent to ASCRC for approval.

Professors Ratto-Parks, Appelbaum and Gallo volunteered to serve on the subcommittee to
review an appeal to count a transfer course as satisfying the approved writing course
requirement.

Professor Ratto-Parks distributed a handout (appended) of the items to be included on a
resource site for faculty teaching writing courses. The Committee will need to decide where
the site should be maintained. The Writing Center has resources for instructors as well.
Please send any comments or concerns to Professor Ratto-Parks.

Professor Stark reported that the Workgroup to consider a resolution in support of
adequate funding for the Writing Center is currently in monitoring mode. The Office of
Student Success will be considering different pathways for funding and bringing the issue to
the attention of the Provost.

Professor Corr provided an overview of the writing course review process and provided
members with a document to find the various review materials. Data is collected on the
approved writing courses with a rubric. Reviewers complete the Google doc worksheet for
these courses. The forms submitted will be divided into four groups. Camie will send the
members the distribution list (appended below) and a link to the forms. Again there was
confusion with departments submitting approved writing course forms for upper-division
writing courses. Camie is in the process of contacting departments that did not submit
courses on the rolling review list, so there could be a few forms submitted late.
Group 1 (7)
John Glendening
Cathy Corr
G.G. Weix
Tarren Andrews

Group 2 (10)
Sherrill Brown
Irene Appelbaum
Danielle Sewell
Group 3 (10)
Gene Burns
Kelly Webster
Maria Mangold
Jared Smith
Group 4 (10)
Jess Gallo
Megan Stark
Doug Raiford
The Workgroup investigating the labeling and distribution issues had an organizational
meeting and members are gathering information. Professor Stark is collecting assessment
data on student writing and approved writing course review. Professor Appelbaum is
investigating how the upper-division writing assessment is administered. Maria Mangold is
creating a flowchart of writing expectations across disciplines to include the total number of
approved writing courses and flagging those that are restricted by major. Professor Burns
is documenting the past history of terminology challenges related to the approved writing
course and upper-division writing course in the discipline.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 p.m.
ASCRC WRITING COMMITTEE RESOURCE WEBSITE
Charge: Create a resource compendium for teachers who currently teach a writing approved
course or would like to propose a new writing approved course at the lower or upper division.
Goals: To make it easier for faculty to 1) understand the proposal and renewal processes, 2) find the
appropriate forms, 3) complete the forms well (via annotated exemplars/models), and 4) to have a
reader-friendly introduction to the important processes we have in place.
Possible hosting: Spectral Fusion
Revisions/Updates: Cascade
* Have also discussed building this page into the existing committee page. Would like to
discuss this with the whole committee.
Possible Organization of Pages:
Home Page:


Main Page Announcements
Program-Level University-Wide Assessment
o Brief Background / History
o Current Information
o Current Retreat details
Branch Page #1: Proposing a course




Description of the proposal process
How-To steps for proposing
Forms
Annotated exemplars of completed forms
Branch Page #2: Renewing a course





Renewal schedule by semester/course
Description of the renewal process
How-To steps for renewing
Forms
Annotated exemplars of completed forms
Branch Page #3: Resources for Writing Teachers


A list of general writing resources available for writing teachers – on plagiarism, responding
to writing, integrating writing into their content-based course, creating lesson plans, etc.
(This may be getting us off track, but it seems worthwhile!)
A list of UM information links to library resource pages, the Writing Center, etc.
Branch Page #4: Frequently Asked Questions





How do I know if my course is due for renewal?
What if I don’t know how to complete a section of a form?
What are the differences between a lower-division and upper-division writing approved
course?
Can I participate in the Program-Level University-Wide Assessment?
++++ WHAT ELSE?
WRITING REVIEW SUMMARY
Approved Writing Courses – Group 1
Course
C & I 287
CLAS 180H
CLAS 191
ENST 201
Title
Business Communication
Environment and Nature in the Classical World
Writing the Legends of Afghanistan: Then and Now
Environmental Information Resources
HONR 121 L
JRNL 270
MAR 300
Ways of Knowing
Reporting
Visions of Film
Renew
new
new- GLI
New
Renew - missed last
year
Renew
New
Upper-division Writing Courses – Group 2
BIOH 462
CSD 430
EDU 339
GEO 320
GEO 499
PTRM 451
PTRM 482
Wildlife Biology
Principles in Medical Physiology
Senior Capstone
Methods Teaching, and Assessment PK-8 Language
Arts
Global Water
Senior Thesis
Tourism and Sustainability
Wilderness and Protected Area Management
Distributed Model
New
renew
renew-number
change
renew
renew
Renew
Renew
Renew
Upper-division Writing Courses – Group 3
CSCI 315E
DBS
Computer, Ethics , and Society
Distributed Model
Renew
Renew
GRMN 351H
JRNL340
JRNL 362
JRNL 370
M 429
M 499
PHAR 550
PHYS 330
German Culture to 1900
Intermediate Audio
Feature Writing
Public Affairs Reporting
History of Mathematics
Senior Thesis
Drug Literature Evaluation
Communicating Physics
New
Renew
Renew
Renew
Renew
Renew
Renew
Renew
Upper-division Writing Courses – Group 4
AHAT 342
Ecological
Restoration
Therapeutic Interventions
Distributed Model
renew
Renew
Forestry
JRNL 362
JRNL 370
KIN 447
Parks, Tourism,
and Recreation
Management
PHYS 330
Resource
Conservation
Distributed Model
Feature Writing
Public Affairs Reporting
Analytical and Communication Techniques
Distributed Model
Renew
Renew
Renew
renew
Renew
Communicating Physics
Distributed Model
Renew
Renew